Condolence From: Emma Goldman-Sherman
Condolence: Last year when Michael died, I got busy creating the Inaugural Michael Warren Powell Memorial Reading which is now a yearly event at the Dramatists Guild Fund's Music Hall. I have a gentleman in my writing workshop by the name of James Masten whose first full length play Survivors was just getting ready to need to be read. It is a beautiful play about a gay man who is about to get married when he starts to self-sabotage because he feels guilty for surviving the AIDS crisis years ago. It is a play I thought Michael would enjoy because it is true and sad and very funny too. Thucydides, the Historian is a character, as are characters from the more recent past. That play has now been developed to the point where 29th Street Playwrights Collective will be producing a New Works Reading of it this October (and providing the writer a grant of $500 from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council). And this year's 2nd Annual Michael Warren Powell Memorial Reading is called After the Party by Michelle Ghatan. It will take place at the Dramatists Guild Fund's Music Hall on Wednesday July 19th at 4pm. Anyone interested in welcome to join us for free. I feel blessed to be able to honor Michael's memory this way with plays by early career writers just starting out. It was a great blessing for me to have known Michael and feel his support of my work, and I want others to know his support and have the blessing of his memory too.
Monday July 10, 2017
Condolence From: Magie Dominic
Condolence: To the family of Michael Warren Powell.
I send my respect and blessings. I met Michael in the mid-sixties in New York City at the Caffe Cino. We remained friends ever since. There are wonderful photographs of his plays in a collection at Lincoln Center Library, preserved forever. There are so many cherished memories. One of the things I will forever remember about Michael was his rich velvet voice. He gave the English language wings and let it soar. God bless you Michael.
Thursday August 18, 2016
Condolence From: Joel Thurm
Condolence: Michael, if it were not for you, I might still be the "nice Jewish Boy" living with my parents East Flatbush/Carnarsie area ofBrooklyn. Meeting you while I was a student at Hunter College in 1964 not only introduced me to the pleasures of your flesh, but also the brilliance of Off Off Broadway and Caffe Cino actors and writers and directors, i.e. Neil Flanagan, Marshal Mason and of course Lance Wilson among many others. I will miss you ... Joel Thurm
Monday August 15, 2016
Condolence From: Joanna Miles
Condolence: Miss you. Go on in peace. Joanna
Sunday August 14, 2016
Condolence From: Jeffery Corrick
Condolence: So very sorry I didn't see this sooner or I would have tried to attend the service.
I met Michael when I moved to NYC in 1985 through mutual friends from the Cafe Cino days. He acted for me (beautifully) in readijgs of new works, mentored my first play, and we worked together lighting many productions for Johnny Dodd...
He was simply one of the nicest, kindest and most talented people it has been my privilege to know and work with -- and a true friend. I am so saddened to learn he is gone.
Saturday August 13, 2016
Condolence From: Kristina Lear
Condolence: I met Michael when I was 19. I had just returned from hitchhiking across the country and was looking for work. Tina Ball suggested I answer phones at the Circle Rep offices. It profoundly affected the course of my life. In a nutshell, Michael said yes to me. Yes in welcoming me. Yes to my doing a reading of a play that Bruce McCarty wanted to cast me in, yes to my then doing the play, yes to my becoming a company member. He was hugely warm and supportive. I know he said yes to a lot of artists and gave us the space and time to try all kinds of stuff. Circle was my first artistic home and I have never known anything quite like it. I also had the pleasure of being directed by Michael and the sublime experience of acting with him. On stage he was an example of what nobody can teach. He just was. So full of life. For some being on stage prunes the synapses and you get an authentic but streamlined person. For Michael, being on stage seemed to turn every possible connection on and the effect was magnificent. He was a wonderful human who seemed to take great joy in other people and their messy humanness. I feel very lucky to have know him and been championed by him. I am sorry to his family for your loss.
Monday August 01, 2016
Condolence From: Emma Goldman-Sherman
Condolence: I will never forget Michael as long as I live -- he was so generous and open, and I learned so much from him. I would not be doing the work I do today if it had not been for Michael Warren Powell and his support. He brought me into the lab and let me do all sorts of wonderful things like putting teams of designers together for lab shows. I remember sitting in that little office of his in the back and asking him how this or that could possibly happen, and he would say, " find out who's available, call and ask, it'll happen!" And it did! We got so much work up on its feet with the tiniest budgets, and it was exhilarating and fabulous! Every week people sat around and heard new work and discussed it, and he was full of love for the work and the people. There was so much momentum, and so much came of it all, and people grew. He nurtured us all, and we grew! And then there were the Lab Parties! I will never forget how the lab would be transformed, and we would all take shifts at the door, and the dancing. . . I think of him often with so much love.
Saturday July 30, 2016
Condolence From: Lawrence Harvey Schulman
Condolence: To Michael Warren Powell's family, my heartfelt sympathy on your loss. Michael's love, nurturing support and generosity of spirit were a gift beyond measure. He enriched the lives of countless artists who became his extended family. Thank you for sharing him with us.
Saturday July 30, 2016
Condolence From: JANET SARNO
Condolence: Michael, You were brother, lover, mentor, friend, and teacher to so many of us you have left behind. Rise with the Phoenix and live again. You will be with us always.
janet
Tuesday July 26, 2016
Condolence From: Henry Hagerty
Condolence: God bless you, Michael.
Thank your for your generosity of spirit, your appreciation of all of us, your ability to really see each one of us and to identify and encourage the special gifts that each one of us have. What an unusual spirit to inhabit the theatre, one of kindness and generosity and encouragement in a world that is not always know for that. Your smile and your hugs and your belief in us will always be remembered before we go back on stage. May your memory be eternal.
Monday July 25, 2016
