Today we’d like to introduce you to Norman Blumensaadt
Hi Norman, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Different Stages was founded in 1980 as Small Potatoes Theatrical Company. From its inception, the theatre has been committed to the performance not only of famous plays but also of lesser-known works. Plays by Shakespeare, Moliere, Shaw, and O’Neill have been recurring favorites; but Different Stages has also introduced Austin audiences to the works of Caryl Churchill, Jane Martin, Keith Reddin, Charles Ludlum, Constance Congdon, Marlane Meyer, Pierre Marivaux, and Edit Villarreal.
The company has produced over 130 plays, ranging from romantic to neo-classic to realistic to surrealistic. It has staged several world premieres–four translations by Austin scholars, including one by Professor Douglass Parker, and original scripts by Austin playwrights Tom White and Ann Ciccolella and Rita Anderson.
Norman Blumensaadt has been the Producing Artistic Director since the beginning of the company and continues in that role.
At Different Stages diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice are core values of our organization. We will continue to make participation in our company and in our productions open and accessible to all artists and patrons.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We have performed in may Austin locations-starting in dance studios around Austin. That is how my fellow director Susan Dillard came up with the name Different Stages.
Of course money is always an issue. I take big risks with programming of play, so we usually have one play preseason that does not make its budget. Agatha Christie has been a staple playwright because the audience loves a goo mystery.
Currently the cost of storage of costumes, furniture and set pieces are a financial burden.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have been involved in theatre since high school. Many times I can close to going professional as an actor but the limitations in finding work and interesting creative projects have kept me from goin the route.
I have an MFA in directing from UT Austin. I have fierce classical plays, new to Austin plays and brand new plays. I have always given actors a chance who do not have much experience or are new to Austin. The best way to make actors is to cut them repeatedly in a variety of roles.
I also believe in challenging myself as a director and taking risks. One by producing plays new to Austin, book adaptation put on stages, producing plays no one else will touch.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
My father was in the Army. I was born in Munich Germany and live in Darmstadt, Germany when I was five. Then we move to El Paso , Texas. In many ways, a world elsewhere as Shakespeare’s Coriolanus notes.
My mother taught us to read, read, read. So the library and cheep paperbacks.( remember Batman editions) were my window to the world. Plus reading Time and Newsweek. El Paso seemed so remote from the rest of Texas, Arizona and New Mexico.
I was also slow to grow up having flunked out of college twice. But reading and theatre provided a window to a larger world.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.differentstagestheatre.org
- Instagram: DifferentStagestheater
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DifferentStages
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@differentstages9941
Image Credits
Norman Blumensaadt, Steve Rogers
