The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe

Last updated

The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe VideoCover.jpeg
Directed by John Bailey
Written by Jane Wagner
Produced by Jane Wagner
Starring Lily Tomlin
Clay Walker
Cinematography John Bailey
Edited by Sally Menke
Distributed by Orion Classics
Release date
  • September 27, 1991 (1991-09-27)
Running time
120 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (1985) is a one-woman stage show written by Jane Wagner. The original Broadway production starred Lily Tomlin, [1] won the Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience, and was turned into a film in 1991.

Contents

The show, Tomlin's second Broadway billing as a solo performer, follows Tomlin as she performs various characters or personae, all while wearing simple black pants and a white blouse. The show appears disparate at first, but becomes unified under the sensibility of the opening "bag lady" persona as the performance progresses. The show is often praised or considered controversial for its feminist material, most notably the compressed history of the feminist movement offered in Act 2. For her stage performance, Tomlin won a Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics' Circle awards. [2]

A film version was directed by John Bailey and edited by Sally Menke, and stays true to the original stage performance. The film earned the Golden Space Needle Award at the Seattle International Film Festival. For her efforts on the film, Tomlin received a Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture American Comedy Awards, amongst other notable accolades. A restored version of the film, compiled from different prints, will be shown at the 2024 RescueFest at the Laemmle Monica Film Center in Santa Monica, California in December 2024. [3]

Revival

In the fall of 2021, The Shed announced plans for a revival starring Saturday Night Live cast member Cecily Strong and directed by Tony nominee Leigh Silverman. [4] It would run from January to February 2022. [5] This production with Cecily Strong played at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles from September 21 to October 23, 2022. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lily Tomlin</span> American actress (born 1939)

Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. Tomlin started her career in stand-up comedy and sketch comedy before transitioning her career to acting across stage and screen. In a career spanning over fifty years, Tomlin has received numerous accolades, including seven Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, two Tony Awards, and a nomination for an Academy Award. She was also awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 2014 and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Waterston</span> American actor (born 1940)

Samuel Atkinson Waterston is an American actor. Waterston is known for his work in theater, television, and film. He has received numerous accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and a BAFTA Award. His acting career has spanned over five decades acting on stage and screen. Waterston received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010 and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patti LuPone</span> American actress and singer (born 1949)

Patti Ann LuPone is an American actress and singer best known for her work in musical theater. After starting her professional career with The Acting Company in 1972 she soon gained acclaim for her leading performances on the Broadway and West End stage. Known for playing bold, resilient women on stage, she has won three Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards, two Grammy Awards, was a 2006 inductee to the American Theater Hall of Fame, and has received two Emmy Award nominations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joel Grey</span> American actor, singer, dancer, director, and photographer (born 1932)

Joel Grey is an American actor, singer, dancer, photographer, and theatre director. He is best known for portraying the Master of Ceremonies in the musical Cabaret on Broadway and in Bob Fosse's 1972 film adaptation. He has won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Tony Award. He earned the Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chita Rivera</span> American actress, dancer and singer (1933–2024)

Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero, known professionally as Chita Rivera, was an American actress, singer, and dancer. Rivera received numerous accolades including two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, and a Drama League Award. She was the first Latina and the first Latino American to receive a Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. She won the Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Irwin</span> American actor, choreographer, clown and comedian (born 1950)

William Mills Irwin is an American actor, choreographer, clown, and comedian. He began as a vaudeville-style stage performer and has been noted for his contribution to the renaissance of American circus during the 1970s. He has made a number of appearances on film and television, and he won a Tony Award for his role in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? He also worked as a choreographer on Broadway and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Choreography in 1989 for Largely New York. He is also known as Mr. Noodle on the Sesame Street segment Elmo's World, and he appeared in the Sesame Street film short Does Air Move Things? He has regularly appeared as Dr. Peter Lindstrom on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and had a recurring role as "The Dick & Jane Killer" on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. From 2017 to 2019, he appeared as Cary Loudermilk on the FX television series Legion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Wagner</span> American writer, director and producer (born 1935)

Jane Wagner is an American writer, director and producer. She is Lily Tomlin's comedy writer, collaborator, and wife.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Morse</span> American actor (1931–2022)

Robert Alan Morse was an American actor. Morse, known for his gap-toothed boyishness, started his career as a star on Broadway acting in musicals and plays before expanding into film and television. He earned numerous accolades including two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judy Kuhn</span> American actress and singer (born 1958)

Judy Kuhn is an American actress, singer and activist, known for her work in musical theatre. A four-time Tony Award nominee, she has released four studio albums and sang the title role in the 1995 film Pocahontas, including her rendition of the song "Colors of the Wind", which won its composers the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Greg Walloch is an American comedian, actor, author, and monologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephanie J. Block</span> American actress and singer (born 1972)

Stephanie Janette Block is an American actress and singer, best known for her work on the Broadway stage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frances Sternhagen</span> American actress (1930–2023)

Frances Hussey Sternhagen was an American actress. She was known as a character actress who appeared on- and off-Broadway, in movies, and on television for over six decades. Sternhagen received numerous accolades including two Tony Awards, a Drama Desk Award and a Saturn Award, as well as nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LaChanze</span> American actress, singer, and dancer (born 1961)

LaChanze Sapp-Gooding, known professionally as LaChanze, is an American actress, singer, and dancer. She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical in 2006 for her role as Celie Harris Johnson in The Color Purple. LaChanze has subsequently received three more Tony Awards, this time as a producer, for co-producing Kimberly Akimbo, Topdog/Underdog, and The Outsiders.

The New York Drama Critics' Circle is made up of 21 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines and wire services based in the New York City metropolitan area. The organization is best known for its annual awards for excellence in theater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">62nd Tony Awards</span>

The 62nd Tony Awards ceremony was held on June 15, 2008. The Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live American theatre. CBS television broadcast the event from Radio City Music Hall in New York City as it has since the 51st Awards ceremony in 1997. The event recognized Broadway productions playing during the 2007 – 2008 season and was hosted by Whoopi Goldberg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">47th Tony Awards</span> 1993 awards ceremony

The 47th Annual Tony Awards was broadcast by CBS from the Gershwin Theatre in New York City on June 6, 1993. The host was Liza Minnelli.

Neil Peter Jampolis was a light designer, set designer, and stage director. He was best known for the light designing he did for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre’s 1975 production of Sherlock Holmes for which he won a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award. Jampolis went on to win an American Theatre Wing Hewes Design Award in 1982 and three more Tony Award nominations for The Innocents, Black and Blue, and Orpheus Descending. He also won a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for lighting Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner's Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe. Jampolis had also worked as either a light designer, set designer, or stage director with Pilobolus Dance Theatre the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, the Santa Fe Opera, Opera Pacific, the New York City Opera, Pasadena Playhouse, and Hollywood's Matrix Theatre among others. He was most recently one of the main light designers for the Seattle Opera and a distinguished professor of theatre at UCLA's School of Theatre, Film, and Television. He also occasionally worked as a stage director and set designer for Seattle Opera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cecily Strong</span> American actress (born 1984)

Cecily Legler Strong is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2012 to 2022. She is the longest-tenured female cast member in the show's history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lily Tomlin filmography</span> Filmography of American actress Lily Tomlin

This list is an article of Lily Tomlin's filmography

References

  1. ↑ Canby, Vincent (September 27, 1991). "Lily Tomlin, Translated From Stage To Screen". The New York Times . New York City.
  2. ↑ Gentile, John (1989). Cast of One: One-Person Shows from the Chautauqua Platform to the Broadway Stage. Illinois UP. pp. 169–172.
  3. ↑ Blauvelt, Christian (November 25, 2024). "RescueFest, Premier Festival for Restoring Lost Indies, to Open 2024 Edition with 'The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe'". IndieWire. Retrieved November 29, 2024.
  4. ↑ Bahr, Sarah (12 October 2021). "Cecily Strong to Make New York Theater Debut at the Shed". The New York Times.
  5. ↑ "Cecily Strong Stars In One-Woman Show | All Of It". WNYC. January 13, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  6. ↑ Darel Jevens (October 1, 2022). "Fear not, Cecily Strong fans: She hasn't left 'SNL'". Chicago Sun-Times .


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.