KIMBERLY AKIMBO Helmer Jessica Stone Celebrates Her First Week as a Tony Nominee

Last week the names of several first-time Tony nominees were announced. One of them was KIMBERLY AKIMBO helmer Jessica Stone, an actress-turned-director who made her Broadway directorial debut with the acclaimed musical.

Stone is currently in rehearsals at Brooklyn Studios in Long Island City for WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, running at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre from June 7 through July 9. She had scheduled a production meeting at 9am on nomination morning.

"The week before I would remember," she explained. "Then it would go out of my head. Someone would say: 'We'll see Tuesday.' I'd say: 'What's Tuesday?' This is not me saying: 'I don't care about any of that.' It's just a symptom of being busy."

The night before the nominations, she moved the meeting to 9:30am. Her husband, Christopher Fitzgerald, a three-time Tony-nominated actor, offered to drive her to rehearsals from their Brooklyn home. Whether the news was good or bad, he knew she'd need a moment.

Because the Best Musical nominations were announced on CBS, that was known before Best Director. Best Musical is what Stone said was most important to her, but that doesn't mean she didn't want the director nod.

"In the second before they said my category, I definitely got a rush of adrenaline," she stated. "I don't even know what it meant. It was neither 'Oh, I really hope this happens' or 'I'm really afraid it's not gonna happen.' It just was so charged. When they announced my name, Chris screamed, and I dissociated for a minute."

Then there was a moment she wasn't expecting. When reached Sunday to discuss her first week as a nominee, it was this moment she kept coming back to.

"Instantly, I wanted to reach out to my people who didn't get a nod," she said. "This is not to say: 'Oh, aren't I thoughtful?' It was just an unexpected immediate feeling that washed over me. It takes so many amazing people and their skill, gift, dedication, time and humor to do a show. As a director, you have intimate collaborations with all of these people."

She made some calls, to those on her team that had been nominated and those that had not. Jennifer Costello, one of the producers of WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, went outside the rehearsal space and started jumping near Stone's car. Stone's best friend, Paul Castree, who is in the show, was out there. Stone's phone flooded with congratulations. She emailed the KIMBERLY AKIMBO company saying how proud she was and how she felt the Best Musical nod was recognition for all of them. But, then, she had a 9:30am meeting and rehearsals at 10am.

In the small theater world, it just so happened that WATER FOR ELEPHANTS stage manager Timothy Semon worked with Fitzgerald on COMPANY, so they discussed the perfect tribute. At the start of rehearsals, a few confetti guns were fired. At the end of the day, there was a company toast with Moscow Mules, Stone's favorite drink. And it was good she could celebrate with the WATER FOR ELEPHANTS team, considering the rehearsals caused her to miss the pre-show cake and toast at KIMBERLY AKIMBO.

She received flowers from her agents, champagne from a friend, but the week was mostly consumed with rehearsals. On Thursday, she went to rehearsals for two hours, had her makeup professionally done, put on a silky blouse, went to the Tony nomination press junket for a couple of hours and then headed back to rehearsals.

She doesn't get home from rehearsals until about 8pm and still has parent/family/planning stuff to do. Therefore, there hasn't been a ton of extraneous celebration. Each day, however, there has been a steady flow of "amazing" well-wishes from folks from all different chapters of her life.

She'll be in Atlanta in tech for the Tony nominees luncheon. And she's worried about how she is possibly going to get a dress for the ceremony, given that she leaves town on May 17th and has little time before that. The awards themselves are scheduled during previews.

But right now a lot of it is just letting it sink in.

"It's such a cool thing," she stated. "Chris has been nominated and I've accompanied him, but now that it's happening to me, it really clarified for me how delightful and special it is and also how it barely touches on the real story, which is the incredible work that all these artists, with all of these shows, have done all season. I wasn't expecting that to hit me like a thunderclap the way it did, but it did."

Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski

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