Terrence McNally: Every Act of Life Events

For fans of playwright Terrence McNally, his passing earlier this year was heartbreaking. Thankfully there will always be his wonderful words. There will also always be the documentary Terrence McNally: Every Act of Life which you can stream on PBS until August 31st.

In conjunction with the documentary being available, Wednesday, July 1st there will be an online discussion of McNally and his work. The participants are Rita Moreno (who won a Tony Award for her performance on McNally’s The Ritz); Billy Porter (Pose and Tony Award winner for Kinky Boots), Jeff Kaufman (the writer/director/producer of Every Act of Life) and the moderator will be the Executive Director of the Independent Documentary Association, Simon Kilmurry.

This event takes place at 9:00 PM EDT/6:00 PM PDT. You need to RSVP to watch the event.

One week later a second online event will take place furthering the discussion of McNally. This time Kaufman will be joined by Tyne Daly (Mothers and Sons; Master Class), Chita Rivera (The Visit; The Kiss of the Spider Woman) and Tony-Nominated Producer Tom Kirdahy (who was also McNally’s husband). Moderating this event will be David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter.

This event takes place July 8th at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT and also requires a reservation.

McNally gave us some great plays and he wrote the book for some legendary musicals. His plays include Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Love! Valour! Compassion! and Master Class. The musicals include The Rink, The Kiss of the Spider Woman, Ragtime, The Full Monty and most recently Anastasia.

The documentary is damn good. Definitely worth your time whether you plan to watch these conversations or not. But definitely essential viewing if you do plan to watch one, or both, of them.

Photo of Terrence McNally from Terrence McNally: Every Act of Life (Courtesy David Magdael and Associates)