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    Meet Rachel Hauck, the Set Designer Behind the Tony-Nominated Ship From ‘Swept Away’

    “Transforming Spaces” is a series about women driving change in sometimes unexpected places.The first time she saw the shipwreck, Rachel Hauck began to cry.It was during rehearsals at the Berkeley Repertory Theater for the premiere in 2022 of “Swept Away,” a jukebox musical based on the songs of the Avett Brothers about a 19th-century shipwreck off the coast of New Bedford, Mass. The cast and crew had assembled to stage a dry run of the show’s spectacular action centerpiece: a full-scale re-creation of the capsizing of the whaler, which overturns onstage to reveal a slender wooden lifeboat, where the remainder of the show takes place.As a feat of conceptual ingenuity and mechanical engineering, the moment was astonishing — a scene of such extraordinary scale and intensity that, when it occurred nightly during the show’s short run on Broadway last year, the audience would break into thunderous applause. It was too much for Hauck, the set designer, who watched that California dress rehearsal with tears streaming down her face.“It was the emotional journey of it all,” Hauck, 64, said recently, once again tearing up. “I don’t know quite how to articulate this, but it’s space and physical objects and emotion, and how those things lift.”Hauck’s grand vision of the sinking ship was so important to the impact of the musical that it’s impossible to imagine “Swept Away” without it. But in fact, nothing of the kind was suggested in the musical’s original book, by John Logan.“In the script, it’s like, ‘The boat sinks.’ That’s it. Literally,” Michael Mayer, the show’s director, said. “Rachel had this ingenious and beautiful idea of how to do the shipwreck. And this is the reason why you go to Rachel Hauck for these kinds of complicated shows where there’s a giant transformation.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    ‘Mr. Loverman’ Is a Rich, Stylish and Riveting Mini-Series

    The British series, which earned multiple BAFTA awards, offers a sublime and moving exploration of love and loyalty.Lennie James recently won a BAFTA for his leading role in the mini-series “Mr. Loverman,” and for good reason: His performance is as whole and mesmerizing a portrait as one sees on television.“Loverman,” arriving Wednesday, on BritBox, is based on the novel by Bernardine Evaristo and follows Barrington Jedidiah Walker (James), an Antiguan native who has been living in London for decades. He is a self-described “man of property, man of style,” a dapper dresser and a Shakespeare enthusiast, husband to a devout Christian woman, father to two adult daughters and grandfather to a teen boy.He is also closeted. His long-term partner, Morris (Ariyon Bakare, who also won a BAFTA for his work here and is also fantastic), has been his best friend and lover since they met in Antigua as young men; he is Uncle Morris to Barry’s children, a constant presence, a secret and not a secret, a betrayal but also a devotion.But Barry balks at labels, and he says he isn’t a homosexual but rather “a Barry sexual.” Barry swears he is about to leave his wife, about to tell her the truth. But he has sworn that before.The show weaves among the characters’ perspectives, and long flashbacks depict the pivotal moments that carve each person’s reality. We hear their internal monologues, though none sing quite as melodically as Barry’s does.“Loverman” is polished and literary, practically silky — sublime, even. It’s natural to be baffled by other people’s choices: Why would you do that? Why didn’t you say anything? Why would you stay? Why would you leave? A lot of contemporary shows — even plenty of good ones — fall back on pat just-so stories for their characters’ backgrounds, but the picture here is deeper and fuller than that. Fear and pain, love and loyalty: They’re never just one thing.There are eight half-hour episodes of “Mr. Loverman.” I couldn’t resist bingeing it, not because it’s so propulsive, per se, but because it’s so lovely. More

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    Willem Dafoe Shines His Spotlight on Theater’s Avant-Garde Past

    The Hollywood actor looks back on the experimental performances that shaped him at the Venice Theater Biennale.What happens when an avant-garde becomes history? The question came to mind during the opening weekend of the Venice Theater Biennale, newly under the direction of Willem Dafoe.As a co-founder in 1980 of the New York City-based Wooster Group, Dafoe had a front-row view of the experimental theater of his time. In Venice, he is turning the spotlight back onto it — at the risk of the event turning nostalgic.This year’s edition is a 50th anniversary celebration for an important edition of the Theater Biennale, an annual event put together by the same organization as the (much bigger) Art Biennale. In 1975, the Italian director Luca Ronconi convened a long list of revolutionary American and European ensembles for the theater event, including La MaMa, Odin Teatret, the Living Theater and the Théâtre du Soleil.Only one of them, Odin Teatret, is actually back this year, but others are being honored through talks and exhibitions. And the Wooster Group, which has its roots in that era, opened the festival on Saturday. The next morning, that company’s longtime director, Elizabeth LeCompte, received the event’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement award.While the Biennale’s lineup also includes younger stars and emerging artists, this year’s historical dive is unusual. Theater festivals tend to be singularly focused on the present, always looking for new and emerging voices. Yet there is value in revisiting the work of artists who had a significant impact on 20th-century stages.Ari Fliakos, left, plays a fictional U.S. president who is losing his mind in “Symphony of Rats.”Andrea AvezzùWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Gotham Television Awards 2025: The Complete Winners List

    “Adolescence” picked up three wins, including the award for breakthrough limited series.“Adolescence,” the gripping mini-series about Jamie Miller, a 13-year-old boy who is accused of killing a girl from his school, received three trophies at the second annual Gotham Television Awards on Monday night, including one for breakthrough limited series.Stephen Graham, who played Jamie’s father, Eddie, won for outstanding lead performance in a limited series. Owen Cooper, who played the troubled teenager, shared a win for outstanding supporting performance in a limited series with Jenny Slate for “Dying for Sex.”“Adolescence,” which beat “Dying for Sex,” “Get Millie Back,” “Penelope” and “Say Nothing” in the limited series category, quickly became popular among viewers and critics after it was released on Netflix in March.Margaret Lyons, a television critic for The New York Times, wrote that the show’s third episode was “one of the more fascinating hours of TV I’ve seen in a long time.” The show also stirred debate about whether the British government should restrict children’s access to smartphones to stop them from viewing harmful content.On Monday night, at Cipriani Wall Street in Manhattan, Kathy Bates won for outstanding lead performance in a drama series for “Matlock” and Aaron Pierre won for outstanding performance in an original film for “Rebel Ridge.” Brian Tyree Henry, who broke out in “Atlanta,” received the performer tribute award for his portrayal of Ray Driscoll, an ex-con who robs drug houses by pretending to be a federal agent, in “Dope Thief.”The Gotham Awards, which have recognized film excellence since 1991, began adding television categories in 2015. Last year it split off the TV honors into their own ceremony in Manhattan.The film awards, which take place each December, represent the beginning of the Oscars season. The Gothams seem to be positioning the television awards, which come less than two weeks before voting begins for Primetime Emmy nominations, to play a similar annual role in TV’s awards season. But it is too soon to gauge what effect, if any, they might have on the Emmys. (Primetime Emmy nominations will be announced in July and the awards will be given out in September.)Here is the full list of Gotham Television Awards winners:Breakthrough Comedy Series“The Studio”Breakthrough Drama Series“The Pitt”Breakthrough Limited Series“Adolescence”Breakthrough Nonfiction Series“Social Studies”Outstanding Lead Performance in a Comedy SeriesJulio Torres, “Fantasmas”Outstanding Lead Performance in a Drama SeriesKathy Bates, “Matlock”Outstanding Lead Performance in a Limited SeriesStephen Graham, “Adolescence”Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Comedy SeriesPoorna Jagannathan, “Deli Boys”Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Drama SeriesBen Whishaw, “Black Doves”Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Limited SeriesOwen Cooper, “Adolescence,” and Jenny Slate, “Dying for Sex”Outstanding Original Film, Broadcast, or Streaming“Pee-wee as Himself”: Matt Wolf, director, and Emma Tillinger Koskoff, producerOutstanding Performance in an Original FilmAaron Pierre, “Rebel Ridge” More

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    How the ‘Purpose’ Writer Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and Cast Juggled Revisions

    Ahead of the Tony Awards, the playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and the acclaimed ensemble reflected on the challenges of balancing the many script revisions.Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Tony-nominated play “Purpose,” set in the Chicago home of a family of Black upper-class civil rights leaders, seems, at first, to be inspired by the political drama involving the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s clan. But those assumptions are upended by the play’s highly original take on the themes of sacrifice, succession, asexuality and spirituality.The family saga, which won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for drama, showcases even more of the vivid language, spitfire dialogue and sweeping sense of American history that garnered Jacobs-Jenkins a Tony Award last year for “Appropriate.” And like that production, this play’s ensemble has been nominated for multiple acting awards — five in all.Originally staged in 2023 at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater, and directed by Phylicia Rashad, “Purpose” was revised, refined and expanded throughout its Broadway preview period. Jacobs-Jenkins readily admits that this process is not unusual for him, much less the writers he has studied intently, like August Wilson or Tennessee Williams. On a recent afternoon, however, a conversation about his collaboration with the cast turned lively with Jacobs-Jenkins calling it “family therapy.”We were sitting on the Helen Hayes Theater stage — at the dining-room table where the play’s most memorable fight plays out — with the show’s six cast members, Harry Lennix, who plays the patriarch and preacher Solomon Jasper; LaTanya Richardson Jackson, as the pragmatic and perspicacious matriarch Claudine Jasper; Jon Michael Hill, as the narrator and the monastic younger son, Nazareth; Glenn Davis, as the beguiling older son, Junior; Alana Arenas, as his windstorm of a wife, Morgan; and Kara Young, who plays Nazareth’s naïve friend Aziza. (Arenas, Davis and Hill are all the Steppenwolf members around whom Jacobs-Jenkins originally conceived of the play.)Purpose Broadway“This is so naked,” Jacobs-Jenkins said, “because I never had this conversation in front of you all before. I’ve said all this to individual journalists.” These are edited excerpts from the conversation.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    ‘Marjorie Prime’ and ‘Becky Shaw’ Are Coming to Broadway This Season

    Second Stage Theater, a nonprofit, will put on the two plays, both of which were Pulitzer finalists, at its Helen Hayes Theater.Second Stage Theater, one of the four nonprofits with Broadway houses, said it would present the plays “Marjorie Prime” and “Becky Shaw,” both of which were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in drama, at its Helen Hayes Theater this season.The organization, beginning the first season programmed by its new artistic director, Evan Cabnet, said that it would continue its focus on work by contemporary American writers.“Marjorie Prime,” written by Jordan Harrison, is about an older woman whose companion is a hologram of her dead husband fueled by artificial intelligence. The play was staged by Center Theater Group in Los Angeles in 2014, then by Playwrights Horizons in New York in 2015, and was adapted into a movie in 2017. Ben Brantley, then a theater critic for The New York Times, called the play “elegant, thoughtful and quietly unsettling”; the Pulitzer board described it as “a sly and surprising work about technology and artificial intelligence told through images and ideas that resonate.”The new production will be directed by Anne Kauffman, who also directed the Off Broadway production. It is scheduled to begin previews on Nov. 20 and to open on Dec. 8.“Becky Shaw,” written by Gina Gionfriddo, is a dark comedy about a bad date. The play was staged at the Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, Ky., in 2008, and then opened at Second Stage’s Off Broadway theater in 2009. Charles Isherwood, then a theater critic for The Times, called the play “as engrossing as it is ferociously funny, like a big box of fireworks fizzing and crackling across the stage from its first moments to its last”; the Pulitzer board described it as “a jarring comedy that examines family and romantic relationships with a lacerating wit while eschewing easy answers and pat resolutions.”The new production will be directed by Trip Cullman, beginning previews on March 18 and opening on April 8.Second Stage did not announce casting for either play. The nonprofit organization said its new season would also include three Off Broadway plays: “Meet the Cartozians,” written by Talene Monahon and directed by David Cromer; “Meat Suit,” written and directed by Aya Ogawa; and a revival of “The Receptionist,” a 2007 play written by Adam Bock. All three will be staged at the Pershing Square Signature Center, where Second Stage has presented its Off Broadway work since giving up its lease on the Tony Kiser Theater. More

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    ‘Beetlejuice’ Is Coming Back to Broadway

    The national tour production will haunt the Palace Theater for 13 weeks, beginning Oct. 8.“Beetlejuice” isn’t dead quite yet.The national tour production of the fan-favorite musical comedy, which has had two previous Broadway runs in 2019-20 and 2022-23, will head to the New York stage this fall, producers announced Tuesday.The show, which is adapted from Tim Burton’s 1988 film and tells the story of a goth girl and a pushy poltergeist, is set to play the Palace Theater for 13 weeks, beginning Oct. 8 and running through Jan. 3, 2026. Casting will be announced at a later date.In his review of the original Broadway production, which starred Alex Brightman as the titular ghoul in a striped suit, The New York Times’s Ben Brantley praised Brightman’s performance and the “jaw-droppingly well-appointed gothic funhouse set” by the set designer David Korins (“Hamilton”), though he lamented that the show “so overstuffs itself with gags, one-liners and visual diversions that you shut down from sensory overload.”No matter: The musical became a fan favorite, with people dressing in costume, lip-syncing to the cast recording on TikTok and showering the show’s cast with fan art.With a book by Scott Brown and Anthony King, music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect, and direction by Alex Timbers (who won a Tony Award for directing “Moulin Rouge!”), the stage production was nominated for eight Tony Awards, but won none.“Beetlejuice” is having a bit of a cultural moment: A popular sequel film, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” also directed by Burton, was released last year, more than three decades after the original, which starred Michael Keaton (Beetlejuice), Alec Baldwin (Adam Maitland), Catherine O’Hara (Delia Deetz) and a young Winona Ryder (Lydia Deetz).The national tour production, which began performances in 2022, has played 88 cities over the last two and a half years. The musical has also had productions in Tokyo; Seoul; and Melbourne, Australia; and is heading soon to Sydney. More

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    Late Night Mines Laughs From Trump’s Biden Replacement Theory

    “You’re saying that the Joe Biden who doesn’t even know where he is, is actually an incredibly advanced cloned robot? How much ketamine are you on?” Jon Stewart asked.Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Joe-boCop?On Saturday night, President Trump amplified a conspiracy theory on social media about former President Joe Biden that posited falsely that the former president had been replaced by a robot clone. While mindful to note that this was likely meant “to distract us,” as Jon Stewart said on “The Daily Show,” late night hosts couldn’t help but tackle the topic like the sci-fi movie it needs to be — with incredulity.“You’re saying that the Joe Biden who doesn’t even know where he is, is actually an incredibly advanced cloned robot? How much ketamine are you on?” — JON STEWART“You can’t be a robot and a clone, OK?” — STEPHEN COLBERT“How is this not on the front page of everything? The president of the United States is spreading deranged stories about his predecessor being a robot.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“It was a perfect plan with only one flaw: The Joe Bot couldn’t recognize George Clooney.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Hey, Republicans. Remember when you were very concerned Joe might not have the mental acuity to be president? Come get your guy, because he thinks Biden was executed and replaced by a clone, a ‘robotic clone.’ I mean, if your dad was saying stuff like this, you’d start looking for an assisted-living facility.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“The media needs to stop being polite when they report this stuff. This is the headline from NBC: ‘Trump Shares Unfounded Conspiracy Theory Claiming Biden Was “Executed” in 2020.’ Never mind ‘unfounded,’ this is not even a theory. That headline should be ‘Convicted Felon Posts Insane Fairy Tale About Cancer Patient While Constipated on Toilet.’” — JIMMY KIMMEL“And, by the way, whoever built that Joe Biden robot is very bad at building robots. I mean, if anyone was replaced by a robotic clone, it’s Melania, right?” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Punchiest Punchlines (Side Effects Edition)“Trump was effusive in his praise for Musk. He thanked him for working ‘tirelessly.’ Well, yeah, of course he was working tirelessly. They say he was gobbling down 20 different kinds of uppers every day when he was there.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Over the weekend, The New York Times published a crazy story about Elon Musk, claiming, among other things, that he was taking ecstasy, psychedelic mushrooms, pills believed to be Adderall, and so much ketamine it was affecting his bladder control, which is a delightful detail. Between him and Trump, that Oval Office has got to smell like an abandoned nursing home.” — JIMMY KIMMELWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More