Geva Theatre Center announced
today that it has cancelled its upcoming summer production of “The Lifeguard,”
a new one-man show about Ronald Reagan that was set to star Rochester native
and Oscar nominee Robert Forster. Geva heavily touted
the show at its 2013-14 season announcement a few weeks back.
In the official press release, Geva
Artistic Director Mark Cuddy — who was also set to
direct “The Lifeguard” — explains that creative differences arose between
Forster and playwright David Rambo. Given a lack of shared creative vision,
Rambo decided to rescind the rights to the play.
This was to have been the world premiere of the work, and Cuddy had previously said that he hoped that the Geva production would go on tour.
The full press release, which appears below, mentions that Geva will announce its full summer schedule in the near
future.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SUMMER PRODUCTION OF THE LIFEGUARD CANCELLED
Full schedule of Summer Season to be
announced in the coming weeks.
Rochester, N.Y., April 3, 2013- Geva
Theatre Center regrettably announces that the production of The Lifeguard:
Ronald Reagan and his Story by David Rambo scheduled to run in the Fielding Nextstage from June 13-30 has been cancelled.
Geva’s Artistic Director, Mark Cuddy, who was to direct this play, starring Academy
Award-nominee Robert Forster said, “We know many in the Rochester community
were looking forward to this production, and we are sorry that it cannot
proceed as planned.”
“Putting together all of the artistic pieces in any
production, yet alone a world premiere, requires enormous coordination and
collaboration,” he continued. “Most importantly, it also requires a shared
vision by the entire creative team of how the written words will live onstage. Once Geva Theatre Center had secured the
rights from the playwright’s agent to produce this new play in June, artistic
collaboration among playwright, actor and director began in earnest. It
shortly became apparent; however, that actor and playwright each had a vision
for the production that was not compatible with the other. In light of this basic
difference, after consultation with me, the playwright made the difficult
decision to rescind the rights from Geva rather than
risk a compromised vision that neither actor, writer, nor
director fully endorsed.”
“The act of theater-making is full of risk: each project
requiring an enormous amount of faith, perseverance, and trust. When a new
production is born, it is a little miracle that everyone’s artistic efforts
have melded into one unified creation. I will always be grateful to my
collaborators for their trust and talent. And I look forward to working with
these two – Robert Forster and David Rambo – on other possible projects in the
future.”
Announcement of Geva Theatre
Center’s summer season will occur in the coming weeks.
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ARTS: Geva announces 2013-14 season
This article appears in Apr 3-9, 2013.
A lot seems to be missing from this story. The casting of Foster to play Reagan in Rambo’s play was announced over two years ago. A planned premiere and tour for 2012 then fell through. And only now, just 10 weeks before the GEVA curtain was supposed to go up do we discover that the, “actor and playwright each had a vision for the production that was not compatible with the other”?
HI MJN,
I work for Geva and want to let you know that there is no more to the story than what we provided to the press. Forster never met with the playwright until Geva secured the rights to the show. He did express an interest in doing the show publicly but needed a producer like Geva to take it to the next step, Unfortunately, their schedules did not allow for a meeting until the days after we made our announcement. It was a meeting between the playwright and Mr Forster and then later a follow-up conversation with artistic director Mark Cuddy that lead to the writer rescinding the rights from Geva. There are currently no productions of THE LIFEGUARD currently planned any where . Geva does regret not being able to bring this new work and Mr Forster to our stage this summer.