#tomhewitt

[hadsephone]

I’m gonna miss these two 😭 [id: a screenshot of Jewelle Blackman and Tom Hewitt, from Jewelle’s instagram story. They are both dressed in their Act Two costumes, backstage. The photo is captioned, “@ Hadestown / Our last show together as rulers of the underground...I’m gonna miss #TomHewitt 🖤” end id]

[allforonetheater-blog]

MARK THIS: Twisted Talent Talks! Aaron Mark speaks with AFO’s Artistic Director, Michael Wolk

Michael Wolk: What was your first connection with the theater?

Aaron Mark: In kindergarten, I remember seeing Into the Woods on PBS and the world premiere tryout for Beauty and the Beast in Houston that same year. I’d been into all the Disney movie musicals—and so I ended up at the show. That was my first big professional theater experience, and I haven’t recovered since.

Both of those musicals were larger than life. Very, very theatrical versions of old classic stories with great darkness...so there’s certainly a correlation to what I do now, taking—most of the time—old stories and leaning into that darkness.

MW: Legend has it you wrote plays starting at a very young age.

AM: In third grade I wrote and directed my first two works. One was about cannibalism...there’s a certain bloodlust from a very young age.

But I’m a really squeamish person. I have never liked horror movies. As I kid I was petrified. You know we had R.L. Stine here for opening night; I remember as a kid I would be at other people’s houses and the other kids would be watching Goosebumps and I would be the one in the back covering my eyes.

A lot of my work now is trying to create what I want to experience myself that I don’t see being done.

There’s a whole other body of my work—that is not this genre—that no one really had any time for. It’s not as if I ever set out to say this is my genre, this is what I’m going to write. It’s that people respond to this kind of work. I include myself in that: I respond to this kind of work, and I like doing this kind of work, so I keep doing it. 

MW: Why the solo genre?

AM: In part because I had been doing nothing but readings for a couple of years and I wanted to write something where you needed little more than the reading. The reading was the event, and it would come through in that way. That’s where Another Medea came from, with absolutely no intention of doing another one after that.

I don’t particularly enjoy writing. The fun for me is working with actors. That’s why I like to do both, particularly with a solo piece. It’s that one-on-one, very intense, very personal, intimate collaboration. That’s what it’s all about for me. It’s very difficult for me to write if I don’t have a particular actor in mind. 

MW: What happened to the 18 year old kid who came to New York with dreams of  working in musical theater?

AM: All my training is in musical theater. I absolutely came here thinking I was going to direct and write musicals. You know, it’s not an accident that so many of the people I end up working with for my plays are musical theater actors. That’s who I know socially, and that’s whose work I know.

Alison (Fraser) and I have talked about the musicality of these monologue plays, that we really have to treat them like musical scores: It’s very much about rhythm and sound. So, I’ve found that people who have musicals in their background can bring that skillset to these pieces.

I love musicals and I miss doing musicals, so that’s something I would very much like to get back to. But my ideal—professionally and creatively—is to do theater in New York. 

All I ever wanted to do was come here and do my own weird little plays.

AFO has produced two plays by Mark, Another Medea and Squeamish. 

[jesscarol929]

And so they danced... (My favorite part of Hadestown) Happy trails to Tom Hewitt and Jewelle Blackman. 😭😭😭❤❤❤

Reeve's singing is so beautiful. I never get tired of his singing. It sounds so divine! 😍

📸: rachel.chavkin

[frontmezzjunkies]

#ShawHeartbreakHouse now on @Show_Score #frontmezzjunkies reviews: #BernardShaw's #HeartbreakHouse @TheatreRowNYC @GingoldGroup #offbroadway @DavidStaller1 @alisonfraser #KarenZiemba #DerekSmith #KimberlyImmanuel #JeffHiller @boomboomhiller #TomHewitt #RaphaelNashThompson http://frontmezzjunkies.com/2018/09/09/bernard-shaws-heartbreak-house/ tw: frontmezzjunkie IG/tumblr/FB: @Frontmezzjunkies #OuterCriticsCircle https://www.instagram.com/p/Bnmr8-yActF/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=76m4cd9jfxz0

[jesscarol929]

The Eight Hades of Hadestown

[jesscarol929]

My Hadestown Gif For The Night