In June 2014, Theatre Under the Stars – a Houston company whose underground branch is known for edgier works, like the musical adaptation of Reefer Madness – produced the show. However, the artistic director Bruce Lumpkin (pictured) changed the script by reassigning songs (therefore changing the order in which contestants dropped out) and committed other infractions. While seeing the show by special invitation, Amanda Green remembered questioning her memory of her show. Following the production, he approached Green and told her “it works better”. Interestingly, Lumpkin felt that he didn’t commit any infringement since no dialogue or lyrics were altered. In an interview with Howard Sherman, Lumpkin stated he felt that he could change the order on the basis that “ [he had] seen the show twice on Broadway and [had] seen the running order of songs as printed in the program each time differing (“Rebuilding”)”. While Lumpkin’s actions were akin to “the way a film director would [treat it] in an editing room (“What Happened”)”, it seriously broke some accepted norms of the director/writer relationship established in the theatre; in addition, he agreed to perform the play as is.
While he claims that the changes were made after rehearsals began, an interviewed performer claimed that was not the case and they “only learned one show” and that “the new version that we put up onstage served the piece and the story and the characters better than the version on Broadway,” to which Green heavily disagrees. After being contacted, the executive director of Samuel French, Bruce Lazarus, issued a cease-and-desist following an investigation (and request to fix the show) at the urging of the creative staff. |
Amanda Green |
A NYC native, Green was raised in the Upper West Side with her brother and parents, both of whom were involved with theatre and the Broadway scene. She graduated from Brown University and then attended an actor training program at the Circle in the Square Theatre School before turning her focus to music. She moved to Nashville in the mind-1990s to write country music. Next, she went to LA and wrote the lyrics for two musicals and earned a nomination from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle. She met Tom Kitt at the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, where he suggested the two adapt the film High Fidelity (2000) to the stage; it received poor reviews and closed after fourteen performances. She collaborated again with Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda on Bring It On: The Musical. She worked with Phish frontman Trey Anastasio as well, which led to their partnership on Hands on a Hardbody. She won a 2004 Jonathon Larson Award for excellence in songwriting and is a contributing writer for Playboy. |
Born in Dallas, Wright graduated from Highland Park High School, where he served as the President of the Thespian Club. He received his bachelors from Yale in 1985 and earned his MFA from NYU. A member of the Dramatists Guild, he also serves on the board of the New York Theatre Workshop. He has received the William L. Bradley Fellowship at Yale, the Charles MacArthur Fellowship at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, an HBO Fellowship in playwriting, and the Alfred Hodder Fellowship at Princeton. He is known for the critically acclaimed Quills (adapted into a film in 2000) and the one-person play, I Am My Own Wife.
In addition to writing the book for Hands on a Hardbody, he wrote the book for Grey Gardens and adapted The Little Mermaid to Broadway. He also wrote the book for the new musical, War Paint, which just premiered at the Goodman Theatre this past summer. In an article from the American Theatre, Wright is attached to Hands on a Hardbody because “the show has a special piece in my heart, because it allowed me to put some of my frustrations with the notorious state to rest—its antediluvian politics and ferociously ‘old time’ religion—and focus instead on the innate hospitality, tenacity and good-humored spirit of so many of its people.” |
Born in Fort Worth, Texas, his family moved to Princeton, New Jersey when he was three. He grew up with his sister and parents, both of whom were interested in education; his mother was a children’s book writer and editor of Sesame Street Magazine. He graduated from Taft School, where he created his first two bands and then went on to attended the University of Vermont (where he met those who would become original Phish bandmates) and Goddard college.
In additional to having a self-named band and being the frontman on Phish, Anastasio has worked on a variety of musical projects with different collaborators. He uses episodic form and modal improvisation in his composition efforts. After failing a sobriety test in 2066, he has become a participant in the National Association of Drug Court Professionals and working to fund-raise and gain awareness. His recording facility in Vermont, The Barn (or the Farmhouse) has been transformed from a commercial recording facility into a studio environment providing accommodations and work space for musical artists. |