Monday, July 16, 2007

Congratulations to Scott for this outstanding feature on his work--couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.

The Hit Maker of Barrow Street:

Mr. Morfee is an example of an almost extinct breed: the creative commercial Off Broadway producer. At a time when the Off Broadway model has been declared broken and financially unworkable, he continues to steer long-shot propositions into the Barrow Street.

So far he has beaten the odds: his productions regularly win good reviews and eke out yearlong runs. “When everyone else is screaming ‘Disaster! Close it! It’s over!,’ Scott is piece by piece putting it together,” said the playwright and actor Tracy Letts, whose plays “Killer Joe” and “Bug” were produced in New York by Mr. Morfee.

If you have ever visited the Barrow Street and seen one of the shows Mr. Morfee has mounted with his longtime producing partner Tom Wirtshafter — Austin Pendleton’s “Orson’s Shadow,” Nilaja Sun’s “No Child ...” and the improv act TJ & Dave among them — you have probably seen him. He may be running the box office or taking tickets. On the opening night of his latest effort, the whimsical, quasi-documentary musical “Gone Missing” (yet another critical favorite) he was an usher. It’s all part of a catch-all work ethic he drills into his staff and that he bases on a sign he once saw in a Montauk restaurant. It read: “Piano player needed. Must have knowledge of shucking clams.”