On the day of this year’s Tony Awards, two of Chicago’s previous winners, director-playwright Mary Zimmerman, whose revival of “The Arabian Nights” is tearing up the stage at Lookingglass right now, and playwright Tracy Letts, who’s preparing his “Superior Donuts” for a transfer from Steppenwolf to Broadway this fall, appeared before a packed house of book lovers at the Printers Row Lit Fest on a panel moderated by retired Tribune theater critic Richard Christiansen.
Here are a few of the more memorable moments:
Letts on why he started writing plays in addition to acting: “To write roles for other out-of-work actors like myself.”
Zimmerman on her first work: “The story of Lady Godiva—it had one line in it.”
Letts on casting “August: Osage County”: “At Steppenwolf, we have an ensemble, so we try not to hurt any feelings.”
Letts on writing the screenplay for “August: Osage County,” which he’s doing now: “It’s terrible… just terrible. It’s like a combination of a bad adaptation with ‘Erin Brockovich”… avoid the movie at all costs!”
Zimmerman on fruitlessly rewriting certain lines over and over again in her plays and then hearing them on stage: “It strikes the ears so awkwardly and I’m just like ‘oh, just get past the moment, please!”
A Jewel of a Show: A Review of Gem of the Ocean at the Goodman Theatre As with the epic tales of the ancient world, the characters’ stories blend together into one complex, interrelated narrative that gives insight into the past and offers moral and practical guidance for the present.
