Taking Woodstock

Taking Woodstock is a 2009 American comedy-drama film about the Woodstock Festival of 1969, directed by Ang Lee. The screenplay by James Schamus is based on the memoir Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life by Elliot Tiber and Tom Monte.

The film premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, and opened in New York and Los Angeles on August 26, 2009, before its wide theatrical release two days later.

Plot

Set in 1969, the film follows the true story of Elliot Tiber (Demetri Martin), an aspiring Greenwich Village interior designer whose parents, Jake (Henry Goodman) and Sonia (Imelda Staunton), own the small dilapidated El Monaco Resort in White Lake, in the town of Bethel, New York. A hippie theater troupe, The Earthlight Players, rents the barn, but can hardly pay any rent. Due to financial trouble, the motel may have to be closed, but Elliot pleads with the local bank not to foreclose on the mortgage and Sonia delivers a tirade about her struggles as a Russian refugee. The family is given until the end of the summer to pay up.

Ang Lee

Ang Lee OBS (Chinese: 李安; pinyin: Lǐ Ān; born October 23, 1954) is a Taiwanese-born American film director, screenwriter and producer.

Lee's earlier films, such as The Wedding Banquet, Pushing Hands, and Eat Drink Man Woman explored the relationships and conflicts between tradition and modernity, Eastern and Western. Lee also deals with repressed, hidden emotions in many of his films, including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Hulk; and Brokeback Mountain. Lee's work is known for its emotional charge, which critics believe is responsible for his success in offsetting cultural barriers and achieving international recognition.

Lee has won the Academy Award for Best Director twice: for Brokeback Mountain (2005) and for Life of Pi (2012). He also won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). He is the first person of Asian descent to win an Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA for Best Director, and is the only director to win both the Golden Bear and Golden Lion multiple times.

Demetri Martin

Demetri Evan Martin (born May 25, 1973) is an American comedian, actor, artist, musician, writer, and humorist. He is best known for his work as a stand-up comedian, being a contributor on The Daily Show, and his Comedy Central show Important Things with Demetri Martin.

Early life

Martin was born on May 25, 1973 to a Greek American family in New York City, New York, the son of nutritionist Lillian and Greek Orthodox priest Dean C. Martin (now deceased). He grew up in Toms River, New Jersey, and has a younger brother named Spyro.

Martin graduated from Yale University in 1995. During his time there, he wrote a 224-word poem about alcoholism as a project for a fractal geometry class, which became a well known palindromic poem. He was also a member of the Anti-Gravity Society, whose members juggle objects on Sunday evenings on Yale's Old Campus.

Although Martin was accepted into Harvard Law School, he went to New York University School of Law after he received a full scholarship. Martin withdrew from law school before the start of his final year, opting to pursue comedy over finishing his Juris Doctor.

Jonathan Groff

Jonathan Drew Groff (born March 26, 1985) is an American actor and singer. At the age of 22, Groff received a Tony Award nomination for his performance as Melchior Gabor in the Broadway rock musical Spring Awakening. He also portrayed the role of Claude in the critically acclaimed revival of Hair. Regularly seen on the off-Broadway stage, Groff has won an Obie Award for starring in two of Craig Lucas's plays, Prayer for My Enemy and The Singing Forest. He made his West End debut in the revival of the play Deathtrap opposite Simon Russell Beale.

In 2013, Groff starred in the first-ever screen adaptation of author David Sedaris's work, C.O.G., in which he portrayed a character based on Sedaris himself, and as the voice of Kristoff in Frozen. On television, Groff portrayed the recurring role of Jesse St. James in the Fox series Glee, and from 2014 to 2015, he starred as Patrick Murray in the HBO series Looking.

Groff is currently playing the role of King George III in the new Broadway musical Hamilton at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.

Joseph G. Aulisi

Joseph Garibaldi Aulisi, credited as Joseph G. Aulisi and Joe Aulisi, is a costume designer who works in theatre and in film. In theater, he has been nominated for two Drama Desk Awards for his work. In film, he has been nominated for two Emmy Awards and three Costume Designers Guild Awards.

Theatrical work

Joseph G. Aulisi designed costumes for New York City productions as early as 1966. In 1966, he designed the costumes for The Ox Cart. The following year, he designed for The Wicked Cooks. Aulisi has designed costumes for Broadway theatre productions since 1968. His Broadway debut was with the original production of The Man in the Glass Booth. Since then, Aulisi has designed for more than 20 original broadway productions, including God's Favorite in 1974 and Rockabye Hamlet in 1976. In 1986, Aulisi was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design for his work on Precious Sons, but the award was given to Lindsay Davis for her designs for The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Aulisi was nominated for the same award in 1989, this time for his work on Rumors. The award was given to William Levy Long for his work on Lend Me a Tenor. Aulisi's most recent Broadway production was Artist Descending a Staircase in 1989.