Work-in-Progress LaChiusa Musical About Presidential Daughters at MASS MoCA Dec 3
First Daughter Suite
Sundance Institute Theatre Lab
MassMoCA - North Adams, MA
Saturday, December 7, 2013, 8pm
Club B-10
$12 advance / $16 day of / $10 students
December 3, 2013
Michael John LaChiusa
(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – There will be a work-in-progress public showing of First Daughter Suite, a new work by Tony Award-nominated composer and lyricist Michael John LaChiusa, at MASS MoCA on Saturday, December 7, 2013, at 8pm. The performance is the culmination of a residency by the renowned Sundance Institute Theatre Program’s fall musical and ensemble Theatre Lab that offers workshop support to playwrights, directors, composers, and librettists.
Directed by Kirsten Sanderson, First Daughter Suite is part of a cycle of musical plays that began with First Lady Suite (1992). A fantasia based on historical characters and real events, First Daughter Suite explores the complex dynamic between mothers and daughters, as experienced by the women and children closest to the President of the United States. Despite the rarefied environment of the White House and accompanying trials of the presidency, each faces obstacles that are common to us all.
The Oct. 14 reading included Kate Baldwin, Carolee Carmello, Kathleen Chalfant, Mary Testa, Donna Lynne Champlin, Jessica Grové, Rebecca Luker, Charlotte Maltby, Luba Mason, Theresa McCarthy, Betsy Morgan, Isabel Santiago and Carly Tamer.
The two parts presented on Dec. 7, the Nixon part and the Bush part, were beautiful, and powerful. Here are some photos from the evening. Click the image to enlarge:
Michael John LaChiusa,
Luba Mason
director Kirsten Sanderson