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Producing Artistic Director of the Pasadena Playhouse, Danny Feldman, accepted the Regional Theatre Tony Award on stage at the historic United Palace in New York City’s Washington Heights Sunday evening during the live broadcast of the American Theatre Wing’s 76th Tony Awards ceremony.
Host, Oscar winner Ariana DeBose, cheekily opened the show by looking through a “script” of blank pages, a nod to the on-going writer’s strike, before launching into a spectacular opening dance number choreographed by Karla Garcia. What followed was a very spontaneous show that had to be done without a net with DeBose telling the audience to “buckle up” for what ended up being a celebration of theatre, community, and honored writers at every turn.
In accepting the award, Feldman emphasized the Playhouse’s storied history saying, “the Playhouse has been around for more than 100 years, one of the oldest in the country, so this is such a meaningful award for all of us.”
In an interview immediately after he exited the stage, Feldman told the story of where he was when he got the phone call that they had won and it is indeed a quintessentially L.A. story. “I was in my car when I got the phone call that we won and I almost ran my car off the road – I immediately pulled over!” He went on to extoll the work that goes into what they do at the Playhouse year in and year out, saying, “we do extraordinary work on our stage. We have some of the most talented theatre artists in L.A., we’re very L.A. focused in our work. We do plays, we do revivals, we do musicals, we do it all – plus we’re very embedded in our community. We’re a community centric theatre. We do lots of work in our public schools, bringing thousands of kids every year, and really fostering the next generation of theatre professionals and audiences.”
In an interview with South Pasadenan earlier in the month, Feldman told us, “We’ve been fortunate – we’ve worked with some very talented people and given them a space to do their best work. And I think what’s unique and special about the turnaround we’ve had here in the last couple of years, it has been 100% driven by the art on the stage and by the artists on the stage. And that is unique. And that should be celebrated. And that’s a lesson to all of us – that when you bet on artists you usually win.”
By all accounts, including a shiny, new Tony award, our bet has paid off. Visit your Pasadena Playhouse and see what all the buzz is about!
Read our interview with Danny Feldman here.
