Randy Weiner

Last updated
Randy Weiner
Born
Edward Randall Weiner

(1965-03-10) March 10, 1965 (age 59)
United States
Alma mater Harvard University
Occupation(s) Playwright, producer
Spouse Diane Paulus

Randy Weiner (born March 10, 1965) is an American playwright, producer and theater and nightclub owner. Weiner co-wrote the Off-Broadway musical The Donkey Show and, as one-third of EMURSIVE, produced the Drama Desk Award winning New York premiere of Punchdrunk's Sleep No More . He is co-owner of NYC "theater of varieties" The Box and The Box Soho. His latest creation The Stranger is a Time Out New York 2023 "Best of the City" award winner. [1]

Contents


Weiner is the creator of Queen of the Night at the Paramount Hotel in New York City, and recently served as the dramaturge for Cirque du Soleil's Amaluna . Randy was named one of Modern Luxury Manhattan's 75 Most Influential People In The Arts.

Personal life

Weiner was born Edward Randall Weiner, the son of a New York banker and lawyer. He graduated cum laude from Harvard University. On October 1, 1995, he married fellow theater arts graduate Diane Paulus. [2]

Career

Weiner and Paulus along with a few other theater school graduates established a small theater troupe in New York City called Project 400 Theatre Group. [3] [4] With Project 400, Weiner and Paulus specialized in creating avant-garde musical productions which married classic theater and modern music. [5] These included a rock version of The Tempest , an R&B Phaedra and a hip-hop Lohengrin . [5]

In collaboration with Paulus, Weiner co-created The Donkey Show , a disco adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream which ran off-Broadway from 1999 to 2005 and was revived in 2009 for Paulus' first production as director of the American Repertory Theater. [6] Critics cited the production as an exemplary of a trend in which edgy avant-garde theater had become fashionably mainstream. [7]

In February 2007, Weiner cofounded (with partners Richard Kimmel and Simon Hammerstein) the Box theater on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. [8] The cabaret theater has drawn attention for its risque burlesque acts. [9]

In January 2014, Weiner and partner Aby Rosen unveiled the Diamond Horseshoe supper club in midtown Manhattan. Once presided over by legendary nightlife impresario Billy Rose, the venue has undergone a $20 million renovation and plays host to Weiner's latest immersive spectacle, Queen of the Night.

In April 2023, Weiner opened The Stranger a ground break new nightlife experience, that was heralded by Time Out as the best new night life venue in New York for 2023. [10]

Weiner has served on the Advisory Committee on the Arts at Harvard University. [11] He has guest lectured on theater arts at Columbia University, Barnard College, New York University, and Yale.[ citation needed ]

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<i>The Donkey Show</i> (musical)

The Donkey Show: A Midsummer Night's Disco is a theatrical adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The production, created in a disco-era style, was written by Diane Paulus and her husband Randy Weiner and the members of Project 400, Emily Hellstrom, Jordin Ruderman, Rachel Murdy and Anna Wilson. It first appeared Off-Broadway, opening August 18, 1999. The show subsequently ran for six years including venues in England, Scotland, France and Spain. After a successful run at the Edinburgh Festival the Donkey Show came to London for an 8-month run in Londons West End. The London show was produced by David Babani and Graham Kentsley. Rob Goodmonson (NYC) played the part of the DJ in the UK production. In 2009, the show was revived by the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for which Paulus is Artistic Director. The club/theater space used in Cambridge is called OBERON, after the king of the fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream. The show ran in that space until September 2019.

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References

  1. ↑ Adam Feldman, Anna Rahmanan, Shaye Weaver, Amber Sutherland-Namako & Rossilynne Skena Culgan, "Time Out", Time Out, June 8, 2023
  2. ↑ "WEDDINGS; Diane M. Paulus, Randy Weiner", New York Times, October 1, 1995
  3. ↑ Colleen Walsh, "Paulus reaches beyond boards", Harvard Gazette, 23 April 2009
  4. ↑ Ricky Spears, "Quick Wit: Anna Wilson ", TheaterMania, 7 July 2000
  5. 1 2 Eric V. Copage, "Not Your Mother's Musical, and That's the Point", The New York Times, 6 September 1999
  6. ↑ Megan Tench, "Disco inferno", The Boston Globe, August 23, 2009
  7. ↑ Arnold Aronson, American Avant-garde Theatre: a History, Routledge; 1 ed. (2000), p.207
  8. ↑ Spencer Morgan, "The Box Feeling a Little Boxed In", New York Observer, September 16, 2008
  9. ↑ Allen Salkin, "Imperiled, the Box Defends Itself ", New York Times, September 26, 2008
  10. ↑ Trisha Mukherjee, "Time Out", Time Out, June 8, 2023
  11. ↑ Practice & Performance: The Guide to the Arts at Harvard, Harvard University, 20th Edition, 2003/4
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