I remember playing the drum set for Tim Grundman's shows - how I wish there could be a revival of those somewhere. NPT was where I first got "bit." It took a while, but eventually I wound up actually doing a little acting out here in California, and I still play drums for musicals now and then. 
I remember that after a show at NPT, for me it was usually just the Trio, but every now and then I'd run off to a little downstairs place not far from the Nat'l Endowment. It was called "The Red Lion," I think. Very dark and semi-medieval - good place to do some brooding. Back then I was a brooder.
Once, after I had moved out to the west coast, I came back for a "last hurrah" of sorts, playing again with Tim. At first I had nowhere to stay, so I lived on a beat-up old couch in a little basement area below the NPT lobby. 
I once had to dance in a play at NPT, despite having no dance experience whatsoever. We did the play at 3am, during the first DramaThon. I don't remember the name of the play, but I remember it was very strange. I did a very bad impression of Chico Marx. On top of that, the play was set in a porn store. Yikes!  As the old joke goes, "Whadda ya mean, I should LEAVE show biz?" 
Those Dramathon plays could be really something. Anybody else remember the famous Talking Toilet? A Classic!
Best,
Bob Thomas  <Back then I was Bob Rayel -- or Bob A-Loo, depending on who you talked to...  Cheers to All!>

Bob (Rayel) Thomas - denim jacket, white shit standing on the right in froint of Jim Wilder - red t-shirt.  As for the rest - front row seated  L to R are Russell Metheny, Tim Grundmann, Agnes Cummings, Ken Bloom, Tonette Hartman, Don Campbell - 2nd row quasi-kneeling are Tanis Roach, A. David Johnson and T. G. Finkbinder - and standing from L to R are Ken MacCauly, Mary Charles McNeill, Peter Zakutanski, J. Fred Shiffman, Dana Vance, Barbara Rappaport, Righard White, Ingrid Crepeau, Bill Whitman, Bob Rayel and Jim Wilder - the cast & crew of EDDIE'S CATCHY TUNES -

book, music & lyrics by Tim Grundmann [April - June 1979]

5/16/2008 9:14:39 AM - JIM BRADY

I am stuck in the "Way Back" machine Mr. Peabody. Please help me.

Sherman  [sent by Jim Brady]

5/16/2008 11:33:56 AM - TANIS MOHER

I, like some of you others, have mostly fuzzy memories, but wonderful feelings from that time.  As Fred said, for us it was always Trio. I would go there for the break in performances of "Nightmare" in full costume and makeup, and, of course, nobody noticed, especially the staff. We got all our "Mrs. Angelletti's Spicy Meatballs" delivered every day to NPT from Trio. Anyone remember the waitress "Puddin"? I don't remember her given name, but she had a doo that was half black, half silver. I also remember Margo sitting down with us on accasion and having a drink or two.  She would show us pics of her grandchildren. I met the critic from the post there once for an interview.I also can vaguely remember going to Booeymongers. They moved from their original space in Georgetown to a manse on the corner near Kramerbooks. Our buddy Mitch Hanks worked there for a time, and when we could scratch enough money together, we'd go. They served baked Alaska! Tre Chic!!

TANIS MOHER

Tanis Roach (L) and Scott Sedar in Tim Grundmann's

LIVES OF THE GREATE COMPOSERS [February - March 1982]

5/16/20081:46:14 PM- JIM MOHER

Ellen’s Irish Pub.  I believe it was in the 1700 block of CT. Ave on the west side, just north of the tunnel under the Circle.  For a while they actually had Ellen glued to a barstool for safety reasons.  She had dozens of nephews and nieces in personal servitude thereabouts.  There was also The Far Inn at 14^th and Decatur (but that’s closer to the Gold Coast than to  DuPont Circle) where we’d celebrate the Blues.

JIM MOHER

Sorry, Jim - I'll find a picture of you, but for now, I'll post this one of your wife

Tanis as Betty the Muse in EDDIE'S CATCHY TUNES -

book, music and lyrics by Tim Grundmann  [April - June 1979]

5/16/20082:04:56 PM - BILL TRIPLETT

ah, yes... richard helms.  let's not forget perhaps the most impressive entry on his resume -- slipping acid to an unwitting frank olson, who then threw himself out of a window and ended up dead.  they just don't make patriots like they used to.
my only surviving memory along these lines from back then is a dive called mr. eagan's.  south of the circle, on conn.  dunno if still there.  but i loved it for the cheap drinks and, well, when i used to write for city paper and they did their annual "best of's", i wrote up eagan's as "best misfits bar." next time i went in, the bartender thanked me.
bill triplett

5/16/20085:35:31 PM - ERNIE JOSELOVITZ

FOOD FOR THOUGHT might have used Moosewood recipes, but they came out like a random collection out of Magruders.  The service was, let us say, nonchalant.  I remember going in there and wondering why the waitress (or waiter?) continued to stare at me after I'd given my order.  Once I remember not ever getting it, either, not out of malice just forgetfulness.  And I don't think that was oregano in the spaghetti sauce.

Ernie Jos

Ernie (right) and Me - Harry (L) on the set of our recent productioon at Imagination Stage, JOURNEY TO THE WORLD'S EDGE , A FOLK TALE IN THE IRISH TRADITION - now available from Dramatic Publishing. (Okay, the snapshot is not from an NPT production, but I like this picture.  Besides, it's a fun contrast to the pictures that follow.)

Yes, this is Ernie back in the 70's in our wonderfully funky NPT Offices - he's probably typing a grant proposal for Karen Brooks Hopkins, our Development Director back then -  long before she became the president of BAM (snapshot by HB)

5/16/2008 5:36:26 - ERNIE JOSELOVITZ

I remember Al later on wrote some gigantic encyclopedic book at the Beatles, with which he was obsessed. 

Ernie Jos

That was Ernie’s response to these previous eMails:

Al Wiener--yes!  His wife's name was Kathy, I think.  Anyone know where they are?

Bari Biern

I know HAL Weiner and his wife Marilyn - erstwhile local filmmakers and also theatre supporters.  Is that who you mean?

Michael Willis

They live out in Potomac .. their daughter was in my one act play play at the Cedar Lane Stage a couple years ago.

Regards to all

HarryB

5/16/20086:21:20 PM -  JAY MORSE

Hello from California - Atilla the Hun here - As I was already married at the time with dos ninos a mi casa, my post show memories are mainly of driving out to Takoma Park and later, Falls Church, to change diapers and give Dixie a break.  However, during the rehearsals for The Freak, I do remember being inexorably drawn down the block to Fox and Hounds (I guess?) to secure the requisite Black Russians needed for the drive home.  The pressure was THAT great and I had had to hold Granville Burgess' hand in any case.  If I had five bucks for every time I drove legally drunk in D.C. in the 70's!!  Luckily, I'm here to tell the tale.  So I guess I was a commuting struggling actor, not really living in the area but loving my experience at NPT and all the great people I encountered there.  It's wonderful to hear these memories.  I do believe my finest Dramathon moment was, of course, being a regular in the 3:00 a.m. renditions of Harry's Reaching for Darkness, especially when I wandered aimlessly about seemingly looking for something lost, creating a huge pause in what was already a quite lengthy reading.  Finally, I would eventually be asked, "What are you doing?  What are you looking for?"  to which I replied, "I'm looking for The Pace.  I need to pick it up."  Pure genius or pure hokum - you decide - but pure fun fer sure.  Best to you all, Jay Morse - if you want to see what I look like now and hear some of my music, here's the link - http://www.myspace.com/thebigguyspace

JAY MORSE

Jay Morse (l) as Attilla The Hun with A. David Johnson (ctr) and J. Fred SHiffman as his henchmen in the Tim Grundmann musical OUT TO LUNCH  [July-Sept. 1978]