Blog

In loving memory of
GUY ADKINS 1968 ~ 2010

After a long battle with colon cancer, actor Guy Adkins passed away at the age of 41.  We are grateful that he graced our stage, and will forever remember him fondly.

Guy Adkins in 'Visiting Mr. Green' with Mike Nussbaum, 1999

With Carey Cannon in 'Pride and Prejudice', 2005

from Lynn Baber, Artistic Administrator

I really think that theatre has a lot of magic in it.   I’m really lucky to have a job where there is a little bit of magic in every day.  This week’s magic looked like this~

Five minutes before The Marvelous Wonderettes closed:

Two hours after The Marvelous Wonderettes closed:

Twelve hours after it closed the stage looked like this:

And 36 hours after it closed it looks like this:

Not only does that seem magical to me, it seems kind of impossible.  We do the impossible and the magical all the time around here.  It’s our job.  I can’t wait to see what Northlight looks like tomorrow.

from BJ Jones

Larry Gelbart passed away on September 11, 2009.  He was a friend of mine and all here at Northlight, and was the author of the semi-autobiographical play Better Late, which he penned with the help of Craig Wright (and which went on to become the highest grossing play in Northlight’s history).

I’ve been thinking about Larry since he passed away.   I spoke with him last on the 4th of July weekend after reading in the NY Times of a famous actress who wanted someone to write a play for her.   She was notoriously outrageous and when I mentioned contacting her and writing a play for her, he said he would think about it.   “She’s quite a handful, you know, Beej.”   I said that I knew that, and told him handling handfuls was my specialty, and he laughed at that.

I asked him how he was and he said getting old was hard.   I thought there was something in the comment but I didn’t want to press further.   We chatted a bit, he inquired after my wife Candy and all here at Northlight.   We closed on a quip - he was the quickest witted man I know and even at 81, he always left you on a laugh.   I told him I missed him and he returned the compliment. READ MORE

from BJ Jones, Artistic Director

The closing of The Lieutenant of Inishmore has left all of us here a little melancholy. It was a very gutsy choice for us to produce and of course we have heard a lot of feedback from many of you. Some felt it was not their favorite Northlight offering, though it was, however, others’ personal favorite and many wrote and called us to tell us to keep pushing the envelope. I would have to say personally that I received an equal number of pro and con responses to the show,  and that pleases me more than I can say. The real thrill for all of us though, is that so many of you felt compelled to connect with us and tell us how you felt.

Communicating with a theatre that you subscribe to bespeaks a kind of relationship that drills to the core of our mission. Whether you appreciated what we were doing with Lieutenant or not, you cared enough to get in touch, and that is profound.

To all those who got behind the choice we say thank you for your support and for enjoying the ride as much as we did. Our staff had more fun producing this than we can tell you, and believe me, 288 gallons of blood and over 200 loads of laundry later, that is saying something. The cast had so much fun and for those of you who joined in their joy, we say thanks!

To those who didn’t enjoy the ride, we are also grateful for your understanding that theatrical tastes are broad and diverse. Many told us they were mystified by the standing ovations or the laughs from others in the audience. “That’s what makes a horse race”, as they say.

To all of you, I say thank you for a great season. It was for me a particularly gratifying year and it provided me with two of my most cherished directing assignments, Grey Gardens and The Lieutenant of Inishmore - I cannot think of working on two more diverse works in one season.

Next year we celebrate 35 years. Not many theatres can claim that achievement. And we got here through your support, for which we are profoundly grateful.

In the years to come, you will all recall The Lieutenant of Inishmore, whether you enjoyed it or not, and that is what makes coming to Northlight a special experience. I feel fairly certain that none of you slept through it, and I know most of you have never seen anything like it before. We are proud of that. And we are proud of you for going the distance.

See you at The Marvelous Wonderettes.