The Stuff of Dreams, a Dedication to Terrence McNally
In 2002, Primary Stages began a new chapter in our journey as an Off-Broadway company. We had outgrown our longtime stage on West 45th Street and we were on our way to our new home as the resident company at the freshly built 59E59 Theaters. In preparation for our premiere season there, we were searching for a new play that would grab the attention of the theater world. We immediately thought of Terrence McNally, one of America’s preeminent playwrights and an artist firmly committed to the Off-Broadway movement. I sat down to lunch with Terrence at his favorite Knickerbocker restaurant and he began to speak about his idea of expanding his existing short play, Prelude and Leibestod, and turning it into a full evening of theater. He soon gave me the script and said, “Let me know what you think.” We read it and it quickly became clear that this would be the perfect work to open this new theater complex. When I told Terrence of our desire to produce a production of this yet-to-be-finished work, he …