FPC Newsletter 3.30.17

FURTHER READINGS A READING SERIES THAT EXPLORES THE WORK OF OUR FAVORITE PLAYWRIGHTS

Coming Up! THE LUCKY ONE

By A.A. Milne April 14 through June 25 Tue - Sat 7:30pm; Sat & Sun 2pm Wed Matinees 5/17 & 5/31 No performance 5/30

A Further Readings Event MR. PIM PASSES BY

by A.A. Milne June 12 at 7pm at Theatre Row FREE for FPC members

MR. PIM PASSES BY

by A.A. Milne

a Mint reunion reading June 12, 7pm The Beckett Theatre, Theatre Row To reserve your free First Priority Club tickets call Spring Raffle 212.315.0231 “Mr. Pim Passes By is that rare theatrical production that sparkles in every department and leaves one with a feeling of

pure, undisturbed happiness.”

- NYTheatre.com

Celebrate!

SPRING BENEFIT 2017 Colony Club, 564 Park Ave Monday April 24th 6:30pm Cocktails, dinner, and entertainment

Announcing...

THE SUITCASE UNDER THE BED Four short plays

by Teresa Deevy July 21 through September 23 Tue - Sat: 7:30PM; Sat & Sun 2pm Wednesday Matinees: 8/23, 9/6 & 9/20 Special Jacqui Deevy brunch & matinee: 7/23

Lisa Bostnar & Stephen Schnetzer Mr. Pim Passes By, 2004.

Mr. Pim Passes By by A.A. Milne is an important part of the history of the Mint Theater Company—we’ve mounted three different productions of it, first in 1996, then again in 1997 and finally for three months in 2004, in rotating repertory with another Milne play, The Truth About Blayds. The New York Times reported: “Seeing MR. PIM and BLAYDS in repertory reveals Milne as an able craftsman with a droll sense of humor whose work maintains a valid theatrical vitality…These are the sort of plays by which Londoners tried to forget the horrors of World War I. In the Mint’s smooth productions they can offer New Yorkers a couple of hours’ diversion from today’s headlines.”

At the center of each of these productions was Lisa Bostnar, “delightful as the clever and wise Olivia in Pim.” (NY Times). In 1996, Backstage wrote: “…Bostnar scintillates. She not only demonstrates why all the men in the play have fallen in love with her, but has the kind of charm that one associates with Myrna Loy or Audrey Hepburn. In a different theatre age playwrights would have written plays specifically for her, she is that enchanting.”

On June 12th, Bostnar will reunite with leading man Stephen Schnetzer, who played George Marden in the 2004 Pim, and Royce in Blayds (and the “Padre” in Yours Unfaithfully) for a special one-night reading of Mr. Pim Passes By.

Announcing...

THE SUITCASE UNDER THE BED Four Short Plays by Teresa Deevy

Performance Schedule: Tue - Sat 7:30PM Sat & Sun 2:00PM Wed matinees 8/23, 9/5 & 9/20 No performance 9/5

July 21 through September 23 By director Jonathan Bank

This summer, Mint will return to our “Deevy Project”, which began in 2010 with our production of Wife to James Whelan, and continued with productions of Temporal Powers in 2011 and Katie Roche in 2013.

Beginning in July 2017, we will offer The Suitcase under the Bed: Four Short Plays by Teresa Deevy, featuring the world premiere of three plays, along with Deevy’s best known one-act, The King of Spain’s Daughter.

Call the FPC hotline to reserve: 212.315.0231

Tickets now on sale exclusively to FPC members!

Teresa Deevy is undoubtedly the most brilliant playwright whose work I will ever have the privilege of re-introducing to the world. She is also the perfect “poster child” for Mint Theater’s mission—the neglect of her exceptional work proves the necessity of ours. For both of these reasons, we have made an unprecedented commitment to this author: three full productions, publication, digital recordings, numerous readings and international guest speakers.

The project began in 2009 when I got curious about Ireland’s women playwrights—were there any (beyond Lady Gregory)?

I went through a production history of the Abbey, Ireland’s National Theatre, and made a list of eight names from the first 50 years, all unfamiliar. Deevy, who had six plays produced at the Abbey between 1930 and 1936, was the only one for whom I could find any information. I learned that she was a woman with a remarkable personal story—a deaf playwright!—who was first embraced by the Abbey, and then summarily rejected when, at the height of her powers, the company’s leadership changed.

She was also the only one on my list who had ever been published. I can hardly describe the thrill I felt in encountering her voice: so passionate, so insightful, Janie Brookshire and Shawn Fagan in Wife to and so utterly surprising. A play should have three things, Deevy believed: “suspense, James Whelan by Teresa Deevy. surprise, inevitableness”. It’s this combination that helps to make her work so Photo by Carol Rosegg remarkable. On the surface, these ingredients seem contradictory. But Deevy keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen and then surprises you with an outcome that is absolutely truthful—the only probable outcome—but one you never expected.

I began a search for more of her work which led me to the two-century old family home in Waterford, Ireland. There, in two suitcases stuffed under a bed was a treasure trove of manuscripts. Together with Teresa’s grand-niece Jacqui, I scanned every page onto my laptop and promised to do what I could to resurrect this forgotten genius through her work.

Meeting her relatives was instructive and further illustrates the value of the Mint’s mission. After decades of the world’s indifference, the Deevy family came to believe Teresa’s rejection by the Abbey must have been justified. Even in their eyes she was a writer whose time had come and gone. They had neither the perception nor the perspective to recognize what I saw in her work—a singular talent—a talent that has been subsequently recognized by audiences and critics in New York. “Deevy amply justifies the rediscovery effort,” writes the Village Voice. Her “literary prowess appears everlasting,” said Time Out. “The skill Deevy demonstrated in her plotting and characterization should always have been honored, anthologized, shared, as much as any O’Casey,” writes Gwen Orel in The Irish Examiner, referring to the great Sean O’Casey, whose immortality is assured.

R

.

Return of Deevy

April Spring Benefit

Colony Club - April 24 Mint Theater Company Spring Benefit

Special Brunch Event!

Sunday, July 23

Tickets now on sale at MintTheater.org or by calling (212) 315-9434

Brunch and pre-show talk with Jacqui Deevy before matinee performance of Suitcase Jacqui is Teresa’s grandniece, literary executor and keeper of the flame - a role she inherited from her father. Jacqui grew up in Waterford, living in the Landscape, the Deevy family home for more than 125 years, where Teresa was born and lived. Jacqui will share her thoughts on the the plays included in The Suitcase Under the Bed and tell stories of the Deevy family.

Join us for our annual Spring Benefit, which will take place on Monday April 24, 2017 at the Colony Club (564 Park Avenue).

When: Sunday, July 23 at noon Where: West Bank Cafe, 407 West 42nd Street Cost: $78.50 - includes brunch and matinee ticket $40.00 - brunch only To make reservations call the First Priority Club hotline at: 212.315.0231

Our evening of Celebration will feature a performance of a very special short piece, featuring some of your favorite Mint actors.

TICKETS $2,500: One benefit ticket; two tickets to a Mint Opening Night performance $1,500: One benefit ticket; two tickets to a Mint performance $600: One benefit ticket SPONSOR AN ARTIST $250: One benefit ticket for a Mint artist

Jacqui Deevy and Jonathan Bank at the Deevy family home in Waterford, Ireland 2010

April 14 through June 25 Tues through Sat 7:30PM Sat & Sun 2:00PM

FIRST PRIORITY CLUB NEWS

Wed matinees 5/17 & 5/31 No performance 5/30

by A.A. Milne directed by Jesse Marchese

Reserve your tickets today!

FPC Hotline: (212) 315-0231

“Few plays have ever been more directly and deeply searching of the springs of conduct; more subtle in depicting essential character...it is a play of quite extraordinary delicacy and soundness of feeling.”

The New York Times, 1922

from your friends at Mint Theater

Happy spring! www.minttheater.org (212) 315-0231 330 West 42nd Street, Suite # 1210 New York, NY 10036