Transport Group Theatre Company is a non-profit, off-Broadway theatre company in New York City that stages new works and revivals of plays and musicals, with a focus on American stories told in a visually progressive way. [1]
Transport Group was founded in 2001 by co-Artistic Directors Jack Cummings III and Robyn Hussa. Since 2007, Transport Group was helmed by Cummings as artistic director and Lori Fineman as executive director. Denise Dickens replaced Fineman in 2019. [2] Through its first eight years, Transport Group was a resident theatre company at The Connelly Theatre; an off-Broadway venue in Manhattan's East Village. Transport Group has produced several environmental productions including the OBIE Award winning The Boys in the Band, which seated the audience in chairs around the play's living room set in a Chelsea penthouse, and the first New York revival of Michael John LaChiusa's Hello Again, in which round banquet tables doubled as both the audience seating and the actors' playing space.
Transport Group has also produced works at The Duke Theatre in Times Square and at The Gym at Judson in the West Village. In 2007, Transport Group received a special Drama Desk Award for its "breadth of vision and presentation of challenging productions."
Transport Group creates unexpected theatrical experiences that allow audiences and artists to collaboratively explore the "American identity." Transport Group has produced 36 productions: 16 new works and 20 revivals; including 14 world premieres, 3 New York premieres, and 6 commissioned works. Transport Group is the winner of 9 OBIE Awards, 3 Off-Broadway Alliance Awards, a Dramatists Guild Award, and a 2018 Special Citation from the New York Drama Critics' Circle, has been nominated for 46 Drama Desk Awards, as well as 6 Outer Critics Circle Awards, 8 Drama League Awards, 9 Off-Broadway Alliance Awards, and 4 Lucille Lortel Awards, among others. The company received a special Drama Desk award for its "breadth of vision and presentation of challenging productions." Adam Mathias won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics in 2011 for See Rock City & Other Destinations. Also in 2011, Transport Group's production of the Douglas Carter Beane/Lewis Flinn musical Lysistrata Jones transferred to Broadway and was nominated for a Tony Award.
The American Theatre Wing awarded Transport Group with a National Theatre Company Grant in 2011. [3]
2002: Our Town by Thornton Wilder; The Connelly Theatre
2003: Requiem for William by William Inge; The Connelly Theatre
2004: First Lady Suite, words & by Michael John LaChiusa; The Connelly Theatre
2005: The Audience conceived by Jack Cummings III; The Connelly Theatre
2005: Normal, book by Yvonne Adrian, lyrics by Cheryl Stern, music by Tom Kochan; The Connelly Theatre
2006: cul-de-sac by John Cariani; The Connelly Theatre
2006: All The Way Home by Tad Mosel; The Connelly Theatre
2007: The Dark at the Top of the Stairs by William Inge; The Connelly Theatre
2007: Crossing Brooklyn, music by Jenny Giering and Jonathan Larson, book & lyrics by Laura Harrington; The Connelly Theatre
2008: Marcy in the Galaxy, music & lyrics by Nancy Shayne, book by Michael Patrick King; The Connelly Theatre
2008: Bury the Dead by Irwin Shaw; The Connelly Theatre
2009: Being Audrey, music & lyrics by Ellen Weiss, book by James Hindman, additional book and lyrics by Cheryl Stern
2010: The Boys in the Band by Mart Crowley; 37 West 26th Street, Manhattan
2010: See Rock City & Other Destinations, music by Brad Alexander, book & lyrics by Adam Mathias; The Duke on 42nd Street
2011: Hello Again , words & music by Michael John LaChiusa; 52 Mercer Street, Manhattan
2011: Lysistrata Jones , music & lyrics by Lewis Flinn, book by Douglas Carter Beane; The Gym at Judson
2011: The Patsy by Barry Conners; starring David Greenspan directed by Jack Cummings III;The Duke on 42nd Street
2011: Jonas by David Greenspan; The Duke on 42nd Street
2011: Queen of the Mist, words & music by Michael John LaChiusa; The Gym at Judson
2012: House for Sale by Jonathan Franzen, adapted for the stage by Daniel Fish; The Duke on 42nd Street
2013: The Memory Show, book & lyrics by Sara Cooper, music by Zach Redler; The Duke on 42nd Street
2014: Almost, Maine, by John Cariani; The Gym at Judson
2014: I Remember Mama, by John Van Druten; The Gym at Judson
2015: Three Days To See: A Reawakening of Helen Keller in Her Own Words, conceived by Jack Cummings III; Theatre 79
2015: Once Upon A Mattress, book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, Marshall Barer, lyrics by Marshall Barer, music by Mary Rogers; Abrons Arts Center
2017: Picnic (play), by William Inge, The Gym at Judson
2017: Come Back, Little Sheba, by William Inge, The Gym at Judson
2017: Strange Interlude, by Eugene O'Neill; starring David Greenspan; "Irondale Theatre Center"
2018: Summer and Smoke, by Tennessee Williams; Classic Stage Company
2018: Renascence, book by Dick Scanlan, music by Carmel Dean; lyrics from the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay;Abrons Arts Center
2019: The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (play), by Daniel Berrigan, adapted by Jack Cummings III;Abrons Arts Center
2020: Broadbend, Arkansas, Libretto by Ellen Fitzhugh & Harrison David Rivers, Music and Additional Lyrics by Ted Shen, directed by Jack Cummings III; The Duke on 42nd Street
2020: The Unsinkable Molly Brown , Music and Lyrics by Meredith Willson, Book and New Lyrics by Dick Scanlan, Based on the Original Book by Richard Morris, Meredith Willson's Music Adapted by Michael Rafter, Directed and Choreographed by Kathleen Marshall; Abrons Arts Center
2022: The Patsy by Barry Conners; starring David Greenspan directed by Jack Cummings III; Abrons Arts Center
2022: A Delicate Balance by Edward Albee produced in partnership with NAATCO; directed by Jack Cummings III; The Connelly Theatre. This historic production was the first time the play was done Off-Broadway and the first time with an all-Asian American cast.
2024: On Set with Theda Bara by Joey Merlo; starring David Greenspan, directed by Jack Serio; The Brick Theater
Sheldon Mayer Harnick was an American lyricist and songwriter best known for his collaborations with composer Jerry Bock on musicals such as Fiorello!, She Loves Me, and Fiddler on the Roof.
Michael John LaChiusa is an American musical theatre and opera composer, lyricist, and librettist. He is best known for musically esoteric shows such as Hello Again, Marie Christine, The Wild Party, and See What I Wanna See. He was nominated for four Tony Awards in 2000 for his score and book for both Marie Christine and The Wild Party and received another nomination in 1996 for his work on the libretto for Chronicle of a Death Foretold.
Reverend Alvin Allison "Al" Carmines Jr. was a key figure in the expansion of off-off-Broadway theatre in the 1960s.
David Norman Yazbek is an American writer, musician, composer, and lyricist. He wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals The Full Monty (2000), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2005), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (2010), The Band's Visit (2017), and Tootsie (2019). His most recent projects include the musicals Dead Outlaw and Buena Vista Social Club.
Hello Again is a musical with music, lyrics and book by Michael John LaChiusa. It is based on the 1897 play La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler. It focuses on a series of love affairs among ten characters during the ten different decades of the 20th century.
Matthew Sklar is an American composer for musical theatre, television, and film. His works have appeared on Broadway, the West End, and theatres worldwide. Sklar has written primarily with lyricist Chad Beguelin, having written music for their Broadway shows The Prom, Elf the Musical, and The Wedding Singer. The Prom and The Wedding Singer earned him nominations for the Tony Award for Best Original Score.
First Lady Suite is a chamber musical by Michael John LaChiusa. The musical contains four separate segments about four of the First Ladies of the United States of America and the people surrounding them. They are: Eleanor Roosevelt, Mamie Eisenhower, Bess Truman, and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. It premiered Off-Broadway in 1993.
Chad Beguelin is an American playwright and lyricist. He wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the book for The Prom. He also wrote the book for Disney's Aladdin, as well as additional lyrics for the score. He was nominated for Best Original Book and Best Original Score for Aladdin. He is also known for his collaborations with composer Matthew Sklar, having written the lyrics and co-written the book for the Broadway musical The Wedding Singer and the lyrics for the Broadway musical Elf the Musical. Beguelin was nominated for two Tony Awards for his work on The Wedding Singer, as well as a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics.
Wings is a 1978 play by American playwright Arthur Kopit. Originating as a radio play, it was later adapted for stage and screen.
Jack O'Brien is an American director, producer, writer and lyricist. He served as the Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California from 1981 through the end of 2007.
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Barbara Walsh is an American musical theatre actress who has appeared in several prominent Broadway productions. Walsh is known for her Drama Desk Award and Tony Award nominated role as Trina in the original Broadway production of Falsettos, as well as her turn as Joanne in the 2006 Broadway Revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical Company.
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