Blue Light Theater Company

rdf:langString Blue Light Theater Company

rdf:langString Blue Light Theater Company

rdf:langString New York City, New York, United States

rdf:langString The Blue Light Theater Company was an off-Broadway theater company located in New York City primarily active in the late 1990s through 2001 and notable for the many celebrated actors associated with the company, including Joanne Woodward, Paul Newman, Frances McDormand, Billy Crudup, Marisa Tomei, and Marsha Mason, as well as many who have since gone on to have notable careers including Josh Radnor, T.R. Knight, Chris Messina, and Matthew Saldivar. Actor/ Artistic-Director Greg Naughton (also a singer-songwriter with The Sweet Remains), and Darice O'Mara, Assistant to Paul Newman, founded Blue Light in 1995 with the stated mission of producing challenging, primarily larger-cast plays that would bring up-and-coming actors together with veteran artists in a spirit of apprenticeship. They began as an itinerant theater troupe, renting theaters from such venues as Primary Stages, HERE Arts Center, the Classic Stage Company, and Atlantic Theatre Company, before settling in for two seasons at the 55th Street Theatre (now the Women's Project Theater) and their final two seasons in the McGinn-Cazale Theatre. Mandy Greenfield (later the artistic producer of Manhattan Theatre Club and artistic director of Williamstown Theatre Festival) joined as Blue Light’s producing manager in 1998. She and Peter Manning (formerly producer of New York Stage and Film) are credited with the artistic direction and selection of Blue Light’s final season, when Mr. Naughton took a sabbatical.