Act II Clayton Howe’s Entertainment(x)

Thank you for having us back! We're so excited to bring you all new episodes on Entertainment(x). 
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Xx - Clay 
 

”Life’s A Banquet And Most Poor Sons Of Bit@#es Are Starving To Death” Ken Billington on Lighting Life

Ken (kbany.com) has designed nearly 100 Broadway productions including Act One, Chaplin, Hugh Jackman Back on Broadway, The Scottsboro Boys, Sondheim on Sondheim, [Title of Show], The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe starring Lily Tomlin, Footloose, Candide(1997), Annie (1997), Annie Warbucks, Inherit the Wind, Moon Over Buffalo, The Red Shoes, Fiddler on the Roof (1990, 81,76), Lettice and Lovage, Tru, Meet Me in St. Louis, On the 20th Century, Side by Side by Sondheim among others. He has been honored with seven Tony award nominations and received the 1997 Tony Award for his work on Chicago. His Tony nominations include: Sunday in the Park with George(2008), The Drowsy Chaperone (2006), End of the World (1984), Foxfire(1982), Sweeney Todd (1979), Working (1978), and The Visit (1973). For a complete list of Broadway shows go to www.idbd.com.
Off-Broadway he has many productions to his credit including Nikolai and the Others, Fame, The Thing About Men, Sylvia, London Suite, Annie Warbucks, Lips Together, Teeth Apart, The Lisbon Traviata, Snoopy and Fortune in Men’s Eyes. For a more complete list go to www.lortel.org/lla_archive
Ken works in all forms of theatrical lighting including opera, dance, concerts and spectaculars. 13 productions for the NY City Opera including: Candide, the American premiers of Silverlake, The Voice of Ariadne and Ashmedai. For the Houston Grand Opera 31 productions including the world premier of Willie Stark and Aida for the opening of the Worthem Center Brown Theatre. Other companies include Dallas Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera, La Scala, Theatro Real in Madrid and Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires.
Some of the great entertainers that Ken has lit include Hugh Jackman, Ann-Margret, Shirley MacLane, Liberace, Sigfried and Roy, Juliet Prowse, Chita Rivera and Lisa Minelli to name just a few.
For 27 years the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular had lighting by Ken Billington as well as the annual Easter Show. Other spectaculars include the relighting of Jubilee at Bally’s Las Vegas in 2004, Fantasmic! at Disneyland, Shamu Night shows at the Seaworld Parks and Illuminights at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.
Ken has been received many awards including the Ace Award for Television Lighting, the Luman Award for Architectural Lighting and many theatre awards including the Tony, NY Drama Desk, Los Angeles Drama Critics and Boston Drama Critics, to name a few.

”You Are Enough, You Are Powerful, You Are Love” Kennedy Caughell on Beautiful, Wicked, And More!

Kennedy (IG:@kennedycaughell) was raised on a small Oklahoma ranch with her parents, older sister Caitlyn, and a plethora of animals!  She was never afraid to try something new, playing instruments, singing at many events, and earning her black belt in Tang Soo Do. She made the switch from country ninja to stage star playing the title role of Annie on both coasts! Her love for theatre and film only grew as she performed throughout high school and in her BFA Music Theatre training at Elon University.  Shortly after graduating, Kennedy performed across the nation and abroad as Heather in American Idiot.  Since then, she has been seen in multiple regional theatres and New York's own NYMF Festival.  Most recently Kennedy traveled the country by broomstick in the National tour of Wicked,  covering Elphaba. With her dog Moose by her side, she now resides in New York City where she occasionally teaches, and performs in various shows and concerts at 54 Below, the Laurie Beechman, and the Duplex.  Kennedy is grateful to all the people who brought her here, God, family, friends, teachers, and pets who never let her give up on her dream.

”Be Kind & Don’t Take Yourself So Seriously” Steve Rosen on ”The Other Josh Cohen” and More!

Steve Rosen (IG:@stevierosen) is currently co-authoring the musical adaptation of The Secret of My Success for Universal, world-premiering at the Paramount Theater in Chicago in 2020. With Gordon Greenberg, Rosen has written Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG Playhouse Christmas Show, performed at Bucks County Playhouse (2017, 2018, and upcoming 2019) and The Old Globe (scheduled 2019). Together they also penned The Curious Case of the Curse of Count Dracula, a farcical five-person comedic retelling of the classic horror story, premiering this October at the Maltz-Jupiter Theater. Rosen has worked extensively as a performer on stage and screen. He currently plays recurring roles on NBC’s Law and Order: SVU, Fox’s The Resident and has been nominated for a Drama Desk Award for his performance in THE OTHER JOSH COHEN as well as a Lucille Lortel Award for his performance in Pretty Filthy for The Civilians. He also originated principal roles in the original Broadway companies of MONTY PYTHON’S SPAMALOT, Aaron Sorkin’s The Farnsworth Invention and the 2009 revival of Guys & Dolls.

”Laugh” Robert Horn on Screenwriting, Tootsie, and Joy

Robert Horn (TW:@rhorn1) wrote the books for 13 The Musical, Moonshine: That Hee Haw Musical, LoneStar Love and Dame Edna, Back With A Vengeance. He’s written, created and produced such tv series as “Designing Women,” “Living Single,” “High Society” and “Partners.” He has contributed to large scale events such as Bette Midler’s Divine Intervention tour; and had production deals at Warner Brothers, Sony and ABC Studios. Films include "Teen Beach" Movies 1 & 2, "Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure", "Wildlife", and "Good Advice". Recently, he teamed up with Tony-winning MTI author David Yazbek to collaborate on the new muscial Tootsie, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical.

”No Thank You, We’re Not Doing That” Clayton Howe

Clayton Howe (IG: @inclaynation) for this episode I riff on No thank you, we're not doing that. A wonderful phrase introduced to me by my best friend, Nakiya Peterkin (Ep.001 on this show.) This is a phrase I think many of us can benefit from as we constantly receive negative self talk from ourselves or just behavior from others. I hope some or all of this resonate with you!! Enjoy! 

”Say YES!” Schele Williams on the Aida Revival and more!

Schele Williams (IG: @schelewilliams) discusses the beginning of theatre for her right up to the upcoming revival of Aida the musical. We cover a bunch of different topics from kindness to hard work! There is a ton of excellent take-aways from this wide ranging conversation! Enjoy!

”8 Bars. Don’t Suck” Clayton Howe

Clayton Howe (IG:@inclaynation) breaks down what he believes "8 Bars. Don't Suck." means. This is another short episode where I consider the thoughts associated with doing your best work RIGHT AWAY. Hope some of this resonates with you! Enjoy!

”What I Do Matters” Bobby Cronin: The Concrete Jungle/Mary and Max

Bobby Cronin (IG:@croninbobby) is an award-winning composer/writer rep'd by James Beresford (Shepherd Management, UK). His projects include: Mary & Max [based on the claymation film of the same name] with bookwriter Crystal Skillman and director Stafford Arima which will have its World Premiere at Theatre Calgary in the fall of 2018; Olisnach with bookwriter Crystal Skillman (being developed to star Ali Stroker); ‘Til Death Do Us Part (2016 Overtures Series directed by Kent Nicholson; 2012 Alec Baldwin Fellowship Winner, UK’s S&S Award Finalist) with bookwriter Caroline Prugh; Sunset City with bookwriter Wade Dooley (2013 Running Deer Theatre Lab, 2014 Goodspeed Mercer Project, 2014 the Pitch, 2015 The York Theatre, NYC); Till Soon, Anne with bookwriter Christine Toy Johnson which had a residency at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center and a NYC reading April 2018 starring Abby Mueller, Wade McCollum, Kate Loprest, Stacia Fernandez, Joel Perez, Lauren Molina, and more; Welcome To My Life (W2ML); Alone in the U.S. with Terry Berliner, which was commissioned by CAP21 and was produced at the University of Cumbria under the title Alone in the UK; The Concrete Jungle, commissioned in 2011 for London’s esteemed ArtsEd (President: Andrew Lloyd Webber) opened in London June 2012, had a lab presentation at West Texas A&M 2015 and made the short list for the New American Musical Theatre Prize; Daybreak (winner of the 2011 New Jersey Playwrights Contest) premiered in Wayne, NJ & London’s Tristan Bates Theatre June 2012. He is currently working on a commission by A Class Act NYC called Psykidz. Bobby composed the scores and songs for several musical films, which have been in festivals all over the country, for NYFA, where is also on faculty. He was part of the 2015 Prospect Theatre Company's Off-Broadway show Fright Night where his 15-minute musical My Boyfriend Is An Alien written with Christine Toy Johnson premiered. His music won “Best Score of a Mockumentary” for the webseries Thank You, Next and Best Music/Lyrics for Ten Reasons I Won’t Go Home With You in 2010’s MITF. Bobby is one of the four NEO Writers for the York Theatre Company's 2014-2015 season with Stephen Flaherty as his mentor. He was commissioned to write a pop song for the 2013 winner of Italy’s televised singing competition Lo Canto. Other: 54 Below, Lincoln Center Songbook Series, Birdland, Symphony Space, London’s The Players Theatre & St. James Theatre, etc. "Reach The Sky: Live" & “The Concrete Jungle International Studio Cast Recording” available on iTunes featuring theatre stars Caissie Levy, Kate Shindle, Jared Gertner, Rebecca Trehearn, Alex Gaumond, and Olivia Phillip. Bobby created the Inspired Benefit Concert Series for animal rescue organizations across the U.S. & UK to raise funds and awareness for the 3 million adoptable pets euthanized in our country each year. Bobby has taught Master Classes around the world for musical theatre actors on song interpretation, audition technique, and his specialty, the ever-popular pop/rock genre. He’s a Yale graduate where he won the Michael P. Manzella Award for excellence in Arts, Scholastics and Character. Member of ASCAP, Dramatists Guild. 

”You Are The Average of the Five People You Most Associate With” Clayton Howe

Hey fam! For this SHORTER episode, I riff on the thought that "You are the average of the five people you most associate with" something, I think, is good to be reminded of. I take it a step further and discuss what apps or websites you most associate with as well. What we put into our brain changes the way we think, feel, and ultimately act. Happy Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for all of you listening to this show! Enjoy!