


Sam Waterston on Stage Sam's stage appearences are listed, as much as possible, in chronological order from earliest to latest. Those with links lead to photos, reviews, or other information about the production. Assistance with additions and corrections is welcome! A big THANK YOU to Samfan for contributing information about "Love Letters", "Good For Otto", and "Jacob's Hand"! Circa 1947 Creon's page in Antigone This was a Brooks School production by his father, George. Sam said he was thrilled with being able to stay up late and be part of the production. Circa 1948-1958 Groton School's Annual Plays Summer 1959 Much Ado About Nothing Oedipus Rex Man and Superman Peter Pan These were all productions of the Wellesley Group 20, a summer stock company Sam was in during the summer of his freshman year at Yale. Circa 1960 Lucky in Waiting for Godot Oedipus Rex Yale Dramat productions. Barnaby Tucker in The Matchmaker July 1960, Theatre By-the-Sea in Matunuck, Rhode Island 1962 Estragon in Waiting for Godot Summer stock, Clinton Connecticut Playhouse Jonathan Rosepettle in Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You In the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad Understudy, then on national tour, and then on Broadway in August 1963. Click here for photo. 1963 Wessey in A Thistle in My Bed Off Broadway at the Grammercy Arts Theater, this play closed after the Kennedy assassination. Silvious, the lovesick shepherd in As You Like It Shakespeare in the Park production. 1964 Colin in The Knack It was during the run of this play that Sam married his first wife, Barbara, Dec. 28, 1964. 1966 Woodfin in Fitz Circle in the Square, NYC Eh? Playhouse in the Park, Cincinnati OH Understudy First One Asleep Belasco Theater, New York City The Paisley Convertable Click here for Sam's remarks on this play. 1967 On Broadway Hippie Son Robert in Halfway Up the Tree Kent in La Tourista American Place Theater/St. Clement's Church, New York City Arburbio in Posterity for Sale American Place Theater/St. Clement's Church, New York City 1968 Jim in Red Cross and Jack Argue in Museeka Double Bill at Provincetown Playhouse in Greenwhich Village Prince Hal in Henry IV, Parts I and II Shakespeare in the Park production. Aslan in Ergo New York Shakespeare Company, Public/Anspacher Theatre, NewYork City 1969 Operation Sidewinder Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, MA Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Williamstown Theatre Festival,Williamstown MA Gary Rogers in Spitting Image Theatre de Lys, New York City 1969-70 On Broadway Indian spokesman John Gass in Indians (October 12, 1969-January 3, 1970) 1970 Aaron And I Met a Man Lincoln Square Theatre, New York City Phanocles in The Brass Butterfly Chelsea Theatre Center, Brooklyn Academyof Music, Brooklyn, NY Simon Bliss in Hay Fever Helen Hays Theater, New York City 1971 Thomas Lewis in The Trial of the Cantonsville Nine Off Broadway and on Broadway at the Lyceum Theater. 1972 Cloten in Cymberline Mosca in Volpone, a musical adaptation of Jonson's Volpone Laertes in Hamlet New York Shakespeare Festival Oliver in A Meeting By the River Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles mid 1972-1973 Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing Click here for picture Click here for a New York Times review of the play. 1974 Prospero in The Tempest 1975 Torvald in A Doll's House New York Shakespeare Festival, which moved to the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Lincoln Center December, 1975 1975-1976 Hamlet in Hamlet 1976 Narrator in King David Church of Our Savior, New York City Duke Vincentio in Measure for Measure 1977 Chez nous Manhattan Theatre Club, New York City 1978 Vladimir in Waiting for Godot BAM/Lepercq Space, New York City 1979 Uncle Vanya San Diego, CA 1980-1981 Oliver in Lunch Hour Ethel Barrymore Theater. Click here to read a mention of the play in a New York Times Critic's Notebook 1982 Joshua Hickman in Gardenia Manhattan Theater Club Click here for a New York Times review of the play. Click here for another New York Times review-this one has more about Sam's performance. Cummings Yakov in Enemies Williamstown Theater Festival Click here for a New York Times review of the play. 1982-1983 Vershinin in The Three Sisters Manhattan Theater Club Click here for a New York Times review of the play. 1983-1984 Traveler in the Dark American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, MA 1985-1986 Beach House Circle Repertory Company Click here to read the New York Times review. David the architect in Benefactors 1988 John Honeyman in *A Walk in the Woods* Click here to read another Times review of this play. This play about American-Russian relations, played in Moscow and Ulnius, Lithuania Click here to read a New York Times review of the play. 1990 Night of 100 Stars III Radio City Music Hall, New York City 1991 Solnees in The Master Builder Hartford Stage Click here to read a New York Times review of the play 1993 Abraham Lincoln in Abe Lincoln in Illinois This Lincoln Center Theater performance got Sam nominated for a Tony Award. Click here for Time Magazine review 2000 James Tyrone, Sr, in Long Day's Journey Into Night Syracuse Stage, Syracuse New York 2001 *Love Letters* This play, also starring Mia Farrow, was performed at the Danbury CT High School February 17, 2001, to benefit the Tam Farrow Memorial Scholarship Fund. A Christmas Carol This production was performed at a private club in Manhattan in December. George Newlin, Dickins scholar, said of Sam's performance: "...Scrooge, played by Sam Waterston, presented the character as 'a fundamentally sad man, not an angry man, not a hostile man, but made angry and hostile by the deep disappointment in his life....' Good For Otto Another local CT performance, based on a book by Dr. Richard O'Connoer, who runs a non-profit mental health center in Litchfield County, CT. Exact dates of performance not known. 2002 *Jacob's Hand* Sam was part of an ensemble of actors who read this play on July 27. 2002, for the Merchant and Ivory Foundation. Adopt a Sailor This was part of the Brave New World tribute/fundraiser for victims of 911. 2003 *The Black Monk* Yale Repertory Theater Click here for a New York Times article, "When Chekhov Had a Bad Dream" Click here for the New York Times review of the play 2004 *Much Ado About Nothing* Sam plays Leonato, while his daughter Elisabeth plays Hero. This is a Shakespeare in the Park production, staged at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Click here to read a review Click here to read the New York Times article "Father and Daughter, in Life and in Shakespeare" Click here to read the New York Times review of the play. 2005 *Travesties* Sam plays Henry Carr, an aging ex-British consular official in Zurich, who relives the days of 1917 in his hazy and often disjointed memory. This is a production of the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven CT. Click here to read the reviews and impressions of fans who went to see the play. Click here to read a New York Times review titled "From Litchfield, Waterston Casts a Wide Net" Click here to read another review titled "Lenin, Joyce and Philosophy With Vaudevillian Verve" Click here to read about and see photos of fans who presented Sam with a quilt after the May 17th performance. 2008 *Hamlet* Sam plays Polonius this time out--"the bumbling fool"--and steals the show according to many critics! Click here for a New York Times review of the play.