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    Being Emily in ‘Our Town’: Readers Share Why the Role Mattered

    AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyBeing Emily in ‘Our Town’: Readers Share Why the Role MatteredEmbodying the Thornton Wilder character “helped heal something inside me that I hadn’t even realized had been broken,” says one.Barbara Andres, right, as Emily in a production of “Our Town” in which the young lovers were played by older actors.Credit…Heidi GrunerFeb. 17, 2021Prompted by the publication of “Another Day’s Begun: Thornton Wilder’s ‘Our Town’ in the 21st Century,” Laura Collins-Hughes interviewed eight actors who’ve portrayed the tragic young newlywed Emily Webb. Then we asked readers to share their own experiences playing the part in a drama that continues to be produced in schools and on stages throughout the world. Edited responses follow.I was a small town Texas high school Emily in 1966. I had to talk the speech teacher — we had no drama teacher — into doing it because I loved it and so wanted to be in it. On the Monday after the weekend production, the toughest “hood” in school, a big burly guy complete with cigarettes rolled up in his T-shirt sleeve, came up to me and said I must be a “real good actor” because I’d made him cry. I was so touched, and two years later he was dead in Vietnam. BETHANY PHENEGER, HoustonI played Emily in a summer stock theater in a former barn in the ’80s. There was not a dry eye onstage in the third act. My grandmother could not speak to me due to tears at the end of the show. Now I am facing a life-threatening illness, after living a very full life. The other Emilys I’ve seen — and mine — come back to me. GRETCHEN KEHDE, BrooklynI have often been asked how it felt to be 64 playing 18 in the 2002 Transport Group production. With six decades of life under my belt, I had the advantage of already knowing most of Emily’s thoughts, words, and relationships. Even in her remembering, I could walk through it all, reawakening in my own heart my present tense reality at the same time. My very age brought a resonance to the simplest, most profound thoughts. BARBARA ANDRES, New YorkI read “Our Town” in elementary school but didn’t really understand it at the time. Years later, right after college, our family had to unexpectedly sell my childhood home. It was the first of several deep losses I experienced in early adulthood. When I moved to Los Angeles a few years after, one of my first jobs was to play Emily at Sierra Madre Playhouse. When I came to that speech where she says goodbye, I finally understood what it meant to say goodbye to something and someone you will never see again. And when I said those words every night, I finally said goodbye to my childhood home — the rough red bricks of the front path, my favorite hidden tree which I would climb to read and write in solitude, the sun-dappled kitchen where I first learned to cook. Emily’s words, Thornton Wilder’s words, helped heal something inside me that I hadn’t even realized had been broken. LILA DUPREE, Los AngelesMy mom played Emily in her private high school’s production of “Our Town” — it had to have been about 1953-54. Her family always said she was amazing in the part. The same year as the play she became pregnant and had to leave school. The baby was put up for adoption; my mom returned to school, but life was forever altered. She eventually wed the father of the baby, never graduated high school, had two more children (I’m the youngest) and didn’t appear in a play again until she was in her late 40s when she was cast as Esther Franz in “The Price.”She always talked about “Our Town,” made sure I read it, saw the movie and shared her memories of performing that role often. When she was dying very prematurely in her late 60s, she discussed with her sister what she wanted read and sung at her memorial service. I was surprised to find out after she’d passed that she wanted me to somehow work into my eulogy Emily’s speech from “Our Town.” Of course I did, and for a brief second there, at the lectern in the Episcopal Church of East Hampton, I did get to “play” Emily — conjuring up those stories of when my mom played that part and realizing just why she wanted it read at her memorial. ELLEN DIOGUARDI, Sag Harbor, New YorkAdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    Theater to Stream: Revisiting ‘Rent’ and ‘Angels in America’

    AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyTheater to Stream: Revisiting ‘Rent’ and ‘Angels in America’Presentations include the 30th anniversary of George C. Wolfe’s “The Colored Museum”; Andréa Burns in “Bad Dates”; and a solo show by Riz Ahmed.From left, Adam Pascal, Daphne Rubin-Vega and Anthony Rapp in “Rent,” whose anniversary is being celebrated with a reunion presented by New York Theater Workshop.Credit…Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesFeb. 17, 2021A pair of game-changing shows are celebrating big anniversaries, so now is a good time to revisit them and their legacies.George C. Wolfe’s “The Colored Museum,” an anthology of sketches about Black culture (called exhibits), felt like a bolt of lighting when it premiered in 1986. At its heart, as Frank Rich said in his New York Times review, was the question “How do American Black men and women at once honor and escape the legacy of suffering that is the baggage of their past?”From left, Reggie Montgomery, Vickilyn Reynolds, Tommy Hollis and Suzzanne Douglas in the streaming production of “The Colored Museum,” filmed in 1991.Credit…Nancy LevineThanks to Crossroads Theater Company — where the show originated before moving to the Public Theater, and which is streaming the “Great Performances” capture from 1991 — we can confirm that while a few details have aged, “The Colored Museum” retains much of its satirical charge.It’s fascinating, now, to see how playlets in the show — such as “Git on Board” (about welcoming guests on a “celebrity slaveship”) and “The Last Mama-on-the-Couch Play” (a blistering take on “A Raisin in the Sun” — have influenced contemporary works like Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s “An Octoroon” and Jordan E. Cooper’s “Ain’t No Mo.’” Through Feb. 28; crossroadstheatrecompany.comWhen Jonathan Larson’s “Rent” opened at New York Theater Workshop in 1996, its young, often queer and racially diverse characters felt new in musicals; it also dealt with the HIV/AIDS crisis, one of the biggest issues of the day. The show immediately found a passionate audience, won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and transferred to Broadway, where it remained for over 12 years. Hindsight makes it clear that “Rent” has endured because a fairly conventional heart beats under its edgy demeanor, and that this “rock” musical is built out of zhuzhed-up show tunes; those are solid bones.New York Theater Workshop is revisiting the phenomenon with the tribute “25 Years of Rent: Measured in Love,” in which Eva Noblezada, Ben Platt, Billy Porter and Ali Stroker join original cast members, including Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp and Daphne Rubin-Vega. March 2-6; nytw.orgNathan Lane in the National Theater’s production of “Angels in America” on Broadway.Credit…Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesCatching up with British productionsThe National Theater’s streaming arm, National Theater at Home, has just made available its acclaimed production of “Angels in America,” which stars Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane and Denise Gough Some of us in the United States were lucky enough to see it when the production traveled from London to Broadway three years ago. Perhaps even more exciting, then, is the opportunity to discover older shows that didn’t come to New York, like “Antigone” starring Christopher Eccleston and Jodie Whittaker; “Medea,” with a pre-“I May Destroy You” Michaela Coel as the nurse; and Lucy Kirkwood’s “Mosquitoes,” in which Olivia Colman and Olivia Williams play sisters. ntathome.comAndréa Burns in Theresa Rebeck’s “Bad Dates.”Credit…via George Street Playhouse‘Bad Dates’A good rule of thumb: Whenever the wonderful Andréa Burns (“In the Heights,” “On Your Feet!”) pops up in something, just check it out. In this case it’s Theresa Rebeck’s one-woman play “Bad Dates,” presented by the George Street Playhouse in New Jersey, which should provide good opportunities for Burns to flex her considerable comic muscles as a divorced woman looking for love. Feb. 23-March 14; georgestreetplayhouse.orgMichael Guagno stars in the Kafka-inspired “Letter to My Father.”Credit…Eileen Meny‘Letter to My Father’In 1919, a 36-year-old Franz Kafka penned, but did not send, a long missive to his father, Hermann. The text (published in English as “Letter to His Father”) was an impassioned of indictment of a domestic tyrant, the now-grown son still possessed by fear, his wounds still fresh. The M-34 company, captures the live show with multiple cameras, offering various perspectives to the audience. The show is directed by James Rutherford, and performed by Michael Guagno. Feb. 19-March 28; m-34.orgRiz Ahmed in his solo show “The Long Goodbye.”Credit…Kelly Mason‘The Long Goodbye’The British actor Riz Ahmed, whose performance in “Sound of Metal” recently earned him a Golden Globe nomination, is also a rapper. A solo show expanding on themes explored on his album of the same name, “The Long Goodbye” was livestreamed in December and is now available on demand from the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Manchester International Festival, which jointly commissioned it. Recording himself on a cellphone, the charismatic Ahmed prowls the empty Great American Music Hall in San Francisco while blending hip-hop and spoken word, autobiographical accounts and pointed insights. Through March 1; bam.orgTelling someone else’s storyTwo of the most storied performers you could dream of seeing are appearing in a solo biographical shows they also wrote. First, Lillias White, a Tony Award winner for “The Life,” pays tribute to the jazz great Sarah Vaughan in “Divine Sass” (Feb. 18-20). Then André De Shields, who stole the show every night in “Hadestown,” portrays an abolitionist and social reformer in “Frederick Douglass: Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory” (Feb. 26-28). Both will be presented on Flushing Town Hall’s virtual stage, flushingtownhall.orgWendell Pierce, left, and Charlie Robinson in “Some Old Black Man.”Credit…Doug Coombe‘Some Old Black Man’One of the greatest actors of his generation, Wendell Pierce (“The Wire,” “Treme”) is fiercely committed to theater. In 2018, he starred in the James Anthony Tyler two-hander “Some Old Black Man” in New York; last fall, he quarantined in Ann Arbor, Mich., to participate in a virtual, fully staged version of that play for the University of Michigan’s University Musical Society. Pierce plays a middle-aged college professor who reconnects with his father (Charlie Robinson) as the two men confront their experiences with racism. March 1-12; ums.org‘The Past Is the Past’Manhattan Theater Club revisits some of its past productions in Curtain Call, a new reading series. Ron Cephas Jones — a captivating stage actor despite being most famous for the series “This Is Us” — and Jovan Adepo (“Watchmen”) lead Richard Wesley’s “The Past Is the Past.” The New York Times called the play “a poignant evocation of families and generations in conflict” when the company presented it in 1975, a year after its premiere at the Billie Holiday Theater in Brooklyn (Feb. 18-28). Head over to Manhattan Theater Club’s YouTube channel to watch the playwright John Patrick Shanley and Timothée Chalamet discuss the 2016 production of “Prodigal Son” — with generous excerpts from the show, which just predated Chalamet’s stardom. manhattantheatreclub.com‘48Hours in … El Bronx’For this year’s digital edition of Harlem9 and Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater’s “48Hours in …” festival, the playwrights Julissa Contreras, Nelson Diaz-Marcano, Alisha Espinosa, Andres Osorio, Alejandra Ramos Riera and Andrew Rincon looked to the work of photographers from the South Bronx collective Seis del Sur to create six 10-minute plays. Feb. 18-22; harlem9.veeps.comAdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    ‘Outlander’ Star Sam Heughan Wants You to Love Scotland, Too

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Outlander’ Star Sam Heughan Wants You to Love Scotland, TooBest known as Jamie in the Starz historical fantasy series, the actor and his former co-star Graham McTavish provide a crash course on Scottish culture in “Men in Kilts.”In “Men in Kilts,” Graham McTavish, left, and Sam Heughan explore the culture of their native Scotland. “It’s not just whisky and haggis,” Heughan said.Credit…StarzFeb. 17, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETThis time last year, Sam Heughan was in Los Angeles promoting the fifth season of his Starz hit “Outlander.” Heughan plays Jamie Fraser, a righteous “king of all men” archetype and the beloved husband of Claire (Caitríona Balfe), in the fantastical period drama, an ode to 18th century Scottish history, culture and diaspora that eventually takes the characters to colonial America.Like many people in early 2020, Heughan soon found himself stuck in place — as Covid-19 lockdowns went into effect around the world, the Glasgow resident remained in Los Angeles because of uncertainty over gathering and travel safety.But he was dreaming of Scotland. Heughan (pronounced HEW-an) spent much of his time in quarantine remotely collaborating with his former “Outlander” co-star and fellow Scot, Graham McTavish, on a book called “Clanlands,” based on a road trip they had taken through Scotland to shoot footage for a TV pilot about the country’s culture. Released in November, the book became a best seller; now viewers can watch the show that resulted.“Men in Kilts,” which premiered this week on Starz, might surprise viewers who know Heughan only as the noble Jamie, showcasing his lighter, more mischievous side as he and McTavish travel the countryside, bonding and occasionally bickering as they dive into Scottish food, drink, sports, dance and much more.“‘Outlander’ made me realize how much I love Scotland, how much I didn’t know about Scotland,” Heughan said. “But also how much I knew and learned as a child, but wasn’t really aware of.”In a video call last week, Heughan talked about how “Men in Kilts” came to life, his passion for all things Scottish and his surprisingly busy pandemic year. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.The authors wrote their best-selling book, “Clanlands,” during quarantine.How did the idea for “Men in Kilts” come about?Working on “Outlander,” I saw that people were really interested — as was I — in Scotland and in these Highland characters, especially during Seasons 1 and 2. And then, by chance, I was having a coffee and a beer with Graham McTavish in Los Angeles and he mentioned that he had an idea for a documentary show about Scotland. Two years ago, I just started thinking, why don’t we just do it? So while shooting “Outlander,” we managed to organize a crew and some locations and got it all together. We produced a sort of pilot episode that we could pitch to Starz and [Sony Pictures Television, the producing studio], and it progressed from there.The book is the story of the initial road trip and material we shot before we’d sold the show. We wrote it remotely during lockdown while I was in America and Graham was in New Zealand. It was a really quick process — we started writing it in March and delivered it by summer.What were some new things you learned about Scotland and your relationship to the country while making the show?We just touch the surface of it, but for example, the seafood that we have is the best in the world. Even Scottish fruit is amazing. It’s not just whisky and haggis, though of course we do look at that on the show.I really just wanted to share my love of Scotland and its landscape, culture and music. Like Ceilidh dancing — Scottish dancing — is just part of my heritage, but people don’t know about it. And I wish everyone could go to a Ceilidh because they’re the best fun ever.You and McTavish come across as having a humorous, almost familial relationship. What was it like working on this together?We’re two almost middle-aged white males trying to prove to the other one that we’ve got what it takes, and we really don’t. We do get on and there’s no one else in the world who I like to wind up as much. Our banter or humor is like a dysfunctional married couple.The process of creating a TV show is very different to what I was used to — to really be in control of the content and the scheduling and the edit. So we were involved along the way and it was really good fun to work with Graham. Difficult, because of different time zones and Covid, but we’re really lucky that we managed to get it all together.Heughan, Caitriona Balfe and the rest of the “Outlander” cast and crew are currently shooting Season 6 after a pandemic delay.Credit…Mark Mainz/StarzYou recently started filming the sixth season of “Outlander” after months of pandemic delays. How did you spend your time off?It’s been strangely busy for me. We went into the lockdown, and I was initially in America, and we were writing the book — I don’t know if the book would have happened without the lockdown because I had so much time. Then we were working on “Men in Kilts” as well, the preproduction, and after that first lockdown, we went into shooting. Then I went to London, and I shot a movie called “Text for You,” with Priyanka Chopra Jonas.Part of me was like, it’d be quite nice to just take a bit of time out. But I’m so fortunate that we’re working and also making sure that everyone is safe with the Covid protocols.What has it been like shooting with these new rules?It’s not so much the protocols that are difficult — you have to wear a mask, you have to social distance where you can — it’s more the psychology of it. Certainly when you first start a job, everyone’s very tense, very aware. Of course the protocols are there for your own good, but everyone struggles with feeling like you’re being repressed or not being yourself, or going against your own instincts as a human being. When you see somebody you haven’t seen for a while, you want to give them a hug or touch them or get closer to them. You’re having to go against your instincts as an actor on set, where you’re supposed to use your instincts to portray a character. So it is a really weird situation, but you get used to it.In October, you shared a phone number that fans in America and Canada can use to send you text messages. Why did you choose to make yourself available like that?I’m pretty private in my personal life. But I was having a lot of problems with scammers, people pretending to be me or my company. So this felt like a way I can say, look, if it’s not verified, it’s not me. So hopefully it should make things clearer. It’s not something I use much, but occasionally if I want to reach out directly to fans or ask their opinion about something, I can do that. But it is pretty overwhelming, to be honest.Given the affection many “Outlander” fans have for you, specifically, have you received any shocking messages?I don’t really see anything untoward — there might be the odd one, but I just ignore it. I suppose that’s surprising, but it goes to show that this fan group is quite unique and very supportive. Even with their response to My Peak Challenge, my charity, we now have over 14,000 members and have raised $5.5 million. The positivity around it is amazing and it comes from the fans.You also have a whisky called Sassenach, the name of which will be familiar to “Outlander” fans. How did you get into that, and why did you choose that name?I’d been approached by a number of distilleries to white label something, and I just didn’t want to do that. I wanted to create it myself. So it’s self-financed, and I did a big tour with my business partner in Scotland, tasting lots of whiskey — it’s a hard job.Sassenach is a Scottish Gaelic word meaning outsider — originally it meant English person, and it was quite derogatory. But “Outlander” changed the meaning, and people started calling each other “Sassenach” as a term of endearment. That’s what I liked: It’s about the outsider, and we all feel like outsiders at some point.Now that Brexit is officially here, Britain is once again an outsider in relation to the rest of Europe. Has it affected your businesses or other projects in any way?Asking an actor about politics is probably never the best thing. The times I’ve mentioned politics or Tweeted or Instagrammed something, and the abuse you get, especially about American politics — people telling me I don’t know what I’m talking about because it’s not my country. But it’s wrong to think that what happens in another country doesn’t affect the rest of the world.Brexit has been a complete mess, complete shambles to my mind, totally ridiculous. This insular kind of jingoism that’s been going on — I love Britain, and I’m also proud to be Scottish, but I don’t want to be a backward country that thinks it’s better than everyone else. And I also think working with Europe is really important. With my partners, we had a lot of business with Europe, and it’s cost us a lot of money and time just trying to navigate that. I’m thinking, too, about the Scottish fishermen, for example, who are having to dump their catch [because of export delays caused by new regulations]. It’s all going to waste due to Brexit, and they’re losing their livelihoods. It infuriates me.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    The late-night comedy hosts play in the snow.

    AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThe late-night comedy hosts play in the snow.“This storm has turned Texas into that ice level from Mario Kart. If I was in Texas right now, I’m carrying around a green shell with me, just to be safe,” Trevor Noah said.Credit…Comedy CentralFeb. 17, 2021Most late-night hosts took the week of Presidents’ Day off, but Trevor Noah and Jimmy Kimmel were on Tuesday night with a rare weather report.“If you’re watching us from home right now, the good news is you have power,” Mr. Kimmel said.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    Snowstorm Disarmed Texas, Trevor Noah Says

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyBest of Late NightSnowstorm Disarmed Texas, Trevor Noah Says“They don’t have snow shovels out there. Their best bet is to grab their AR-15s and shoot each snowflake before it lands: ‘Go back to Canada where you belong!’” Noah joked on Tuesday.“This storm has turned Texas into that ice level from Mario Kart. If I was in Texas right now, I’m carrying around a green shell with me, just to be safe,” Trevor Noah said.Credit…Comedy CentralFeb. 17, 2021, 12:43 a.m. ETWelcome 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. We’re all stuck at home at the moment, so here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Snowed OverMost late-night hosts took the week of Presidents’ Day off, but Trevor Noah and Jimmy Kimmel were on Tuesday night with a rare weather report.“Because right now, everywhere in the country, if you look outside your window, you’re seeing snow,” Noah said. “I mean, except for Florida. If you’re looking outside your window, that white stuff you’re seeing? That’s probably cocaine.”“If you’re watching us from home right now, the good news is you have power.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Oh, hell no! Trucks spinning around? Cars flying off the road? This storm has turned Texas into that ice level from Mario Kart. If I was in Texas right now, I’m carrying around a green shell with me, just to be safe.” — TREVOR NOAH“And you got to understand, this is especially tough for Texans because they’re not equipped for snow. They don’t have snow shovels out there. Their best bet is to grab their AR-15s and shoot each snowflake before it lands: ‘Go back to Canada where you belong!’” — TREVOR NOAH“Now it turns out there are a lot of reasons Texas has suffered such a huge power outage. Supply for electricity is down, the demand is surging. But experts also say that Texas neglected and underinvested in its grid until it finally broke during the storm. And look guys, I get it: Spending money on infrastructure is probably the least sexy thing you can do with your tax dollars, but it’s one of those things you’re going to take for granted until you’re in an emergency. It’s the same way how the people who built the Titanic didn’t focus on lifeboats. Instead, they were too focused on getting cars for their passengers to bang in.” — TREVOR NOAH“You know the phrase ‘When hell freezes over?’ We’re getting close. We’re getting real close.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Punchiest Punchlines (Girls Gone Home Edition)“This morning was the coldest in decades in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Little Rock. In New Orleans, they had the coldest Fat Tuesday in more than a hundred years. People on the streets were putting their tops on.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“It’s ‘Girls Gone Home’ in New Orleans.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“And I think this is the right move. I mean, the sooner the people of New Orleans can stop the spread of Covid, the sooner they can get back to spreading gonorrhea.” — TREVOR NOAH“And, yeah, it’s sad. But it’s just not safe to hold a Mardi Gras parade. I mean, during a pandemic, a tuba just turns into a Covid fire hose.” — TREVOR NOAH“I thought we were supposed to have fun in ’21. But I guess that hasn’t started yet.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Bits Worth WatchingA “Daily Show” correspondent, Ronny Chieng, detailed the recent horrific rise in hate crimes against Asian-Americans.What We’re Excited About on Wednesday NightPatton Oswalt will pop by Wednesday’s “A Little Late With Lilly Singh.”Also, Check This OutThe Oneida Nation comedian Charlie Hill on “The Tonight Show” when Jay Leno was the guest host in 1991.Credit…Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank, via NBCUniversal, via, Getty ImagesIn his new book, Kliph Nesteroff, a historian of stand-up comedy, details the oft-forgotten and overlooked contributions Native Americans have made to the genre.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    For a ‘Cobra Kai’ Star, There’s Nothing a Good Basket Won’t Fix

    AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWhat I LoveFor a ‘Cobra Kai’ Star, There’s Nothing a Good Basket Won’t Fix‘I have a hard time saying no to a basket,’ said the actor Courtney Henggeler, explaining her approach to decorating her family’s Long Island rental.Courtney Henggeler’s Evolving Aesthetic13 PhotosView Slide Show ›Adam Macchia for The New York TimesFeb. 16, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ETSmart mothers know better than to bring their young children on trips to the grocery store. The little ones tend to lobby vigorously for things that, in the end, will benefit no one but the family dentist. And they probe, at high volume, matters that Mommy may not want to discuss in public.Courtney Henggeler can speak with some authority on this topic. Not long ago, she was wheeling her cart through the supermarket when her 4-year-old son, Oscar, loudly asked, “Why do we have so many houses?”“People who were listening must have thought we were very wealthy,” said Ms. Henggeler, 42, who co-stars in the hit Netflix series “Cobra Kai,” a spinoff of 1984’s “The Karate Kid.” (She also appeared on “The Big Bang Theory” as Sheldon’s twin sister, and had a recurring role in the first few seasons of “Mom.”) “It’s just that we move around. I film ‘Cobra Kai’ in Atlanta, and we were in a house for three months one year, and the next year we were in another house.”Oscar may be relieved to know that his family — until recently based in Los Angeles, also in a series of rentals — is zeroing in on a permanent address. A year or so ago, Ms. Henggeler, who grew up in the Poconos and in Seaford, Long Island, and her husband, Ross Kohn, a movie producer who was raised in Westchester, decided to move back to New York and settle there to be closer to Ms. Henggeler’s ailing mother.The plan: to rent for a few years and then build their dream house.Courtney Henggeler, 42, one of the stars of the Netflix series “Cobra Kai,” lives with her family in a rented house in Huntington, N.Y. “I love the doors, I love the moldings, I love the big windows,” she said.Credit…Adam Macchia for The New York TimesCourtney Henggeler, 42Occupation: ActorIn the pink: “It was very important to me to have a soft-pink bedroom for my daughter. Poor kid. She’s probably, like, ‘I just want a blue wall, Mom.’”“I’d been to a million weddings before I got married, so I kind of figured out what I wanted and didn’t want for my own wedding,” said Ms. Henggeler, who married Mr. Kohn in 2015 and had a second child, a daughter, Georgie, almost two years ago. “I felt the same about houses. I’ve lived in so many that I kind of knew what I wanted.”What she wanted from a rental “seemed kind of absurd, and my husband looked at me as if I had five heads. But I said, ‘We’ll find it.’”They found it — and more — in the form of a brand-new transitional colonial in Huntington, N.Y. It had four bedrooms. She would have settled for two bathrooms, but got four and a half. A light, bright kitchen with a six-burner stove? Check. Crown moldings? (In abundance.) Dark hardwood floors? (Be still, her heart.)“I never knew how important flooring was,” she said. “My previous homes had orange-y wood. I stay up at night looking at wood flooring on Instagram.”The backyard is smaller than she would have liked, as is the sole bathtub. Family baths, a favorite routine, are now on hold. But those deficiencies were offset by the basement exercise room (“I was like, ‘Who am I, with a gym in my house?’”); the radiant-heat floors in the bathroom (“My children are now, like, ‘I can’t live without heated floor, Mommy,’ and I’m, like, ‘Me, too,’”); the central vacuum system (“What a princess I’ve become; I can’t live without this now, either”); and the kitchen’s instant hot-water dispenser.The foyer is “actually my favorite little spot in the house,” she said.Credit…Adam Macchia for The New York TimesBut Ms. Henggeler was thrilled practically senseless by the foyer, which she has outfitted with a bench and a pillow. “It’s actually my favorite little spot in the house,” she said. “In the house we left in Los Angeles, you walked in and you were immediately in the living room, and that drove me bonkers.”But wait! There’s more: a mudroom. “I always wanted one,” she said. “I love what people do with them. A mudroom is a functional space, but you can have fun with it.”Her idea of fun, in this case, centers on baskets — on coat hooks, under the bench, holding gloves and scarves and grocery bags. “I have a hard time saying no to a basket,” she said. “It’s probably the thing I bought most of for this house. My attitude is: Let’s make it beautiful.”Mr. Kohn’s outerwear apparently falls well short of that standard. “Ross wants to hang his jacket in the mudroom, and I tell him to put it in the closet,” Ms. Henggeler said.Another example of their differing views on décor: He likes a modern look with clean lines, while she gravitates toward old houses and feminine touches. “I came into the relationship with a lot of sparkly things,” she said.Out of regard for her husband’s feelings, she has designated Georgie’s room her “girlie-girl outlet,” painting it a blush-rose and using it as a repository for treasures from her own childhood, among them a mirror, some books and framed pictures. Ms. Henggeler sums it up nicely: “The room looks like my apartment would look now if I hadn’t married a man who doesn’t want to live in a house with pink.”Ms. Henggeler painted the nursery for her daughter, Georgie, pink — her own favorite color.Credit…Adam Macchia for The New York TimesBut she understands the appeal of a different palette. She loves how the slate-gray walls in the dining room set off the collection of Jim Marshall rock-star photographs she inherited from her godfather.She says her aesthetic is evolving — though how exactly she isn’t quite sure, apart from moving in the direction of the California-chic look embodied by the designer Jenni Kayne.She is contemplating the acquisition of a chaise longue for the living room. It will take over the spot that was, until recently, filled by a mattress that she and Mr. Kohn bought for the first home they shared. “We didn’t want to take it to the curb until garbage-collection day, so we put it in here. But our kids loved jumping on it, and it stayed for another seven months,” Ms. Henggeler said.“At the moment,” she added, “I’m in the there’s-nothing-a-throw-blanket-won’t-fix phase of design.”For weekly email updates on residential real estate news, sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @nytrealestate.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    For ‘Buffy’ Fans, Another Reckoning With the Show’s Creator

    AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyFor ‘Buffy’ Fans, Another Reckoning With the Show’s CreatorMany fans said they are trying to reconcile accusations of misogyny against Joss Whedon, the creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” with their love of a show that celebrated female empowerment.Joss Whedon, seen here at a premiere in 2018, has been accused of abusing actors who worked for him.Credit… Gabriel Olsen/WireImage via Getty ImagesFeb. 15, 2021Updated 4:37 p.m. ETThe Whedon Studies Association, a society of academics devoted to studying the works of Joss Whedon, is debating whether to change its name. Fans who grew up with his signature show, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and were planning to introduce it to their children are grappling with what to do.Some said they are regretting tattoos inspired by “Buffy” and other shows Mr. Whedon created.For years, fans of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” which aired on the WB and UPN from 1997 to 2003, have had to reconcile their adoration for a show about a teenage girl who slays monsters with the criticism that often swirled around her creator.Mr. Whedon’s early reputation as a feminist storyteller was tarnished after his ex-wife, the producer Kai Cole, accused him of cheating on her and lying about it. The actress Charisma Carpenter, a star of the “Buffy” spinoff “Angel,” hinted at a fan convention in 2009 that Mr. Whedon was not happy when she became pregnant.In July, Ray Fisher, an actor who starred in Mr. Whedon’s 2017 film “Justice League,” accused him of “gross” and “abusive” treatment of the cast and crew. Mr. Whedon has disputed some of Mr. Fisher’s accusations, and said his ex-wife’s 2017 account included “inaccuracies” and “misrepresentations.”On Wednesday, Ms. Carpenter released a statement in support of Mr. Fisher, in which she said Mr. Whedon harassed her while she was pregnant and fired her after she gave birth in 2003.“Joss Whedon abused his power on numerous occasions while working together on the sets of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel,” she said in the post, hashtagged #istandwithRayFisher. The post set off a new accounting for longtime fans of Mr. Whedon’s work, and some of the people who helped him create it.Over the past week, many of the actors who starred on “Buffy,” including Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Buffy Summers, have expressed solidarity with Ms. Carpenter and distanced themselves from Mr. Whedon. The actress Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Buffy’s younger sister, Dawn, alleged on Instagram on Thursday that Mr. Whedon was not allowed to be alone with her.“I would like to validate what the women of ‘Buffy’ are saying and support them in telling their story,” Marti Noxon, one of the show’s producers and longtime writers, said on Twitter. Jose Molina, a writer who worked on Mr. Whedon’s show “Firefly,” called him “casually cruel.”A representative for Mr. Whedon declined to comment.Charisma Carpenter, seen here in 2019, played Cordelia on “Buffy” and “Angel.”Credit…Nina Prommer/EPA, via ShutterstockThrough “Buffy,” Mr. Whedon sparked a universe that inspired scholarly articles and books, countless online groups that still dissect plotlines and characters more than 17 years after the final episode aired, and legions of fans who connected deeply with a teenage girl forced to fight unimaginable horrors.“Many people came out and said that ‘Buffy’ saved their lives,” said Alyson Buckman, a professor at California State University, Sacramento, and member of the Whedon Studies Association, who surveyed fans of the show for an upcoming book. “It was incredibly meaningful for them. It taught them to stand up for themselves. It taught them that they could go on.”She added: “Is that all ruined by one man?”Welcome to the HellmouthIn March 1997, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” premiered on the WB, then a fledgling cable network, and was quickly praised as a smart and campy series about a teenage girl and her friends fighting the forces of evil.The show was full of clever metaphors — Buffy lived in a California town that sits on a hellmouth, a place where vampires and monsters converge and a sly comparison to the pains of adolescence. Writers like Ms. Noxon and Jane Espenson developed rich plotlines and provided the actors with snappy dialogue that fascinated linguists. The characters struggled with evil boyfriends, their own sexuality and the death of a parent in ways that fans found cathartic.“The show was really a lifeline for me at the time because I didn’t have community,” said Jen Malkowski, a film and media studies professor at Smith College, who identifies as queer and trans nonbinary and began watching the show in high school.“I was working with my sexuality, coming to terms with coming out,” said Professor Malkowski, who uses they and them pronouns. “Buffy was a huge source of comfort for me.”Mr. Whedon’s fame grew, and he went on to direct and write myriad other films and television series, including the wildly popular “Avengers” and one of its sequels, “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” In 2013, the human rights group Equality Now honored him as a champion of storytelling who fought for gender equality.“Buffy was such a powerful show not just because it was about girl power, but also because it was about women’s voices,” said Jodi Eichler-Levine, a professor at Lehigh University who described herself as “obsessed” with the show in graduate school.“Hearing just how profoundly the voices of women in the cast were ignored cuts deep,” she said.Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Buffy Summers, said she was proud of the role, but does not want to be forever associated with Joss Whedon. Credit…WB‘The story is not just Joss Whedon’s’In pop culture and beyond, there’s a long history of fans working through how to separate their art from its creator or stars. And for years, many fans have had to compartmentalize their love for “Buffy” as more accusations swirled against Mr. Whedon and multiple viewings of the show revealed aspects of it that had not aged well.Nat Brehmer, a freelance writer in Apopka, Fla., described on Twitter how he thought of Mr. Whedon as “some kind of god” when he first watched the show in high school. Episodes like one about a student who feels so unseen by her classmates that she literally becomes invisible helped him cope with the anxieties he felt as a teenager.Over the years, Mr. Brehmer said he has had to contend with some troubling remnants of the show’s legacy, like its treatment of minority characters and its depiction of sexual assault.The latest controversy surrounding Mr. Whedon is a reminder of the danger of idolization, Mr. Brehmer said. But he said that if he has children, he will watch “Buffy” with them.“Buffy is still my favorite show of all time,” he said. “Probably, by and large, one of my favorite stories ever told.”“Buffy” fans know that the “story is not just Joss Whedon’s,” said Kristin Russo, a co-host on the podcast, “Buffering the Vampire Slayer.” She compared the loyalty of fans to the show to that of fans of Harry Potter, who have distanced themselves from J.K. Rowling and transphobic comments she has made, while still embracing the books.“It’s the fandom claiming it back,” Ms. Russo said. “I don’t think that anyone would think that Buffy Summers belongs to any one person.”Professor Malkowski said boycotting “Buffy” and other shows Mr. Whedon created would also obscure the legacy of the other writers, producers and actors who worked on those series.“I want to hold on to Marti Noxon and Jane Espenson and Charisma Carpenter,” they said. “To me, it’s more important to keep what’s of value than to cancel what has been revealed to be troubling.”But in case the new allegations compel networks and streaming services to stop playing old episodes of Mr. Whedon’s shows, Professor Malkowski is ready:“I will never let go of my Buffy DVDs.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    Dwayne Johnson Finds Room to Grow in ‘Young Rock’

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyDwayne Johnson Finds Room to Grow in ‘Young Rock’The new NBC comedy, based on Johnson’s real life, chronicles him at three different ages on his journey to adulthood and stardom.From left, Dwayne Johnson at age 10, age 20 and in 2019. “Young Rock,” a new NBC sitcom, tracks three different periods in the actor’s life.Credit…via Dwayne Johnson (left, center); Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images (right) Feb. 15, 2021, 8:00 a.m. ETIt’s hard to imagine Dwayne Johnson as anything other than the gargantuan, musclebound star of the “Fast and Furious” and “Jumanji” movie franchises, TV shows like “Ballers” and the professional wrestling ring, where he first came to prominence as the Rock. But he was once a smaller — or, at least, younger — man.His history is now the basis for the new comedy “Young Rock,” which debuts Tuesday on NBC. This series checks in with Johnson at three stages of his life: as a preteen, still known by the nickname Dewey (played by Adrian Groulx); as an awkward teenager (Bradley Constant); and as a budding college football player (Uli Latukefu).“Young Rock” also features Stacey Leilua as Johnson’s real-life mother, Ata, and Joseph Lee Anderson as his famed father, the wrestling champion Rocky Johnson. Dwayne Johnson appears as himself in the series, which was created by Nahnatchka Khan and Jeff Chiang (both of “Fresh Off the Boat”).And while he’s rarely known for getting taken down, Johnson, 48, said in a recent video interview that the process of creating “Young Rock” was “so incredibly surreal” that it “knocked me on my butt.”Uli Latukefu plays Johnson as a college student.Credit…Mark Taylor/NBC“Unlike anything I’ve ever participated in, it required real specificity and an attention to detail,” he said. “And nuance, to find the comedy and make sure that some of these lessons that I learned a tough way would hopefully help audiences, too.”Johnson spoke further about mining his life stories for the material found in “Young Rock,” and how the show required him to re-evaluate himself and his father, who died in 2020. These are edited excerpts from that conversation.First of all, is there anyone in your life who still calls you Dewey?Yes, my mom calls me Dewey all the time. And unfortunately, she calls me that in public. I hated that name when I was young — hated it every time my parents would call me that in front of girls, teachers and my friends. And it stuck.How did you decide which stages of your life the series would focus on?It required a lot of hours of sitting down with Nahnatchka, just talking and sharing stories and then walking away, going back home, writing things down, meeting back again, going over more stories. Once we chopped up a lot of years, Nahnatchka and her team went back and they sifted through everything. And they came back with the concept of three timelines, at 10, 15 and 18, which were defining years of my life.Did you do anything to help resurface these old stories and generate the raw material?I poured myself a lot of tequilas and I was able to jog my memory. I would leave Nahnatchka these voice notes, after my second or third drink, and say, listen, you’re never going to believe this. But I’ll tell it to you anyway. And then we would talk the next day.Bradley Constant in “Young Rock.” Johnson said he spent time with the actors who played him “and let them know what I was like during that time.”Credit…Mark Taylor/NBCDid you want to be involved in casting the actors who play you on the show?Every single one. And I was able to spend some time with them, prior to shooting, and let them know what I was like during that time. What I thought my priorities were. The times, more important, that I fell on my ass and I had to get back up. That was surreal, in and of itself. The thing that really pulled at my cold, black heartstrings was finding the actors to play my mom, my dad and my grandmother, and spend time with them. As we’re having these conversations and they would start talking about what they knew of my mom and my grandmother and my dad [snaps fingers], within seconds I would well up.Did you ever consider a “PEN15”-style approach to the show where you’d play yourself at the different ages?We talked about everything creatively you could think of. Could I play all three characters? How could we do that? Would we pull in technology and see what we could accomplish there? One of the issues became time and trying to balance out my already very full plate of things that I had to do. One of the original pitches was that I would actually remain in the shadows — do what I would do, promotionally, but otherwise let this live on its own. Then we came back and realized, let’s have you in every episode, talking and reminiscing. This is probably a better way to do it.We see in “Young Rock” how with the wrestlers of your father’s era, their lives in the ring are glamorous and exciting, but their lives at home are more mundane, even a bit meager. Was that true to your experience growing up?Oh, yes, we are showing the truth of that generation, of the ’70s and ’80s. Those wrestling stars were adored and they were celebrated. They would wrestle in 5,000-seat arenas or in high-school gyms. And when they left, they always left in a Cadillac or a Lincoln. Always. Everyone. Wherever they would park, you would see a fleet of Caddies and Lincolns. Because that was working the gimmick. And it was important that fans saw them getting into an expensive car. But then when you go down the road, to where they lived, in many cases it was small apartments, like we did. And we would live paycheck to paycheck. I felt like there was value in showing that. This was the commitment that these men had to their business. This, in essence, put food on their table.Adrian Groulx, center, with Joseph Lee Anderson and Stacey Leilua, plays Johnson as a boy.Credit…Mark Taylor/NBCSome viewers have already had a glimpse into your awkward high-school years, courtesy of a famous photograph from that era that showed you wearing a turtleneck, a gold chain and a fanny pack. Will we learn the origin of the fanny pack in a future episode?The fanny pack will live a life, for sure. It’s very, very important. But we all went through that in high school to varying degrees. I was 14 when we left Hawaii and had to move to Nashville. And that’s where everyone thought I was an undercover cop because “21 Jump Street” was on at that time. And we left Nashville within three months and moved to Bethlehem, Pa., and I felt like who I was wasn’t good enough. I didn’t want to be Dwayne, I wanted to be Tomás. I thought that girls would think it was a cool name. They had to think that I had money, and I would steal these expensive clothes. I got arrested twice when I went to Bethlehem, for stealing — which is not in the pilot, either, but it’ll make its way in down the road.The show’s portrayal of your father is complicated because we see him first as a popular wrestler, and then later when his wrestling career is over and he’s working more quotidian jobs to make ends meet. Was it hard for you to think about him this way?When NBC said, “We’re in, let’s partner up [on ‘Young Rock’],” it was big news. I called home to my mom and dad and spoke to them both. A few days later, he passed away suddenly. But I believe that he would want that to be shown. He would want to offer that example to help other athletes transition out of their world, with maybe a little bit more grace than he did. He had a very hard time, and he had to find any job. He drove a truck, he did whatever he could do to make a buck. That’s a hard reality shift. My dad and I, we had a complicated relationship — it was very tough love. Let’s show the flaws, but when people aren’t here anymore, let’s show the good stuff, too.Has your mother seen the show yet?My mom was my “Young Rock” consigliere throughout. She felt we could showcase the tough [expletive] and the hard [expletive] because we got through it. That’s the lesson. Hopefully, people who are going through some hard [expletive], too, can see that there’s a way out. You can get on the other side of it.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More