Man on Board, for the Long Haul

As the tanker that would haul oil to Bahrain by way of Aruba and Naples picked up its crew in the slicing wind off Brooklyn Flats, Robert Brustein thought, “I’m going to be the loneliest man in the world.” It was 1945, and although the war had ended, his hitch in the service had a year and a half to go. He was 18 years old.

Robert Brustein, a central figure in 20th-century American theatre, joined Suffolk University's College of Arts Sciences in 2006 as a Distinguished Scholar in Residence, a permanent faculty appointment.

Following an accelerated course of study at the High School of Music and Art in New York City with a final year at Columbia Grammar School, Brustein graduated at 16 and entered Amherst College in 1943. The war had swept most of the students from the pristine New England campus, leaving only the underage and the 4Fs, those deemed physically unable to serve. “We ruled,” he says. “We were the football team, the baseball team, the drama club. One hundred-fifty kids.”

Enlisting for service in April 1945, he entered the Merchant Marine, which capped four months of basic training in San Mateo, California with six months at sea, eight months at the Merchant Marine Academy at King’s Point, Long Island, and the rank of Cadet-Midshipman in the Naval Reserve. On one of his seven-hour monthly leaves from basic training on August 15, 1945, Brustein witnessed V-J day in San Francisco. “It was orgiastic. Women tore their clothes off in the street. People climbed to the top of huge statues. I’ve never seen a city go so berserk. And all I did was watch. The envious observer.” Read more

It’s A Musical Life

In New York, where you can see productions originating from Africa to Iceland, you can also see musicals this year that came from your own back yard, Suffolk University.

Three musicals originally developed by the Boston Music Theatre Project (BMTP), a program of the Suffolk University Theatre Department, had professional New York area debuts this season. The incredible circumstances are not the triumph of coincidence, but the result of a carefully crafted model and the tenacity of Theatre Department Chair Marilyn Plotkins.

Professor and Chair of the Theatre Department Marilyn Plotkins

Plotkins founded BMTP in 1987 as the first professional organization in the Greater Boston area dedicated exclusively to the development of new work in musical theatre. “I have a life-long interest in musicals,” says Plotkins. “BMTP was a natural outgrowth of my training, experience and professional interests.”

For the next 10 years, Plotkins partnered with local and national organizations and artists to develop new work, including Elmer Gantry, produced by the Nashville Opera and the Peak Performances series at Montclair State University in January, 2008, and Look What a Wonder Jesus Has Done, featured in the New York Music Theatre Festival this September.

In 1999, Plotkins integrated BMTP into the academic framework of the newly formed Theatre Department to engage Suffolk students in the development process. Crossing Brooklyn, a new musical by Laura Harrington and Jenny Giering, premiered off-Broadway in the fall at the Transport Group and was the first BMTP piece developed with students—but it certainly won’t be the last.

The hands-on experience of BMTP is a unique facet of the Suffolk Theatre Department and has inspired other in-house professional development opportunities, such as Wesley Savick’s National Theatre of Allston and Richard Chambers’ professional design apprenticeships. As the program continues to grow, so will the opportunities. Plotkins is currently in negotiation with two New York writers for the next BMTP project, slated for spring, 2009.

The Modern Theatre Awakens from Slumber

Suffolk University’s search for increased classroom and dormitory space has led to the Modern Theatre, the last of three theatres on lower Washington Street in need of a savior. The nearby Paramount Theatre is currently being renovated by Emerson College and the adjacent Opera House reopened in 2004 to house Broadway touring productions.

Suffolk’s proposed plan for the space will retain the historic marble and sandstone façade, creating a ground floor performance space with a dormitory above that will connect to the new dorm at 10 West Street.
“This is a momentous opportunity to raise Suffolk’s profile in the Boston theatre community by creating a state-of-the-art facility while contributing to the revitalization of lower Washington Street,” says Professor Marilyn Plotkins, chair of the Theatre Department.

The Modern Theatre, built as a furniture store in 1876, became Boston’s first movie house in 1913 and 15 years later the first theatre in the city wired for sound. After a brief stint screening adult films in the 70s, an attempt to restore the space into a performing arts center eventually failed in the early 80s. The Modern has remained vacant and in increasing need of repair for the last 20 years.

“The project fulfills an academic need of the University,” says John Nucci, vice president for external affairs, “and also restores an important part of Boston’s history.”

The Modern Theatre project, part of the University’s Institutional Master Plan, has been very well received by the community, particularly Mayor Thomas M. Menino, whose administration has pushed for the preservation of Boston’s historic theatres. And with the addition of the Modern, the University will be halfway to its goal of housing 50% of its undergraduate students.

“The Modern Theatre and West Street Dorm complex promises to be one of the most attractive and exciting areas of the University and the neighborhood,” says Nucci.