Playwright Lynn Nottage has two Pulitzer Prizes to her credit (Ruined and Sweat), but Esther Mills of Intimate Apparel is arguably her most memorable character. Esther is a seamstress who makes delicate lingerie, corsets and other intimate apparel for clients ranging from Mayme (Krystal Mosley), a black prostitute, to Mrs. Van Buren (Gracie Winchester), a white society … [Read more...]
A history lesson with love and nuance: Dramaworks cast, director prep ‘Intimate Apparel’
Be Boyd, an associate professor in the theater department of Orlando’s University of Central Florida, teaches the plays of two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, but has yet to stage one of her plays professionally. That is until now, when she directs Intimate Apparel at Palm Beach Dramaworks, opening Friday, April 1. She eagerly agreed to the assignment, calling … [Read more...]
On Broadway, Part 3: Plays and Off-Broadway
All productions of Stephen Sondheim’s masterwork, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, since the original 1979 version set inside a vast industrial warehouse have been downscaled compromises. Still, there are advantages to intimacy and proximity, particularly when the audience is nose-to-nose with that iconic vengeful serial killer born of the old British penny … [Read more...]