I'd like to see the first act of Sunday in the Park with George, and the second act of Hamilton. Every day.
Nikka Graff LanzaroneWhere we're telling the story of the history of the ensemblist [in the "Ensemblist Essentials"], using the nine musicals that have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama as fixed points in time We're going from 1931 to 2016 and using these shows to talk about what the typical show was like for an ensemblist at the time; did this show change anything about that job, while it was changing everything about the way theatre was written and produced and made?
Nikka Graff LanzaroneAnd as ensemblists start being asked to do more things that require an insane skill set, that inherent value will, I hope, be held up where it deserves to be.
Nikka Graff LanzaroneWe remind ourselves that it's a hobby [The Esemblist]; nobody is setting these deadlines for us, except us.
Nikka Graff LanzaroneIt [The Esemblist] is also about the generation of audience members that are watching shows and listening to us at the same time; hopefully, in time, when they listen to our show and then go see a show, they'll realize even more what it takes to make a show, and they'll know even more about everybody on stage, rather than just people above the title of the show.
Nikka Graff Lanzarone