The Sondheim Ensemble visits the Drama Book Shop
The Drama Book Shop is a second home to theatre kids across New York City. In this location, for over a century we have been able to gather to purchase a fresh copy of a play that we’ve been assigned a scene from, sit in a chair or even an aisle floor to experience a new work in the pages of it, or just a place to walk around and browse the shelves to learn the names of essential playwrights. When the Drama Book Shop was about to close during the pandemic, Lin-Manuel Miranda purchased it and revived it, understanding firsthand the importance of this locale.
We took our Sondheim Ensemble to the Drama Book Shop a few weeks ago to introduce them to this historic place. It was the first visit of all the students, and we hope there will be many more visits in the future after our trip. As we walked into the shop, I noticed the students all looked up at the beautiful spirals of books, a new addition since the reopening, making you feel as if you had fallen down the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland, specifically a stage production. A high school sophomore, Emily immediately found a shop employee to help her find the section with Eric Bogosian's plays. Emily was recently assigned a scene from Bogosian’s Suburbia, and was eagerly searching the aisle for a copy of the play to bring home and devour. Emily has been working intently on her scene with her partner Gordon, and can’t wait to discover the whole arc of the characters, bringing the full story to her scene in class.
After browsing the aisles, Rio, an 8th-grade student, bought a theater game made of deck cards. He sat in a back corner with some friends quietly playing, and I found them huddled with giant smiles as they wove stories and characters through the card game. Ensemble building is at the core of our work at Fair Playhouse, and even when not in class, students are always finding moments to create together.
Sal browsed the aisles for a copy of their play, Torch Song Trilogy. They listened closely as I explained that there are multiple versions of this play, as the playwright Harvey Fierstein revised it to be a two-act play for the recent Broadway revival. Sal chose to purchase the original version with the whole trilogy. “I wonder if I will be as obsessed with this play as you are,” they joke, noticing I’m wearing a sweater from the 1983 production. It’s no surprise that Sal was enthusiastic about reading the full version of the play, as they were thrilled at the beginning of the semester to learn that they would be playing an essential character in queer theater history. When we choose scenes, monologues, and songs for our students, we don’t just consider their basic demographics; we also consider their interests and who they are as people on multiple levels.
During our visit, we bumped into a former community member, Gideon, who is now studying at a prestigious two-year adult acting conservatory in the city. After giving us big hugs, he informed us he was there to buy a copy of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman after being assigned the scene in class. It was a kismet moment for the Sondheim students, watching a burgeoning professional actor utilize the Drama Book Shop exactly as we had told them.
A few students spent our visit there doing what many visitors participate in, sitting and reading. As we walked out, students happily swung their small paper bags — freshly purchased, tiny tokens of their love of theater. At Fair Playhouse, we strongly believe in providing students with multi-dimensional experiences as theater artists, and look forward to more field trips to essential theater locales.
We look forward to hearing about their solo adventures to the Drama Book Shop in years to come.
