How I Met Christopher Durang,

and The People Who Love Him

Monday, November 11, 2024
3 PM

Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater
150 West 65th Street New York, NY 10023

Join us to celebrate the life and works of playwright Christopher Durang. Come for an afternoon of laughter and memories, stay for the plain Entenmann’s donuts after. This event will take place at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater.

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Christopher Durang had all the words;
now it's our turn to celebrate his legacy with our own.

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"I have loved you for decades now Christopher Durang, Wonderful, beautiful man."

— Dianne Wiest
"Chris Durang was my Willy Wonka"

David Lindsay-Abaire
“Christopher Durang was not only a giant in our field, but a guiding light whose daring works illuminated the stage with brilliance and wit”

Dramatist Guild
"In 1973 as an undergrad, I went to a performance at the Yale Cabaret that included a couple of off-the-wall sketches written and acted by Chris and his Drama School collaborator Albert Innaurato. I’m not positive but I think it was called “When Dina Shore Ruled the Earth.” I was utterly smitten with Chris. He was funny, creative, and just charming. When later that semester I was tasked with putting together a group of Yale students to perform show music and be “singing waiters” at a fancy restaurant on Cape Cod (performing as “The Wicker Tree Whiffs”), I made sure he auditioned and, needless to say, hired him instantly. The two of us danced and sang together through the summer and most of the next fourteen years. Thank you Chris, for everything."

—Stephen Paul Davis
"I met Chris at Juilliard. He was my teacher, along with Marsha Norman. The two of them felt like the world’s coolest smartest parents. Marsha was big-picture; Chris was all about how the text worked moment to moment. Many years later when I started writing plays for audiences in prisons, shelters, rural areas—plays that HAVE to keep the audiences’ attention—his thinking about structure on the micro-level became super important to me. What an amazing class that was: Julia Jordan, Steve Belber David Auburn. Making Chris laugh? Nothing better. I’ll always be able to summon his laugh; it was the kind of laugh that made you laugh. He directed one of my plays my last semester. I got to see him at work with actors—kind, demanding, incredibly precise. He was a great director. And then, Chris became my friend. We talked about dogs. I thought he and John should get one. And they did! I didn’t hear from him for awhile, and then out of the blue, he called. Their dog Chief had developed health issues; they’d had to put him down. He felt so bad about it. We talked about it. I felt honored that he called me. We talked on and off for years, about life, about politics, about plays, about houses, about dogs. I often think about him as a person and as a teacher; how his kindness worked behind the scenes, in the room, too; how his students became his friends. I miss him a lot...his laugh, his soul, his twinkle. "

—Kira Obolensky
"Chris was a Chaos Muppet who only looked like a choirboy. He was one of the most original and devious theatrical minds of his generation, and I miss his genial prognostications of doom and his sweet spirit. For the opening night of Miss Witherspoon at McCarter Theatre, he gave me a beautiful wooden box, which he said was meant to be “the opposite of Pandora’s Box—only good vibes from it.” And because I sew and always have an overabundance of sewing notions, I keep safety pins in it, which I suppose is a Chris Durang cautionary tale all by itself."

— Janice Paran
"I met Chris early in the fall of 1967 . . . during a “panty raid.” He and I were both starting our Freshman years at Radcliffe College and Harvard University. I had straggled downstairs in my dorm to see what was happening; Chris had walked up to the Radcliffe Quad from Harvard Yard with classmates, unclear of his mission. I still don’t know what a “panty raid” is, yet it was a fateful evening: Chris and I spent many hours that night sitting in my dorm’s Common Room talking. Our connection was instant, and our conversation centered on our mothers, our love of James Thurber, and the mystery of what makes humor “funny.” Thus began our five decade friendship, and, our five decade dialogue about the potency of the “serious side” of “funny” and about the reach for “emotional connection.” What a brilliant, varied, vast body of work Chris produced! There were two times in his career--one early and one late—when he called me while I was living in another state to say, “You have to see this one, come, come now.” From my point of view, Chris braided serious, funny, and emotional connection just right in The Mariage of Bette and Boo and again all the more so in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. I’m so glad he won a Tony Award with Vanya! In addition to the great serendipity of our first encounter, I’ve been tremendously lucky to get to know Chris’s partner, John Augustine. Chris and John were a remarkable team, daily blending up a stew of serious and funny; it surely was Chris’s good fortune that they met. I count Chris as one of my closest confidants and faithful friends – someone I truly loved."

— Elizabeth Ainsley Campbell
"My connection with Chris Durang revolves around the Hardy Boys. In 2013, Chris was the keynote speaker at a retreat hosted by the Passage Play Lab in Trenton, New Jersey, of which I was a member. He spoke about writing his play The Hardy Boys and the Mystery of Where Babies Come From. A new of years after the retreat, I began to write the book The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew on Film, TV, and Stage. It includes a chapter on Chris’s play The Hardy Boys and the Mystery of Where Babies Come From. At that point, Chris’s husband, John Augustine, was in the Whitherspoon Circle playwrights’ group with me. He graciously set up an interview with Chris, himself, and I to discuss the creation of his play The Hardy Boys and the Mystery of Where Babies Come From. I was fortunate to be able to get Chris and John’s insight into the play which I incorporated into the chapter for the book. Chris’s work blends comedy with aspects of life to help audiences gain new insight into society. I’m so glad that he created it and feel fortunate to have discussed his work with him."

— Barry M. Putt, Jr.
"Around ten years ago, I was hired to run lines for Chris through John. And somehow it came up. Dress ware. For formal occasions. And I told Chris and John, “I only have one tie.” Because at the time, working in the theatre, I could barely afford to eat out, let alone a tie for a special occasion. And Chris was shocked at this. And John said “hold on.” And we put aside Chris learning his lines as Vanya in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (which he was to perform later that summer), as Chris and John took out old ties of Chris’s, one tie after another, and had me try them on. Alternatively, they nodded their heads yes, shook their heads no, and turned it into a fashion show. We went through over a dozen of Chris and John’s ties, and Chris gave me five. And till this day, I still wear them. Chris went on to occasionally forget his lines in that long monologue from Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. I’d like to think it’s because of the fashion show held on that day. It’s a simple silly moment, but to a guy who didn’t grow up with a lot of money, doubting his choice in choosing playwriting because there isn’t a lot of money to be made in it, it was profoundly touching, the kindness of these two amazing human beings. And Chris’ kindness went beyond that, as he (with, I imagine, the pushing of John) helped me get into grad school with a letter of recommendation, which changed my life forever. Two wonderful people. Rest in peace, Chris."

—Greg T. Nanni, Playwright
"I met Christopher as a result of an auction. When the gavel landed, I was thrilled to have won a reading of his new Emmy Award, Drama Desk Award play : VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE in our home. The laughter in the room was uproarious and my 65th birthday was most memorable. It was the beginning of a precious friendship which grew deeper and more meaningful over the next 11 yrs. Christopher’s passing has left a deep void. His courage facing it all was unimaginable but as always, the love, devotion, and humor by John was beyond anything I have witnessed. I can only imagine the mischief and laughter in the heavens with Christopher Durang in residence. I know personally the heartbreak here on Earth, especially for John Augustine and the legions of friends."

— Cathryn Kelly Zega and Richard Zega
"I'm sorry I cannot be with you to celebrate Chris Durang. As the original Sister Mary and a part of Chris's first great success, I join you in grief at our collective loss and joy at having had the chance to know him and love him."

—Elizabeth Franz