Two young members of the legendary Newman composing family of Malibu and Hollywood are continuing in their famous family’s showbiz footsteps by stepping in front of the footlights for some of their first professional, high-profile work.
Malibu High School graduates, sisters Martha and Isabella Thatcher, are the daughters of composer and violinist Maria Newman. She and her husband, Scott Hosfeld, head the Montgomery Arts House for Music and Architecture named for her mother, a former Goldwyn girl. Maria’s father Alfred Newman was a nine-time Academy Award-winning composer/conductor. Maria’s two uncles, two brothers and first cousin Randy Newman have scored hundreds of films, among them.
Trained musicians themselves, Martha and Isabella are now focusing their talents on acting and have just booked some major parts on stage.
Martha, Newman’s oldest daughter, recently graduated from Oregon Center for the Arts at Southern Oregon University in Ashland. She is now a new company member of the prestigious Oregon Shakespeare Festival. As an Arts Equity member, Martha is currently in rehearsal for three productions.
“I’m excited to be a part of it. It’s an outstanding repertory theater,” the 22-year-old said. The multiple-Tony-Award-winning theater launches plays that go on to successful Broadway runs. Martha is deep in rehearsal, preparing for the March opening of “Hairspray” with two supporting roles at the company’s premier indoor space. She’ll also appear in “Alice in Wonderland” and MacBeth. The season runs through October. Martha also just finished a play at the Ashland New Plays Festival that showcases work by up and coming artists and established playwrights. With earlier television credits and after singing professionally for years, she said she’s proud of her family’s successful history in entertainment.
“It’s an honor to be born into,” she reflected. “There is a certain responsibility to carry on that legacy. To see family members at the top of their game, I ask, ‘How do I continue that legacy?’”
Younger sister Isabella is also a Theater Arts major and junior at OCA at the same university. Both sisters perform in the Ashland New Plays Festival, which Newman described as “a wonderful canon of new plays” collected and performed for the public on stage and by podcast. Isabella is in rehearsal for a lead role in John Patrick Shanley’s “Doubt” at the Oregon Center for the Arts. This is her third major production at the theater. Minoring in Music, Isabella plays cello, providing accompaniment for “Play 4 Keeps,” a company that stages and makes podcasts of new performances. Isabella has also collaborated with the ANPF to adapt and provide music. Recently, she was a featured soloist at the Washington State Capitol building. This September, the 20-year-old will be performing in New York.
Speaking of her famous family, Isabella said she’s honored to be a part: “Seeing how hard they work inspires me to make a difference in my field of work as they have for theirs. I’m very grateful for them.”
Proud of all of her five children, Maria Newman explained, “Being part of our family is a big responsibility, in a sense.
“A lot of people might think, ‘Wow, the Newman family opens doors and everybody can waltz through them and here you have this job,’ but of course, this is absolutely not the case. In fact, yes, there may be a couple of instances when—not in acting, in music in particular—yes, some doors can be opened. You have connections you can make that otherwise you can’t make in the same way, but once that door is opened and you walk through it with your head held high, nonetheless, you have to be even more prepared, even more charismatic, even more exciting than you might have to be otherwise. You really have to prove yourself.
“You can’t just walk in and people think you’re great—no. It’s the opposite,” Newman described. “We have to take the responsibility, do the absolute most to show who we are and what we can do and that we have taken the time for the education, development and commitment to be part of a family like ours. I’m very proud to be a part of the Newman family.”
Newman says one of her favorite things is to collaborate with her daughters across the field of classical music and theater. The three have performed many times at the Montgomery House of Music and Art. The family just returned from a successful concert tour in the Pacific Northwest and continue to provide their talents to the City of Malibu with Malibu Friends of Music and the popular Concert on the Bluffs.
