Malaparte (theater company)

Malaparte

Formation	1991
Founders	Josh Hamilton Ethan Hawke Ami Armstrong Robert Sean Leonard James Waterston Jonathan Marc Sherman Frank Whaley Steve Zahn Cassandra Han
Dissolved	2000
Type	Non-profit theatre company
Legal status	Defunct
Location	New York City, New York, United States

Malaparte was an American non-profit theater company based in New York City, New York.

History

While driving cross-country in 1991, actors Josh Hamilton and Ethan Hawke and playwright Jonathan Marc Sherman decided to form a theater company. Actors Robert Sean Leonard, Frank Whaley, and Steve Zahn joined the fledgling enterprise, which Hawke named after an obscure novel. Leonard later explained, "We would be sitting around New York a lot, and we bowled a lot, and eventually we thought, 'When we're not doing anything, why don't we see if we can put some new plays on?'"

Malaparte's first production was a new translation of Luigi Pirandello's 1918 play A Joke starring Hamilton, Hawke, Sherman, Cynthia Nixon, and Austin Pendleton, which ran from October 9–31, 1992. The company operated for three seasons in the 1990s as the members juggled film and television work; there were often disputes over fundraising, casting, and play selection. Shows were performed in rented venues throughout Manhattan, with a flat $10 ticket price. In 1992, Jason Blum joined Malaparte as co-producing director with Ami Armstrong who had been running the office out of her home apartment. Blum personally hawked fliers in Times Square, shouting, "Don't go see some Broadway show! Come see a new play by an American playwright!" The New Yorker critic Hilton Als wrote that the Malaparte collective "brought a new take on male anxiety to the American theatre, and was not embarrassed by its love of women, or its romanticism."

Malaparte officially dissolved in 2000, in part because the members wanted to devote more time to their children. In 2005, Hawke referred to the company's heyday as "pretty much the most thrilling period of my life".

Productions

	Title	Author(s)	Director	Cast	Run	Venue
1	A Joke	Luigi Pirandello	Keith Bunin	Josh Hamilton, Ethan Hawke, Cynthia Nixon, Austin Pendleton, Jonathan Marc Sherman	October 9–31, 1992	Sanford Meisner Theatre
2	Wild Dogs!	Daniel J. Rubin	Ethan Hawke	Amelia Campbell, Isabel Gillies, Jonathan Marc Sherman, Steve Zahn	December 3–19, 1993	Theatre Row Theatre
3	Acoustic Night (coffeehouse)			Jesse Harris, Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, Lisa Loeb, Frank Whaley	December 21, 1993	Theatre Row Theatre
4	Good Evening	Dudley Moore and Peter Cook	James Waterston	Robert Sean Leonard, Frank Whaley	December 30–31, 1993 February 9–17, 1994	Theatre Row Theatre Wet Bank Cafe
5	It Changes Every Year and Sons and Fathers (one-acts)	Jon Robin Baitz and Jonathan Marc Sherman	Nicholas Martin	Brooks Ashmanskas, Calista Flockhart, Dana Ivey, Josh Hamilton, Ethan Hawke, Steve Zahn	January 7–22, 1994	Theatre Row Theatre
6	Veins and Thumbtacks	Jonathan Marc Sherman	Ethan Hawke	Nicole Burdette, Lynn Cohen, Frank Whaley	October 7–23, 1994	Theatre Row Theatre
7	Hesh	Matthew Weiss	Frank Pugliese	Nadia Dajani, Ned Eisenberg, Ethan Hawke, Frank Whaley	November 4–12, 1994	Theatre Row Theatre
8	The Great Unwashed	Nicole Burdette	Max Mayer	Lynn Cohen, Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, Martha Plimpton, Frank Whaley	November 18 – December 4, 1994	Theatre Row Theatre