Remembering Frank Galati

Actor and professor Cindy Gold remembers her friend and colleague Frank Galati, the Academy Award-nominated and multiple Tony Award-winning writer and director who died last January. At a memorial held at Steppenwolf Theatre last Monday, Galati’s friends and artistic colleagues (including Mary Zimmerman, Robert Falls; Lois Smith, and Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty) remembered him as a generous and supportive artist in an event that was an inspiring celebration. Cindy shares her memories of working with Frank on his musical Loving Repeating (for which she won a Joseph Jefferson Award for playing Gertrude Stein); how Frank was a champion of the positive who had the ability to love an actor to a great performance; the joy of experiencing the “full Galati;” her talent to be a muse; and how Frank Galati continues to inspire. (Length 20:04)

Saluting The Understudies

“Stand-ins of the world, stand up!” (Tom Stoppard, The Real Inspector Hound) 2022 will be remembered as the Year of the Understudy – not only did the Patron Saint of the Understudy King Charles III finally step into the leading role after waiting in the wings for 74 years, but audiences began to fully appreciate how understudies keep theatre going during a global pandemic. Understudies come in a variety of flavors, from covers to swings to alternates, and actors Loren Jones and Cindy Gold talk about which flavor they are in the Goodman Theatre’s 2022 production of A Christmas Carol. The conversation features lessons learned from the pandemic; how understudying can actually be a good paid gig; the difficulty of learning the lines without learning the moves; fast-tracking the understudies during rehearsal; the challenge of not just learning the role but the entire show; how old ways of doing things are changing; the identity of Scrooge’s overstudy; and tales of understudying both glorious and horrendous. (Length 19:43)

Teaching During Quarantine

Two Northwestern University professors — Cindy Gold (above, right) from the Theater department and Dee Ryan (above, bottom left) from the Radio, Film, and Television department — talk about how their classes and teaching methods changed and evolved over the fifteen months of the COVID pandemic. Featuring the reinvention of mask work; cancelled performances and career opportunities; being an adorable drunk; how many students got COVID (surprisingly few); being paralyzed by fear (not of COVID, but of technology); spectacular threshing metaphors; a mention of and appearance by Jill Talley (the voice of Karen from SpongeBob SquarePants); and the incredible value of Zoom’s Chat feature. (Length 20:58)

Episode 618. Directing ‘Twelfth Night’

Austin Tichenor is directing Twelfth Night at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company this fall, and it turns out he’s almost the only one at Cincy Shakes or the RSC who’s never worked on it before! Fortunately, RSC members Teddy Spencer, Jerry Kernion, and Dominic Conti, plus Chicago actress and professor of acting at Northwestern University Cindy Gold, are able to give him tips and insights into the play and its characters because they’ve all done Twelfth Night multiple times. Featuring discussions of the text, Shakespeare’s authorial intent, the driving force that is Maria, the difficulty of Malvolio, spectacular insight into Sir Toby Belch, the value of dumb shows and fencing, the way to dress Sir Andrew, excellent high-kicking, and the wonder of having a well-oiled Orsino. (Length 23:47)