Helen Hayes Award Nominees: "Outstanding Ensemble in a Play"

Tonight I'll be tuning in (virtually) for the final night of the Helen Hayes Awards for the 2020 Washington, DC theater season. I am proud to be included with the company members of Happenstance Theater as one of the nominees for Outstanding Ensemble in a Play for their production Pantheon, an original work of devised theater.

Ordinarily, a guest music director/composer isn't a member of the ensemble, but Happenstance is not ordinary. My role, though it centered around being a one-man band and sound effects man, also involved character, costume, movement (we were nominated for Outstanding Choreography in a Play as well), writing and speaking dialogue, and dramatic, comedic Brechtian song delivery.

From the play’s inception and R & D through its 2019 world premiere at Baltimore Theater Project and a follow-up run at Joe’s Movement Emporium, this immensely and diversely talented company–“peddlers of whimsy,” physical comedy, puppetry, song, dance, philosophy, and more) embodied, as always, the spirit of creative collaboration. It was a thrill to work with them and to have all my skill sets made such thorough use of.

I look forward to zooming in on the festivities tonight from my living room/kitchen here in Italy, though I may be a little sleepy. midnight-2 am (i.e. six hours later here than in Washington, remember) is a late night indeed these days. If you want to tune in, wherever you are, here's a link: todaytix.com. In bocca al lupo, Happenstance!

Phaethon, driving the chariot of the sun, in Pantheon, by Happenstance Theater (photo: Glenn Ricci)