Our PBS Series Explores
How These Unique Characters
Influence,  Enrich Our Lives

Character Studies: Living and Dying in "Our Town"

Character Studies Productions is pleased to present its first-ever PBS special, [premiere: summer, 2007], a one-hour program that looks inside the classic Thornton Wilder play. Hosted by Eli Wallach, this special examines the real stories behind these iconic characters - George Gibbs and Emily Webb - the girl and boy next door. We draw from exclusive interviews with a dozen actors and others who have worked on acclaimed productions across the country. Included are comments from Cynthia Nixon [Old Globe Theatre, San Diego], James Rebhorn, Frances Conroy and Eric Stoltz [Lincoln Center/Broadway], Harvey Evans [Broadway], Tom Jones [Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre], and James Naughton (director), Maggie Lacey, Jeffrey DeMunn, Ben Fox, Stephen Spinella and Paul Newman [Westport Country Playhouse and Broadway].

Movie clips excerpted for the Our Town Special from Showcase Productions.

Performance clips from stage productions, and from the original film version bring the characters to life, and archival footage and images illustrate life in small-town America at the dawn of the last century. Original artwork was also commissioned for the show.

"Respect is death to this play," comments Eric Stoltz, reflecting the unsentimental, unexpected analysis that all the participants present, based on their first-hand experience with this work. "We underestimate this play, greatly," Cynthia Nixon points out. And Frances Conroy emphasizes that "this is much more than a play that is only done in high schools. It is really rather brutal."

Character Studies is a bold new PBS series that explores the American character and spirit, revealing the stunning and enlightening impact of the greatest theatrical characters of our time. Through the words and images of leading actors, directors and writers, each powerful installment profiles a character from a significant play or musical: "Long Day's Journey Into Night's" Edmund Tyrone in one show, "The Glass Menagerie's" Amanda Wingfield the next. We will present to viewers, young and old and from all backgrounds, how the theatre and its characters do not just entertain us, but enrich and enhance

Maggie Lacey, Paul Newman and Ben Fox in a scene from Thornton Wilder's "Our Town," produced by the Westport Country Playhouse, in Connecticut and on Broadway, directed by James Naughton.

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For more information about this one-hour special, click here.
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Click here to read Tony Vellela's Broadway reviews at Drama Bookshop.

Among actors interviewed for Character Studies are Julie Harris (The Glass Menagerie), Olympia Dukakis (The Glass Menagerie), Ethan Hawke (The Sea Gull), and Ruby Dee (A Raisin in the Sun), shown below.

all aspects of our lives. Character Studies Productions produces television programming for and about the arts. Our programming takes you insde some of the most acclaimed theatrical productions. Our mission, using interviews with the actors, directors and writers who created these great characters, is to explore how they have influenced us all.

We are pleased to announce that our programs will feature three rotating hosts: Eli Wallach, Eric Stoltz, and Phylicia Rashad.

About Us

Who We Are, What We Do

Austin Pendleton

Character Studies Productions produces television programming for and about the arts. Our programming takes the viewer behind the scenes of the some of the great theatrical productions. Our mission is to use interviews with the actors, directors and writers who created the masterworks of our time and how these great characters influence us all. The creative team includes writer/producer Tony Vellela, senior producer Chiz Shultz and actor/director Austin Pendleton (above).

For more about us, click here

Julie Harris

Ruby Dee

Olympia Dukakis

Ethan Hawke

Zeljko Ivanek, Julie Harris and Calista Flockhart in the 50th anniversary Broadway production of The Glass Menagerie directed by Frank Galati.

The Education Project

We Introduce These Unique Stories To America's Students

Films Media Group, an industry leader in the development and distribution of educational videos for classroom use, has established a relationship with Character Studies Productions.

"Character Studies offers Films Media Group a new and unique source of content, not previously available in our educational marketplace," stated Julian Chiabella, FMG's Acquistions Manager. Based in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, FMG has begun to distribute a new series of videos based on the greatest American theatre classics, starting with "The Glass Menagerie." Other entries planned for the series include "Gypsy," "A Raisin in the Sun," "Our Town," "The Music Man" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Information on the series, titled "Character Studies Conversations," is available at Films.com, and within the Character Studies website.

"We have been looking for the right partner for our educational projects," stated Tony Vellela, Character Studies Executive Producer. "With FMG, we can be assured that the integrity of these great writers, actors, directors, composers and choreographers will be presented in a quality environment, and of course, FMG is at the top of that list."

"In addition, FMG provides users with access to our extensive Teacher's Guides, lesson plans and student activities materials, which can be printed out and used by teachers and professors from middle school through the univesity level. We are also happy to announce that all of our supplementary materials can be used in both the arts and the humanities categories of teaching." Character Studies materials offer extensive historical, theatrical, sociological, political and humanities-related information, so that these great plays and musicals can be used as sources to teach a wide range of subjects, from drama, English and communications, to history, social studies, human relationships, American culture and political science.

"This initial series of videos will include interviews with some of America's most acclaimed theatre artists, many of whom are also familiar because of their work in film and television. The video series will feature Julie Harris, Olympia Dukakis, Sam Waterston, Eric Stoltz, Austin Pendleton, Robert Sean Leonard, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters, Betty Buckley, Jerry Mitchell, Angela Lansbury, Ruby Dee, Phylicia Rashad, Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim, Joe Morton, Audra McDonald, Frances Conroy, James Rebhorn, Jeffrey DeMunn, Cynthia Nixon, Kathleen Turner, Uta Hagen, Judith Ivey, George Grizzard, Bill Irwin, Edward Albee, Shirley Jones, Barbara Cook, Debra Monk, Susan Stroman and Paul Newman.

"These carefully crafted interviews offer extraordinary insights for classroom use," Chiabella continued. "FMG looks forward to receiving more content of this calibre in the future from Character Studies. As a major player in the market for educational content for 45 years, we are delighted to introduce these new and valuable resources to our educational market."

The Character Studies Education Department also maintains an Archives Project, which makes interviews available, for free, to the general public and to students, at Syracuse University, and at New York's Museum of Television and Radio. Its Internship Program has now trained more than 400 students and young people in all areas of production, non-profit business operations, entertainment law and related fields.

A non-profit education company, Character Studies education initiatives have been funded in part through generous grants from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Newman's Own Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Snowdon Foundation, the Biddle Foundation, the Delmas Foundation and the Ford Foundation.