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Nathan Lane Is Trumbo as Bio-Play Begins New Off-Broadway Run, Aug. 26
By Ernio Hernandez
26 Aug 2003
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Dalton Trumbo, in his favorite writing spot.
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| photo by Mitzi Trumbo | Broadway favorite Nathan Lane stars in the title role in the new Off-Broadway engagement of Christopher Trumbo's new play, Trumbo — an homage to his screenwriting father Dalton Trumbo.
The work, now subtitled Red, White and Blacklisted, will once again play at the Westside Theatre, where it played in its previous run on successive Mondays (March 31-June 16). The new open-ended staging begins its Tuesdays-to-Sundays schedule, Aug. 26, officially opening Sept. 4.
Gordon MacDonald, who played the show's other role of Narrator/Christopher during the previous run, will star opposite Lane through Sept. 21. Other stars are expected to join the play for limited engagements following Lane and MacDonald's stint. No names have yet be announced.
Culled from the letters of the legendary blacklisted screenwriter, Trumbo tells the story of one of the "Hollywood Ten" who went before the House Un-American Activities Committee. After refusing to answer questions about his political affiliations, Trumbo was fired from MGM and imprisoned for a year.
The play's focus, Trumbo, wrote such screenplays as "The Brave One," "Exodus," "Spartacus," "Roman Holiday," and "Papillon" as well as the novel "Johnny Got His Gun."
Peter Askin (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Sexaholix... a love story) directs the work presented by Claudia Catania and the Westside Theatre with the help of People For the American Way.
Lane, who recently made secret guest appearances on Broadway in The Play What I Wrote, won Tony Awards for his turns in The Producers and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Other credits include The Man Who Came to Dinner, Guys and Dolls, Love! Valour! Compassion! and Laughter on the 23rd Floor.
The busy Lane will next play another title role in the Huntington Theatre Company staging of Butley in Boston, and is then in talks to return to Broadway's The Producers on Dec. 31 for a three-month stint. In June of 2004, he will star in — and has done some rewriting for — a staging of the Burt Shevelove adaptation of Aristophanes' comedy The Frogs for the Lincoln Center Theater season. (He will also host the annual "Broadway on Broadway" concert, Sept. 7.)
Lane was among the rotating cast of actors who played the title role in the prior engagement. Actors Ed Harris, Chris Cooper, Alec Baldwin, Eddie Izzard, Tim Robbins, Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Bill Irwin and Aidan Quinn also portrayed the title character. Paul Giamatti, Michael Silver and MacDonald alternately played the show's other role.
For tickets to the new run of Trumbo, at the Westside Theatre, 407 W. 43rd St., call (212) 239-6200 or click here.
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Protests against the House Un-American Activities Committee's blacklisting of the "Hollywood 10."
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