John Going
John Going is the Associate Artistic Director at Olney Theatre Center, where he has staged almost 50 productions including the current production of Over The Tavern, Witness for the Prosecution, Misalliance, The Savannah Disputation, Night Must Fall, The Millionairess, The Underpants, The Mousetrap, Doubt, 13 Rue de L’Amour, I Am My Own Wife, The Constant Wife, The Heiress, Morning’s at Seven, Lend Me a Tenor, Charley’s Aunt, Holiday, Hay Fever, Light Up the Sky, Noises Off, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Lucky Stiff [1990 Helen Hayes Award, Outstanding Resident Musical]. At The Studio Theatre, he directed highly successful productions of Gross Indecency, Love! Valour! Compassion!, Conversations With My Father, The Lisbon Traviata, The Women, and A Tale of Two Cities. His work has been seen on Broadway, Off-Broadway, internationally, and in regional theaters across the country including Paper Mill Playhouse which is where I first saw John’s work with Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues. A four-time Helen Hayes Award nominee, John received the Outstanding Direction Award for his work on The Miser at Folger Theatre. He has won the Kevin Kline Best Director Award for I Am My Own Wife at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. John is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and a National Players alumnus. He is also extremly talented.
What was your first professional directing job?
AS YOU LIKE IT at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival.
How did you come to Olney Theatre?
I did my first show at Olney Theatre in 1973, at the invitation of Jim Waring, then Artistic Director, who had been my teacher at Catholic University. Since then I’ve directed close to 50 productions at Olney. Clearly, it’s been my artistic home for many years.
Connor Aikin (Eddie Pazinski), Carol Schultz (Sister Clarissa), Noah Chiet (Rudy Pazinski) and Paul Morella (Chet Pazinski). Photo Credit Stan Barouh.
Can you please tell us a little bit about your current show at Olney Theatre Center called Over The Tavern?
The show is a warm-hearted and very funny comedy about a young boy’s coming-of-age in a very strict Polish-Catholic family in Buffalo, NY. The play takes place in 1959, shortly before the Catholic Church became modernized. He’s struggling against the very rigid rules and regulations imposed on him by Sister Clarissa, his 7th grade teacher, and managing to drive her crazy with his imaginative and non-orthodox thinking. His interactions with her and his parents as well as his 3 teenage siblings provide for some riotious carryings on.
You have staged almost 50 productions at Olney Theater Center. What are some of your favorites?
Difficult question, as there are many very happy memories. But a few come to mind: NOISES OFF, THE HEIRESS, THE CONSTANT WIFE, HOLIDAY, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, THE SAVANNAH DISPUTATION, LUCKY STIFF which won the Helen Hayes Award for Best Musical Production several years ago.
Now that Over The Tavern has opened, what are your next few projects at Olney or elsewhere?
Next up for me at Olney is ANGEL STREET (GASLIGHT), a wonderful Victorian thriller, in the Spring. My next immediate project is a trip to Israel and Jordan at the end of October. Really looking forward to having a look at that part of the world!
Over the Tavern is running through October 21, 2012 at Olney Theater Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, MD 20832. To get show times or purchase tickets click here or call the box office at 301-924-3400.
