News & Events

Performance Lab: PAL JOEY

PAL JOEY
Music and Lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart

Directed by Robert McQueen

7pm | September 26 & 27, 2015
First Floor Studio, 120 Bank Street
Click here to RSVP

Using scenes from the musical PAL JOEY this lab will focus on strengthening each participants’ rehearsal process, beginning with score preparation, table work and will then move into staging and choreographic rehearsals. Open performances will be a mix of staged and choreographed scenes and table readings.

This project is made possible through the generous support of the Frederick Loewe Foundation. Continue reading →

In Memoriam: Jeanne Kaplan

It is with great sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Jeanne Kaplan this past weekend. Jeanne taught Acting Technique and Scene Study at HB from 1986 to 2014 and was a student of Herbert Berghof, Michael Howard, Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Julie Bovasso, and others. She began her professional career as Beatrice in Ulu Grosbard’s Sheridan Square Playhouse production of Arthur Miller’s A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE with Robert Duvall as husband Eddie Carbone and Jon Voight as cousin Rudolfo. On Broadway she did Jack Gelber’s THE CUBAN THING with Raul Julia, Rip Torn and Maria Tucci. A marvelous actress, teacher, and soul — generous, loving, funny, wise and true — she will be greatly missed.

Her memorial will be held on Sunday, September 20th @ 3:00 pm at the Riverside Memorial Chapel, 180 W 76th Street, entrance just east of Amsterdam Avenue.

Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered: Playing PAL JOEY – A Conversation with Helen Gallagher & Rita Gardner

People Who Make Theatre
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered: Playing Pal Joey
A Conversation with Helen Gallagher & Rita Gardner

Moderated by Robert McQueen

Helen Gallagher (No, No, Nanette, Sweet Charity, Ryan’s Hope) won her first Tony as Gladys Bumps in the 1952 revival of Rodgers & Hart’s Pal Joey. This production also starred Elaine Stritch, as Melba, Harold Lang as Joey with Bob Fosse as Lang’s understudy. Rita Gardner (Luisa in the original cast of The Fantastics, Ben Franklin in Paris, The Wedding Singer) played the role of Linda English in the 1963 revival which featured Bob Fosse as Joey along with Viveca Lindfors. Robert McQueen, director of HB’s fall performance lab of Pal Joey, will join Helen and Rita in conversation about playing in this provocative Rodgers & Hart gem, which was based on a series of short stories by John O’Hara and scandalized audiences at its 1940 premiere. This evening is made possible with support from the Frederick Loewe Foundation and is part of HB Studio’s series celebrating the American Musical Theater canon.

Monday, September 21 @ 7:30pm
HB Playwrights Theatre, 124 Bank Street
$10 suggested donation, $5 HB Students & Faculty
RSVP online

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation presents “The HB Playwrights Theatre: A West Village Haven for Theatre”

A LECTURE WITH DRAMATIC READINGS

Thursday, September 10, 6:30 P.M.
HB Playwrights Theatre, 124 Bank Street
Hosted by Alan Pally (HB Board Member and former Manager of Public Programs at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center)
With readings by Rochelle Oliver & Fritz Weaver.
RSVP

This event will provide the general public with an introduction to and overview of the history of the HB Playwrights Theatre. Geared towards newcomers interested in becoming acquainted with HB and its history.

The HB Studio was already a thriving fixture in New York City’s cultural landscape when in 1965 founders Herbert Berghof and Uta Hagen realized their dream of establishing a theater. From his work on the film Cleopatra, Berghof earned the money to purchase the one-story garage they would convert to a 73-seat performance space.

For 50 years HB has presented productions, readings, panels, talks, and other theatrical events in this West Village gem. Now in its 70th year, HB Studio continues to provide a nurturing space for theater artists to work and practice, free from pressures related to commercial success.

Join us for a talk about the history of HB and its theater with short readings by HB notables from a few of the many plays performed there.

First Floor Residency – NEVER ODD OR EVEN

NEVER ODD OR EVEN

First Floor Studio Residency 
Work-in-progress Performance Presentation
(Ending with Q&A, Topic: DIY Theater)
Sunday, August 23 at 7pm
RSVP

Open Rehearsals – No RSVP, Come anytime!
Saturday, August 15, 4pm-8pm
Sunday, August 16, 4pm-8pm (ending with Q&A, Topic: devised theater)
Saturday, August 22, 4pm-8pm

TITLE:POINT productions
Directed by Theresa Buchheister
Written by Ryan William Downey, Theresa Buchheister, Scott Ries, Spencer T. Campbell
Featuring: Justin Anselmi, Ryan William Downey, Glor Klar, Catrin Lloyd-Bollard & J.R. Rose

Title:Point turn their hectic gaze toward beginnings and endings
in the palindromic fever dream, Never Odd or Even.
Five isolated human shapes
Pivot through time and space while
Navigating the fantastical beasts,
Dead playwrights,
Confounding mathematicians,
And earnest cowboys
They encounter and become.

Developed by residencies at
Pilot Balloon in Lawrence, Kansas and
HB Studio in New York City.

Title:Point is proud to present
Their phantasmagorical delve
Into the interiors
Of
The
M
I
N
D
.

Catch a full performance of NEVER ODD OR EVEN
at The Brick Theater, Williamsburg Sep 08, 2015 – Sep 19, 2015
www.bricktheater.com
Use discount code PALINDROME for $12 tickets! (regularly $18)
www.titlepoint.org

First Floor Studio Residency  – HB Studio is dedicated to training and practice for the theatre and to the ongoing artistic development of actors, directors, and playwrights. The Studio will, at intervals throughout the year, make workshop performance space available in our First Floor Studio for the development of creative projects that further the training and artistic practices fostered at HB. The Studio is not a producing organization, nor should these presentations be construed as “showcases” or “productions.” Rather, we offer an opportunity for associated artists to collaborate on experimental projects, to be shared among peers and colleagues, for constructive critical feedback and mutual growth.

NEA and NYSCA Acknowledgement

The Last Week to Register for Fall Term!

Registration continues through October 4! The Fall Term continues through November 22. Browse classes and register online.

Union Discount: AEA and SAG/AFTRA members receive 10% off Fall Term enrollment. Please present your membership card in the registration office, or email a copy to registration@hbstudio.org and contact to enroll.
(Discounts not valid for workshop offerings, cannot be combined, and cannot be applied retroactively)

Featured Class: Directing – The Jack & Julie Project
Whether you’re an actor who wants to try directing or a director looking to hone your craft, join TONY AWARD-WINNING DIRECTOR JACK HOFSISS for an all-levels directing class!
Mondays | 6:30pm – 9:30pm | $495 | Through November 16
Select work is presented in the HB Playwrights Theatre this December as a part of the much talked about Jack and Julie Project, playing to historically standing-room-only crowds…read more

Interested in an advanced class this Fall?
You can submit a video reel to be considered for advanced placement!
Just fill out this form and we will respond with a quick turn around:
SUBMIT REEL

Over Halfway to Our Goal!

HB is delighted to announce that $18,187 has already been raised to help support our programs for theater artists.

Thank you, dear friends and generous supporters, for getting us OVER halfway to that $30,000 goal!

Let’s get ALL THE WAY by August 31^st!

If you have yet to make a gift, please join us now. Your support will help provide our professional and aspiring actors, playwrights, and directors with classes and workshops led by experienced artists and master teachers, residencies for project development, and opportunities to explore work in performance.
Contributions can also be earmarked for our scholarship fund to help those students with the greatest need, The Hagen Institute, performances and productions, or improvements in our classrooms and buildings.

Click here to donate today! You can make a difference in the lives of the 3,000 theater artists we serve each year.

The Alan M. Bluestone Teen Intensive Scholarship

Established in memory of Alan M. Bluestone, this scholarship is intended to encourage a young person’s interest in theatre and lend critical support to emerging talent. Support is offered for a student to attend a full year (3 terms) of the Hagen Teen Intensive.

Applications due: August 18
Awards will be announced by August 25
Apply Online

The Books are Piling Up …

HB is delighted to announce that $15,857 has already been raised to help support our programs for theater artists.

Thank you, dear friends and generous supporters, for getting us halfway to that $30,000 goal!

Let’s get ALL THE WAY by August 31^st!

Click here to donate today! You can make a difference in the lives of the 3,000 theater artists we serve each year.

Five Week Classes in July & August!

Union Discount: AEA and SAG/AFTRA members receive 10% off Summer Term enrollment when registering by July 30. Please present your membership card in the registration office, or email a copy to registration@hbstudio.org.