Christopher Durang
Acting Work Theatre
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The
Idiots
Karamazov – Yale
Repertory Theatre, fall 1974. |
Pirates (1976) (right) In rehearsal Durang sword-fights with Dianne Wiest in Amlin Gray's play Pirates at the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, summer 1976. Durang was there primarily as a playwright, with his A History of the American Film. But he also got hired to play a small part in this play, and also to play a shy suitor of his Yale actress friend Christine Estabrook in a television workshop. The sword fights were all ad-libbed, and Wiest was worried about being hurt. Durang was too, so they both made a quiet pact to fight together, but just not too hard. It was a nice way to make friends. Later that summer, Wiest was fantastic in Durang’s American Film play, and he was delighted when she played the lead in his Beyond Therapy on Broadway in 1982.
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Das Lusitania Songspiel (1980)
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About the Show: Durang and Weaver became close friends at Yale School of Drama, appearing in plays together, including some written by Durang. In late 1979 through February 1980, Durang and Weaver appeared in their cabaret show Das Lusitania Songspiel together, and it became a late night cult hit. In the spring, both Durang and Weaver received Drama Desk nominations for Best Leading Performer in a Musical. And in 1986 when Weaver hosted Saturday Night Live, she requested that Durang be her co-host, and they performed a 5 minute excerpt from Das Lusitania at the end of the program. And in 2001 Durang and Weaver did a segment of Das Lusitania Songspiel for Stage Blue, a theatrical celebration of the history of Yale performers over a hundred years, presented at the New Amsterdam Theatre on Broadway. More on Das Lusitania
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