MISTER HALSTON: A NEW PLAY
“Nothing short of mesmerizing”
“Entertaining and evocative”
“A splendid time”
“KEN BARNETT is marvelous”
“Authentic, poetic, sympathetic, insightful”
Mister Halston is a new play exploring the life and times of famed American fashion designer, Halston.
SEE THE TRAILER:
About Mister Halston
It is early spring, 1987, New York. Late afternoon, spilling into dusk. We are in the living room of the East 63rd Street apartment of famed American fashion designer, Halston. The journalist has arrived.
A one-person play featuring Ken Barnett (CBS’s Starfleet Academy, Broadway’s Fun Home, Wonderful Town, The Green Bird); directed by Kimberly Senior (Broadway’s Disgraced, MTC’s Bella Bella and The Niceties); and written by Raffaele Pacitti, Mister Halston is a fictionalized version of the interview that led to a seminal New York Times article about the legendary designer.
Throughout the interview, we learn about varied aspects of Halston’s life and career. We meet the people Halston knew and loved, as well as the cultural figures who influenced him. We hear about the visionary work that not only gripped the fashion world for decades, but also helped shape the evolution of identity, gender politics, sexuality, and style—in America and around the world.
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DEVELOPMENT
TIMELINE
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A staged reading of the latest draft of Mister Halston held in a private home on Cooper Square. This AEA-Approved Showcase Code was held for an invited audience of producers, potential investors and additional creatives.
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We were excited and elated to explore the expression and mood of this dynamic character. With the collaboration of a brilliant team, we were able to create a gallery of images that capture the complexity and drama of Halston.
Photographer MARC TOUSIGNANT
Stylist MARTIN GREGORY
Hair & Makeup EDUARDO JIMENEZ
Check out our Gallery page! -
Industry Staging as part of United Solo Festival. This AEA-Approved Showcase Code featured Ken Barnett (Broadway’s Fun Home, WonderfulTown, The Green Bird) and was directed by Kimberly Senior (Broadway's Disgraced).
Awards:Best Actor (Ken Barnett); Best Script (Rafffael Pacitti); Audience Award.
Goals: To get the piece on its feet (albeit with minimal staging) to explore how the piece would flow in a larger theatrical setting. To explore the intricacies of character and how he relates to audience. To examine all aspects of the story through intense dramatrugy.
Learnings: The piece resonates with audiences, whether they are familiar with the subject matter or not. There is a keen association with the character’s humanity. The piece was received with overwhelming positivity in its execution, content, style, and emotional connotations.
Producer and investor interest is ongoing.
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On-going rewrites and interviews with additional prominent figures. Additional research conducted to verify several plot-points and environmental details.
Goals: To revise script and condense certain passages. To clarify some historical details and character points. To enhance the overall audience experience and create a closer relationship to the main character.
Learnings: Some dramaturgy was needed and a physical production was required in order to workshop some passages and the approach to the overall story.
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Industry Reading featuring Mark H. Dold (Broadway’s The Inheritance) and Peggy Coffey.
Goals: To get a draft in front of an audience to examine how the piece would work in a theatrical context. There was no staging, simply two actors with podiums.
Learnings: Several passages needed to be re-worked and there were subsequent cuts and reconsiderations of some historical contexts. The overall perception was extremely positive and several producers made inquiries about future iterations.
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Initial research began. Interviews conducted by contemporaries of Halston’s as well as varied figures from the period. Intense examination of all aspects of Halston’s life and career and how he influenced his industry and milieu. Visits to several important institutions associated with Halston and archives associated with his work, including Fashon Institute of Technology in New York, Lipscomb University in Nashville, The New York Times Archives and many others.
Goals: To asses the overall life and career of the man in order to craft an emotional, theatrical and enticing experience.
Learnings: The figure of Halston is extremely enthralling, culturally relevant and theatrically exciting! The initial writing journey proves to be complex, shocking, enriching, invigorating, frustrating, thrilling, joyful, profoundly touching and much, much more!