Kathleen Chalfant to Join Playwrights Panel on January 31

January 29, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Cristal Logan
Director, Aspen Community Programs
The Aspen Institute
Cristal.Logan@aspeninstitute.org
Tel. 970-544-7929

Kathleen Chalfant to Join Playwrights Panel on January 31
The acclaimed actress joins leading playwrights in discussion on the place of theater in modern culture 

ASPEN, CO, January 28, 2015 –– The Aspen Institute is pleased to partner with Theater Masters to welcome acclaimed actress Kathleen Chalfant in conversation with moderator and Theater Masters Artistic Director Julia Hansen; Andrew Leynse, artistic director of the off-Broadway Primary Stages Theater in New York City; and emerging playwrights from the top MFA programs in the country. As people consume TV and film more easily by way of media-streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu Plus, the panel will examine the place of theater in modern culture, and what, if any, responsibility the playwright has to use theater as a platform for social change. This event is free and open to the public and will take place on January 31, 2015 from 5:00-6:30 p.m. in the Koch Building on the Institute’s Aspen Meadows Campus.

Kathleen Chalfant has received numerous accolades for her performances on and off the stage. Chalfant performed on Broadway “Angels in America: Millennium Approaches,” a performance that earned her a nomination for the 1993 Tony Award for Best Actress. Chalfant earned additional praise for her performance in the off-Broadway production of “Wit,” for which she won Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Obie and Lucille Lortel awards. Chalfant won a second Obie award for her 2003 performance in “Talking Heads.”  In addition to her off-screen roles, Chalfant has starred in “House of Cards” as well as “Law & Order” and several of its spin-offs, including “Special Victims Unit” and “Criminal Intent.”

Andrew Leynse is currently in his thirteenth season as artistic director at Primary Stages. He has produced, managed and directed in the New York Theatre community for more than twenty years.  Primary Stages productions have received considerable critical acclaim, including Tony, Obie, AUDELCO, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, Drama Desk awards and nominations.  Primary Stages received the Lucille Lortel Outstanding Body of Work Award in 2008. Andrew is also the artistic director of Perry-Mansfield’s New Works Festival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. 

Julia Hansen served as president of the Drama League of New York, where she conceived and administered The Directors Project, a national training program for young directors. Her board services include The Acting Company, The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, The Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation, the Lincoln Center Theatre, and the Advisory Board for Dramaworks in West Palm Beach, Florida. She is the founder and Executive Director of Theater Masters, a producing and presenting organization dedicated to bringing distinguished theater professionals to the Roaring Fork Valley and to enriching the quality of theater education in the Valley.  On a national scale, Theater Masters is dedicated to nurturing, developing, and producing or causing to be produced the work of the next generation of American playwrights.  Its goal is to enhance audience understanding of, and support for, theater.

Admission is free and open to everyone.

For more information on events open to the public, please contact Jillian Scott at (970) 544-7914 or jillian.scott@aspeninstitute.org, or visit the Institute’s website at www.aspeninstitute.org/aspenevents.

The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for discussing and acting on critical issues. The Institute has campuses in Aspen, Colorado, and on the Wye River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It also maintains offices in New York City and has an international network of partners.

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