Out Magazine has revealed it's 2009 "Out 100" hotlist, celebrating the "most inspiring men and women of the year," and several theatrical notables have topped the list including four figures attached to the critically acclaimed show "The Temperamentals," including Jon Maranas, the playwright; Stacy Shane, producer; Jonathan Silverstein, director; and the actor Michael Urie.
Daryl Roth and Stacy Shane are are preparing to open "The Temperamentals" by Jon Marans off- Broadway at New World Stages on February 28th, 2010. Previews will begin on Thursday, February 18th. Full casting, schedule and ticket prices will be announced later.
The play began as a showcase the end of April in an intimate Studio Theatre. All performances were sold out in advance with a waiting list for the initial engagement. Due to the tremendous critical and popular acclaim, it moved to a larger theatre for a few weeks extension. It then extended two more times during the summer. The original cast included Thomas Jay Ryan as Harry Hay and Michael Urie (TV's "Ugly Betty") as Rudi Gernreich, leading the cast of five actors. The acclaimed play is directed by Jonathan Silverstein. The Set & Costume design is by Clint Ramos, lighting by Josh Bradford and Daniel Kluger is the sound designer.
"The Temperamentals" tells the story of two men - the communist Harry Hay and the Viennese refugee and designer Rudi Gernreich - as they fall in love while building the first gay rights organization in the United States pre Stonewall. The play weaves together the personal and political to tell a relatively unknown chapter in gay history. It explores the love between two complex men, as their impossible dream of forming such an unheard of organization becomes a reality in this perilous, unpredictable world. It is an intimate portrayal of the men who created history and the epic struggles they overcame. The characters consist of the actual men who founded the Mattachine Society (Harry Hay, Rudi Gernreich, Chuck Rowland, Bob Hull, and Dale Jennings), as well as other prominent figures of the time in Hollywood and the film industry as well as the world of fashion.
Jon Marans' "Old Wicked Songs" was a 1996 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Drama, winner of New York Drama League, L.A. Drama Logue Award, and included in Otis Guernsey's Best Plays of 1996-97. It has been produced in over a dozen countries including in the West End with Bob Hoskins and James Callis. Jonathan Silverstein recent credits are the acclaimed Off Broadway revivals of "The Dining Room" (Drama Desk nomination; Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble) and "Tea and Sympathy", both for the Keen Company, where he serves as Resident Director.
Michael Urie, best known for his participation in Ugly Betty serves on the board of Plum Productions and serves as its casting director. With the same company he has produced and appeared in Prachtoberfest and lowbrow (and a little bit tacky). As a freelance producer, he has worked on Like The Mountains and The Fantasticks (Four Players Theatre). He also directed the latter production. He recently directed a one-night celebrity performed staging of Howard Ashman's unproduced musical "Dreamstuff". The musical was re-imagined by Howard's partners Marsha Malamet and Dennis Green and performed one night only at Los Angeles' Hayworth Theatre as part of the Bruno Kirby celebrity reading series. Eden Espinosa starred in the show along with Fred Willard, Vicki Lewis, David Blue and Luke Macfarlane.
Additional honorees include actors Gavin Creel, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, John Glover, Neil Patrick Harris, Kelly McGillis, Christopher Sieber, and Wanda Sykes, producer Jordan Roth, directors Tina Landau, Arthur Laurents, Robert Longbottom, and Rob Marshall, and writers Moises Kaufman, Tony Kushner, Paul Rudnick, and Sarah Schulman, among others.
