Far East and subjects closer to home are expected to be addressed by playwright A.R. Gurney at the free Lincoln Center Platform Series chat 6:30 PM Jan. 20, 1999 in the lobby of the Vivian Beaumont Theater.
The author of The Dining Room, Love Letters and The Cocktail Hour -- chronicling the white, upper-middle-class American experience -- just saw his most recent work, Far East, open Jan. 11 at LCT's Mitzi Newhouse Theater. Favorable reviews helped prompt an extension to June 8, 1999.
Set in the 1950s, Far East tells of a young naval officer looking for R&R in Japan before he's called home.
[For a recent interview with the playwright, please see the PBOL Feature story, "A.R. Gurney, Master of Rich Suburbia, Moves in Different Directions With New Plays."]
Playwright-librettist Alfred Uhry, of LCT's Parade, is expected to appear at the final winter 1998-99 moderated Platform chat 6:30 PM Jan. 27. Uhry's work includes book and lyrics to The Robber Bridegroom, and the plays Driving Miss Daisy and The Last Night of Ballyhoo. His libretto from Parade is drawn from the true story of the murder of an Atlanta girl and the subsequent railroading of an innocent man.
Platform Series events are held between matinee and evening shows on Wednesdays, 6:30 PM to 7:15 PM in the lobby of the Vivian Beaumont, 150 West 65th Street, in Manhattan.
Admission is free and open to all. However the limited lobby seating is first-come, first-served, beginning at 6 PM.
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The winter 1998-99 Platform series began Dec. 9 with Parade director Harold Prince and continued Dec. 16 with LCT poster illustrator James McMullan. Highlights of the Prince chat are available in a Playbill On-Line story headlined "Hal Prince Muses About the Parade of His Life in Art at Lincoln Center Chat." Parade composer Jason Robert Brown was a last-minute stand-in for a sick Uhry at the 6:30 PM Jan. 13 Platform chat.
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The Platform Series began in summer 1998 with moderated chats with Twelfth Night scenic designer Bob Crowley, Twelfth Night actor Brian Murray and A New Brain composer William Finn.
Speakers are subject to change. Some Platform Series transcripts are available for $2 in LCT's lobby shop. The Platform Series is made possible by The Charles E. Culpepper Foundation.
-- By Kenneth Jones
