Waiting For Godot (2009) Production Files

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Identifier: GODOT2009
Inclusive Dates: 2008 - 2009
Extent:
Roundabout Theatre Company staged Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot at Studio 54, with first preview on April 3, 2009, opening night April 30, and closing night July 12, 2009. The production was nominated for several Tony and Drama Desk Awards.

John Lahr, writing for The New Yorker, said of the play "In the new production, two noted comic actors, Nathan Lane and Bill Irwin, take on the roles of Estragon and Vladimir. Whereas the old clowns were not educated men - they felt much more than they understood - Lane and Irwin are emblematic of the current, more knowing, more self-conscious breed...[a]t the finale, Beckett leaves his characters where he found them: alone, in silence, unable to live or to die, facing the catastrophe of cosmic indifference. 'Don't touch me. Don't question me! Don't speak to me! Stay with me!' Estragon says at the beginning of Act II. By the end of the slapstick tragedy, the void has settled over the tramps like a fog. 'Shall we go?' Vladimir asks. 'Yes, let's go,' Estragon says. Unmoving, they stare straight ahead; as the curtain falls, Estragon tentatively holds out a hand to Vladimir, who takes it. The bittersweet moment, like Page's production, is both heartbreaking and exhilarating." [The New Yorker, May 18, 2009]

Directed by Anthony Page, with set design by Santo Loquasto, costume design by Jane Greenwood, lighting design by Peter Kacrorowski, sound design by Dan Moses Schreier, hair and wig by Tom Watson, fight direction by Thomas Schall.

Nathan Lane played the part of Estragon, Bill Irwin played the part of Vladimir, John Goodman played the part of Pozzo, John Glover played the part of Lucky, Cameron Clifford and Matthew Schechter played the part of A Boy. Understudies: John Ahlin and Anthony Newfield. 
Waiting For Godot, written in French by the Irish playwright Samuel Beckett, premiered (in the French, En Attendant Godot) in 1953 at the Theatre de Babylone in Paris. An English version premiered in London in 1955 and has had countless stagings in the UK and US in the subsequent years.

While audiences have often been puzzled by the play and its absurdist message that has not stopped the work from being heralded as one of the 20th century's most significant English plays with its exploration of the existential human condition. 
Production records consist of 3 Hollinger boxes spanning 20 folders. Fairly comprehensive stage and administrative files present (noticeably lacking are costume renderings and prompt books) detailing the vision and arc of the production. Files include Playbill, direct mail flyers, and set of notecards with Waiting For Godot Studio 54 imprint.  
 
Digital files include:
Costume photographs (photos of costumes deposited into archives) (400 MB)
Education (PDF of study guide, PDF of post-discussion transcript) (4.32 MB)
General Management files (contracts, SM and PSM documents, memos) (75.4 MB)
Lighting design (includes many files that are not readable without software) (21.1 MB)
Media (interviews, b-roll, event photos) (15.2 GB)
Opening night (172 JPG photos from opening) (534 MB)
Playbill (JPG scans of playbill) (36.2 MB)
Press (TIF scanned to PDF/A) (938 MB)
Photographs (600 color JPG, includes selects and headshot of Irwin) (2.26 GB)
Set (elevation, model images, photo of Beckett with Page in 1960s) (744 MB)
Show art (3 version of poster art used: hat, boots and suitcase) (7.85 MB)

Marketing files include:
Marketing file that includes art mock ups, ad placement, promotions, etc. 
 
Access Restrictions: Open and available for research by appointment only, except as when noted.
Preferred Citation: Waiting For Godot (2008), Roundabout Theatre Company Archives
Related Staged Production

Waiting For Godot

Production box 1 contains administrative and stage documentation, including author's agreement, light bible, set design, artistic and press clippings.
Production box 2 contains administrative files chiefly, including script, casting, and event planning.
Production box 3 contains education and Tony voter documentation, and performance reports.

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