Elizabeth Swados' Runaways Will Be Part of 2016 Encores! Off-Center Season
(© Aaron Epstein)
New York City Centers's 2016 Encores! Off-Center season will include Runaways, the groundbreaking 1978 musical for which the late writer, composer, director, and choreographer Elizabeth Swados received four Tony Award nominations.
The production will be directed by Sam Pinkleton and choreographed by Ani Taj, both of whom were students of Swados' at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Full details about the production will be announced at a later date.
Examining the lives of children who run away from home and live on the streets, the work was inspired by interviews Swados conducted with real-life runaways. Premiering at the Public Theater on February 21, 1978, it moved to Broadway's Plymouth Theater that spring where it ran 274 performances. Swados, then 27 years old, was the show's composer, book writer, director, and choreographer. She was nominated for four 1978 Tony Awards for each of her contributions to the work, as well as Drama Desk Awards for her direction, music, and lyrics. Swados died at the age of 64 earlier this month.
"Six months ago, I approached Liz to ask permission to present Runaways," Encores! Off-Center Artistic Director Jeanine Tesori said in a statement, "and we began talking about how to bring this show to life for a new generation. We decided to cast the production largely from an open call to high school students across the five boroughs, a gesture that Liz loved. Since we can’t do Runaways with her, we’ll now do it for her. We are heartbroken by the news of her passing and our hearts go out to her widow, Roz."
