Eric Schaeffer, Photo by Russ Hirshon

Eric Schaeffer In Four Acts. The award-winning director makes headlines with daring productions in a “Signature” space.

WL: Are you glad you stayed in Washington and didn’t go to New York?
SCHAEFFER: I arrived here thinking I’d stay for two years and here I am, 22 years later … still driving my bike.

WL: Having Glory Days close in New York last year after only one night was a rare stumble, although you rebounded nicely with Les Miserables, which won six Helen Hayes awards last month.
SCHAEFFER: You have to take risks and chances. Some shows are failures; others are huge successes. That’s the game I’m in.

WL: How do you feel about being lauded as a modern-day interpreter of classic works by Stephen Sondheim and Kander and Ebb?
SCHAEFFER: I love to reinvent them to see what other stones can be unturned. It’s great for audiences to have an opportunity to see a show they think they know and discove something new. It’s just what I do.

WL: What’s up next?
SCHAEFFER: I have a show called Million Dollar Quartet that has been running in Chicago since September. It will soon take a big leap and go somewhere exciting. I’m also doing Kern and Hammerstein’s Showboat here. It’s a monster of a show with a cast of 48 actors, but in Signature fashion I’m taking it down to 23 people with a new 14-piece orchestration. I’m going to reinvent the sucker!

Lamell McMorris

Lamell McMorris makes his move.

At first glance, Perennial Strategy Group founder Lamell McMorris, could be mistaken for just another high-powered lawyer and lobbyist that occupy the busy downtown blocks surrounding the White House. A closer look reveals a self-starter whose passion for justice, equality and empowerment has brought him to the negotiation table on behalf professional sports’ top unions and prominent Fortune 500 companies, turned him into a top sports and entertainment agent (a rarity in this town), and made him a rising star on the city’s rapidly changing social scene.

McMorris’ desire to effect change dates back to a city-wide walkout of Chicago schools he led as a teenager and has known no limits since – as a young entrepreneur, he started Perennial Strategy Group on his own in 2002. With just a telephone and a desk, he used his connections and networking to meet others and further the business. After a phone call from a friend who was an NBA referee, McMorris and Perennial were brought on as representation for the NBA Referees Unions and Perennial Sports and Entertainment was born.

Soon after, Perennial began bringing on athletes as clients as well, managing their day-to-day affairs. But, reverting back to his roots, McMorris wanted to work with goal-oriented professionals looking to achieve their personal dreams in addition to contributing to society – NFL players and Perennial clients Kris Jenkins and Leigh Torrence, for example, have started their own foundations with Perennial’s help. “In a business that has been overcome by recruiting scandals and the greed of athletes and agents,” he says, “Being a Perennial client is not about receiving the biggest paycheck possible, it is about leveraging success and creating a fulfilling life.”

That mix of work meets play-for-a-cause was evident when the Perennial family of businesses hosted “Party with a Purpose 2008” at the Democratic National Convention in Denver and during the inaugural when Perennial Sports and Entertainment hosted “Artists and Athletes for a Cause.” Held at the House of Sweden in Georgetown, Perennial made financial contributions to Ne-Yo’s Compound Foundation as well as the Carmelo Anthony foundation. Indeed, in a town of power players, McMorris is proving that the rules of the game can change just as fast as the players themselves.

Congressman Culberson

A new form of power player has emerged in the past year as social technologies like WordPress, Facebook, and Twitter are increasingly used to expand professional networks, drum up support for issues, and build personal brands. Here are some of the hottest – and coolest – nouveau Washington geeks.

By Mark Drapeau

The Newcomer – Macon Phillips, White House Director of New Media.
From the campaign to the presidency, Phillips is the brain behind much of President Obama’s internet operation, including the savvy WhiteHouse.gov site.

The Wonder Woman – Casey Coleman, Chief Information Officer of the General Services Administration.
In charge of a $500 million portfolio, this master of the space where tech meets business is powerful. But more importantly, as GSA negotiates government-wide agreements with entities like Facebook, Vimeo, and Flickr, Coleman has been using an official government blog and her personal Twitter account to network and spread the word about GSA’s role in the tech world.

The Guy You Don’t Know – Charles (Jack) Holt, Director of Emerging Technologies, Defense Media Activity.
The Defense Department’s new media team, led by Jack Holt, is surging ahead of the private sector: networking military bloggers with military commanders, developing online radio and video programming for BlogTalkRadio and YouTube, and educating government execs about emerging technologies.

The Cloutformer – Hon. John Culberson, (R-TX)
Mr. Culberson is still a relatively junior congressman on the Hill, but since adopting a strategy of openness, transparency, and participation with citizens, his clout has grown. Culberson is simply the best elected official using social media like Twitter and Qik to communicate with other members, his constituents, and thought leaders, which has increased both his profile and, perhaps, his ability to get things done.

The Still-Relevant Campaigners – Karl Rove, Former Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bush; Joe Trippi, Former Presidential Campaign Manager for Gov. Howard Dean.
They still appear on television and write formal op-eds, but these two politicos have also leveraged blogging and microsharing technology to share views in other formats and have drawn in a whole new audience of fans – and detractors – for their messages, helping them stay relevant ‘behind the scenes.”

In a city where influence is everything, these one hundred individuals rise to the top. Some are wealthy, but many are not. They represent a wide variety of professional fields, from faith to finance; but they all share two common traits: They work outside the federal government and hold sway inside the Beltway.

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Power, above all, is influence. New York Fashion week bloggers tell Americans with authority that this is the year of the [insert arbitrary skirt length], and America purchases accordingly. The Washington socialite-hostess gathers the ripe fruit of political, economic, and cultural orchards and serves it up as one fabulous cherry bombe at a charity fundraiser or a private soiree with Cabinet secretaries and other major political players. Two men shake hands in the U.S. Senate and a bill passes – or doesn’t. The influence to effect change, be it in the minds or actions of one’s fellow man, is simultaneously the most ephemeral quantity (how does one qualify or rate it?) and the biggest driving force on our planet.

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Peter Barris, Ted Leonsis, Joe Robert, Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., Walter Isaacson, Tom Friedman David Rubenstein Bob Woodward, Placido Domnigo, Katherine Bradley,

By Ann Geracimos

Some men, and some women, are born with power, to paraphrase the old adage, while others have it thrust upon them. This seldom is the case these days. The majority of people on Washington Life’s selective list of the most powerful have earned their status the hard way. They would be first to admit that a sense of power is in the eyes of the beholder—that projection often is the key to how power is best applied.

Such a concept was part of the infamous list entrepreneur Bill Regardie contrived someyears ago to define the term and its relevance to the Washington scene. His “rules” perversely eliminated anyone drawing a government paycheck, which at canceling theidea that titles automatically confer prestige. (They often do so, but empty suits are all too common a sight among posturing strutters in our public office.) Another Regardierule stated that wealth doesn’t necessarily beget power, which means that many hoping to claim advantages based on inheritance or a talent for acquisitiveness have to prove otherwise. Money is easy; it’s power that is hard — hard to get and relatively easy to lose.

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