Playing Favorites Program

MINT THEATER COMPANY BENEFIT 2013

Honoring George Morfogen and featuring scenes from favorite Mint shows: LOVE GOES TO PRESS

By Martha Gellhorn and Virginia Cowles (2012) WIFE TO JAMES WHELAN

By Teresa Deevy (2010) THE VOYSEY INHERITANCE

By Harley Granville-Barker (1999)

MONDAY JUNE 24, 2013 6:30PM | THE COSMOPOLITAN CLUB, 122 E. 66 ST.

GEORGE MORFOGEN “George Morfogen is the most versatile actor I’ve ever had in any of my plays” –Tennessee Williams (The Daily Gazette, 1993) George Morfogen was born on March 30, 1933 in New York City. His father, Sam Morfogen, emigrated from Greece in 1910. His mother, Diamond (née Stavracos) was conceived in Greece and born in Manhattan in 1907.

tionship as associate producer with Bogdanovich extended to the 1979 film, “Saint Jack” starring Ben Gazzara and 1985’s “Mask” starring Cher.

In 1980, George made his Broadway debut in the cast of John Gabriel Borkman as standby for E.G. Marshall, directed by Austin Pendleton at Circle in the Square Theatre. Austin and George George attended the Greek American had formed a friendship while filming “What’s Up, Doc?” that Institute in the Bronx until the third continues to this day. George returned to Broadway in 1981 in grade and received all of his further pri- Kingdoms and as Nicola in the 1985 Circle in the Square producmary and secondary education in the tion of Arms and the Man, directed by John Malkovich and coNew York City Public Schools. George is a graduate of Brown starring Raul Julia and Kevin Kline. That same year, Morfogen University (Phi Beta Kappa) and the Yale School of Drama where performed in Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of he received an MFA in directing.

Mrs. Warren’s Profession starring Uta Hagen and in 1986 appeared in Manhattan Theatre Club’s production of Principia His first season of Non-Equity stock was at the Provincetown Scriptoriae.

Playhouse on the Wharf in 1955. In 1956, Eva Le Gallienne awarded him a scholarship to study acting of Chekhov, Ibsen, After 33 years as the head of the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Shakespeare at Lucille Lortel’s White Barn Theater in West- Nikos Psacharopoulos passed away in 1989. Morfogen, as Execuport, Connecticut. In 1960 he joined the company at the Wiltive Director along with Peter Hunt and Austin Pendleton, as Co liamstown Theater Festival to play Bobby in The Visit, starring -Artistic Directors returned to lead the company for its following E.G. Marshall and Nan Martin. He went on to play many roles 35th season, dedicating it to Nikos’ memory. there, including Moriarty to Frank Langella’s Sherlock Holmes— In 1990, George returned to the New York Stage in Roundaa role that won him great acclaim at the festival. It was at the Phoenicia Playhouse in New York State in 1961 that he became a bout’s production of The Country Girl and in 1991 performed at the Delacorte Theatre in The Public’s Shakespeare in the Park member of Actors’ Equity. production of Othello. 1994 saw George’s return to Broadway in George graduated from Yale in 1957 and made his Off-Broadway Stephen Daldry’s production of An Inspector Calls as standby for debut later that year in Trial of Dmitri Karamazov. This led to a Philip Bosco—playing 95 performances. In 1995 he appeared wealth of theatre engagements in Off-Broadway productions of with Olympia Dukakis in the late Circle Repertory’s production Christmas Oratorio (Lucille Lortel Theatre, 1957), Othello of The Hope Zone. That same year, George made his first appear(Shakespeare in the Park, 1958), Cave Dwellers (Greenwich Mews ance on the Mint Theater Company stage in the world premiere Theater, 1961), The Good Soldier Schweik (Gate Theater, 1963), of Austin Pendleton’s Uncle Bob. Thus began George’s long artisOnce in a Lifetime (York Playhouse, 1964), Total Eclipse (Chelsea tic partnership with the Mint, leading to his 1999 performance of Theater, 1984), Ice Age (Chelsea Theater, 1975), The Prince of Mr. Voysey in The Voysey Inheritance by Harley GranvilleHomburg with Frank Langella (Westside Theatre, 1976), and Bi- Barker—the play that put Mint Theater Company on the map. ography: A Game (Westside Theatre, 1979). In 1959 George George continued his relationship with the Mint, performing in stretched his theatrical muscles, co-producing and co-directing The Lonely Way (2005) and The Madras House (2007), as well as The Golem with Robert Kalfin at St. Mark’s Playhouse and in with such other formidable New York institutions as Roundabout 1962, he stage managed the Broadway production of The Fun Theatre Company: Cyrano De Bergerac (1997), A Man For All Couple starring Jane Fonda and Dyan Cannon.

Seasons (again with Frank Langella, 2008); Theater for a New Audience: All’s Well That Ends Well (2006), Antony and Cleopatra In 1972, George was cast as the headwaiter in Peter Bogdanovich’s screwball comedy film, “What’s Up, Doc?” starring Bar- (2008); The Public: Henry V (1996), Cymbeline (1998), Hamlet bara Streisand, Ryan O’Neal, Madeline Kahn and Austin Pend- (1999), Othello (2001), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2007); Urleton. Morfogen and Bogdanovich had met in 1958, when both ban Stages: The Oxford Roof Climbers Rebellion (2007); Pearl Thewere appearing with the company of Joseph Papp’s Shakespeare atre Company: Heartbreak House (2003), Vieux Carré (2009); in the Park. George went on to appear in Bogdanovich’s “Daisy Classic Stage Company: Richard II for which he won the AEA St. Miller” (with Cybill Shepherd and Cloris Leachman) in 1974, as Clair Bayfield Award (2006), Uncle Vanya (2009), The Forest well as “They All Laughed” (with Audrey Hepburn and Ben Gaz- (2010), Three Sisters (2011), Ivanov (2012); and Manhattan Theatre Club: Golden Age (2012). In 2000, George received the preszara) which he co-produced in 1981 and “Illegally Yours” (with Rob Lowe) which he associate produced in 1988. George’s rela- tigious Fox Foundation Advanced Study Fellowship.

George appeared on Broadway in Fortune’s Fool, starring Alan Bates and Frank Langella at the Music Box Theatre in 2002. In 2012, he played a six-week run as the title character in Freud’s Last Session, Off-Broadway at New World Stages—a role he had previously played at the Peterborough Players, winning the New Hampshire Theatre Award for Best Actor. He is best remembered

by TV fans as recurring character Bob Rebadow from all six seasons of HBO’s popular prison drama, “Oz” (1997-2003). He also appeared as Arthur Fink in two episodes of “Damages” starring Glenn Close in 2010.

Throughout George’s long and varied career on the New York stage, he has continued to perform regionally throughout the country—frequently returning to Williamstown as well as the Arizona Theatre Company where he received the Zony Award for his portrayal of Salieri in Amadeus in 1990. A subsequent performance in The Substance of Fire in 1991 won him the Dallas Theatre Center Critics Forum Award and he is the recipient of the Los Angeles Drama-Logue Award for his 1996 performance in Uncle Bob at the Asylum Theater. His long list of regional theater credits also includes performances at Long Wharf, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Baltimore, Manitoba and the Kennedy Center in DC. “One of my college professors once told me, you’ve got to go where the work is,” explained longtime actor, stage manager, director, producer, and educator George Morfogen when being interviewed by The Daily Gazette for his 1993 return to the Williamstown Theater Festival in An Inspector Calls. “I’m not getting any younger, and each year another part which I can do drops away. I could sit and wait for a big movie or a great role, but who knows how long that would take. I don’t want to languish, so I go.”

With almost sixty years of constant experience in the industry, it seems as though George has never languished—and never will.

He can currently be seen as Uncle Harry in Mint Theater Company’s production of A Picture of Autumn by N.C. Hunter. This fall, George will begin teaching acting classes at New York’s HB Studio, sharing his talent, knowledge of craft, and many years of experience with a new generation of young theater artists.

PLAYING FAVORITES Welcome Jonathan Bank, Producing Artistic Director

First Course

Love Goes to Press (2012)

By Martha Gellhorn and Virginia Cowles THE CAST Annabelle Jones….....Heidi Armbruster Joe Rogers…...…..….Rob Breckenridge

Main Course

Wife to James Whelan (2010)

By Teresa Deevy THE CAST Nan Bowers……….Janie Brookshire James Whelan………..Shawn Fagan Kate Moran….………..Rosie Benton

Dessert

The Voysey Inheritance (1999)

By Harley Granville-Barker THE CAST Mr. Voysey…….….George Morfogen Edward..……………….Kraig Swartz

Honoring George Morfogen: Jonathan Bank Gus Kaikkonen Roberta Maxwell Mr. Morfogen Helen Cespedes and George Morfogen in A Picture of Autumn at Mint Theater Company, 2013

Champagne and Cookies

THE LEGACY FUND INAUGURAL CONTRIBUTORS MINT THEATER is deeply grateful to the generosity of everyone who has made this year’s benefit a success.

Proceeds from PLAYING FAVORITES will go towards establishing Mint’s Legacy Fund, which will support archival activities and will help ensure that the lost plays Mint has discovered will be remembered.

Gail & Ciro Gamboni* Lila Teich Gold Jann Leeming & Arthur Little* Litsa Tsitsera Kim & David Adler* Mary Andryc Allison Blinken Louise Arias* Lynne Charnay Jonathan Bank* & Katie Firth Ruth Friendly* Agnes & Emilio Gautier* John P. Harrington* Darlene & Brian Heidtke Louise Kerz Hirschfeld & Lewis B. Cullman* The Nat R & Martha M Knaster Charitable Trust Sarah-Ann Kramarsky

Jonathan Bank Eleanor Reissa

George Morfogen & Gene Laughorne Enid Nemy,* The Dorothy Strelsin Foundation Dorinda Oliver Judy Goetz Sanger & Sirgay Sanger Carole & Robert Shaffer-Koros* Katharine & Dennis Swanson M. Elisabeth Swerz Kathryn Swintek Gretchen Adkins* Jon Clark Jane Condon Jo Ann Corkran Marjorie Ellenbogen* Eleanor & Martin Gruber Ann Harte & Al Leizman Linda Irenegreene & Martin Kesselman Joan Kedziora

Kaori Kitao Mildred Kuner Tina & Michael Lobel Sabra Jones McAteer Ellen Mittenthal Ann Morfogen Zachary Morfogen Karol Murov Nancy Newcomb & John Hargraves* Eleanor Reissa* Carla Shere Claire Speciner Amy Stoller Joan Vail Thorne* Helen S. Tucker* Anita & Byron Wien Elizabeth Wells

* denotes member of the Benefit Committee

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Ciro A. Gamboni Kathryn Swintek

John P. Harrington John Yarmick

MINT THEATER STAFF

Jonathan Bank, Producing Artistic Director; Sherri Kotimsky, Finance and Production; Jesse Marchese, Assistant to the Artistic Director; Andrew Hendrick, Box Office Manager; Ellen Mittenthal, Development Consultant; Christina Roussos, Marketing and Audience Relations

We wish to express our gratitude to ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION through Theatre Authority, Inc. for their cooperation in permitting the Artists to appear on this program.

M I N T T H E A T E R C O M P A N Y commits to bringing new vitality to worthy but neglected plays. We excavate buried theatrical treasures; reclaiming them for our time through research, dramaturgy, production, publication, and a variety of enrichment programs; and we advocate for their ongoing life in theaters across the world.

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