August 2010 Dear Friends,


As I reflect on our 2009 - 2010 Season, I am struck by the range and breadth of accomplishments New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) oversaw this year.


Board of Trustees


James C. Nicola ARTISTIC DIRECTOR


William Russo MANAGING DIRECTOR


Barbara Howard CHAIR


Heather Randall PRESIDENT


Allan S. Gordon VICE-CHAIR


Noel E.D. Kirnon TREASURER


Anthony E. Napoli SECRETARY


Stephen Graham FOUNDING TRUSTEE


Gail Bell Judy Gordon Cox Barbara Cutler C.C. Dyer


Jodi Edmonds Hans Humes Robert Rosenberg Patricia E. Rowell Patrick Milling Smith Deborah Voigt Doug Wright


The Season began with Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen’s remarkable docudrama Aftermath, which was a culminating event for NYTW. From my first conversation with Jessica in 2007 about the omission of stories about ordinary Iraqis from the war coverage we were seeing, to the various developmental readings of the play we facilitated over two years, I was moved by the importance of this piece of theatre. It exemplified the work NYTW aspires to foster and produce—personal and political; thoughtful and stirring. Restoration, our final production, accomplished another goal important to the Workshop: we provided playwright Claudia Shear, who began her career at NYTW, a chance to come home and reunite with director Christopher Ashley. The duo delivered a beautiful play and the audience was treated to a marvelous scenic design with a replica of Michelangelo’s David as its centerpiece. Our two other productions, T Lonely Hunter and T


he Heart is a op Secret: T he Battle for the P entagon P apers allowed us to collaborate with


other nonprofit theatre companies with mutual interests—to use theatre to engage artists and audiences with some of the most important and emotionally charged stories and issues of our time.


The way in which we connect with the public grew significantly throughout the Season. With new marquee-like posters adorning the wall outside the theatre, specially produced videos for each of our productions on our very own YouTube Channel and extensive panel discussions and talkbacks after performances, the public had increased and more varied opportunities to get to know NYTW and the work on our stage. Realizing that Aftermath would stir up a great deal of conversation, we asked media scholar Mark Crispin Miller to moderate talkbacks after every performance and staff members of the International Rescue Committee and the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict participated in panel discussions to lend greater insight to the subject of Iraqi refugees. For T


op Secret, we partnered with the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Center on Communication, Leadership and Policy to mount twelve panels featuring judges, journalists, scholars and the source of the Pentagon Papers himself, Daniel Ellsberg.


Looking back on this year’s accomplishments and challenges, I realize again that what we do cannot simply be measured in reviews. Rather, our achievements become clear when we receive responses to our productions from members, who have been with us for years, or a class of high school students, who may be seeing theatre for the first time at one of our Student Matinees, or when we find new ways to provide artists with the space and time to explore their latest artistic endeavor. This year, besides supporting the development of more than 50 new plays, we gave Elevator Repair Service our 3rd floor studio to make their newest discoveries, watched Najla Saïd triumph in our 4th Street Theatre in her solo performance P


alestine after developing it at a 2007


Summer Residency at Dartmouth College and witnessed one of our Fellows teach playwriting to a group of sixth graders at our new partner school, the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn.


This combination of activities—in schools, in our studios and on our stage—have made the year quite full. And, although the Season is over, we can only briefly catch our breath. The next one is right around the corner. We hope to see you then.


Warmest regards,


James C. Nicola


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