A Picture of Autumn by N.C. Hunter

New York, NY Pe r m i t N o . 7 5 2 8

AT THE MINT THEATER, 311 WEST 43RD ST, 3RD FLOOR

JONATHAN BANK

pa i d

MAY 23 THROUGH JULY 14, 2013

PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

non - profit u . s . postage

866-811-4111 or minttheater.org

FINANCE & PRODUCTION

SHERRI KOTIMSKY

SPECIAL DISCOUNT OFFER! Save 30% May 23-May 26: Pay Only $39.50 (use code Mint39) Save 20% May 28-June 16: Pay Only $45 (use code Mint45) Save 10% June 18 through July 14: Pay Only $49.50 (use code Mint49) (Regular Price $55. $2.75 per ticket service charge applies to all orders)

ORDER YOUR TICKETS TODAY!

PERFORMANCES

PHONE: 866-811-4111

M-F 9am - 9pm; S&S 10am - 6pm

Tuesday-Thursday at 7pm Friday and Saturday at 8pm Saturday and Sunday at 2pm

IN PERSON: 311 W. 43rd St, Ste 307 12-6pm Monday thru Friday

Wednesday Matinees: June 5 and July 3 at 2pm

ONLINE: minttheater.org

*No performances: June 4, June 11 and July 2

CHEAP TIX

by N . C . H U N T E R directed by G U S K A I K K O N E N

with HELEN CESPEDES CHRISTIAN COULSON BARBARA EDA-YOUNG KATIE FIRTH

You don’t have to be a cheapskate to appreciate a bargain, especially these days. We offer a LIMITED NUMBER of HALF-PRICE TICKETS ($27.50) for EVERY PERFORMANCE. Visit our website for more information.

JONATHAN HOGAN

enrichMINT events

GEORGE MORFOGEN PAUL NIEBANCK

SATURDAY, JUNE 1 after the matinee: DR. KERI WALSH, FORDHAM UNIVERSITY

KRAIG SWARTZ

Dr. Keri Walsh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Fordham University.

She received her Ph.D. from Princeton University in 2009 and since then has taught dramatic literature, literary theory, and Modern British and Irish Literature at Claremont McKenna College in Los Angeles and Fordham University in the Bronx.

As an educator, speaker, coach, family consultant, professional organizer and author, Barbara has helped seniors, their loved ones and entire communities rethink the moving process. Known as the “Diva of Downsizing” and “The Yoda of Moving”, Barbara is an expert in the areas of the psychology of moving and managing senior moves. Dr. Perman is the Founder & President, Moving Mentor, Inc. Dr. Perman holds a Masters Degree from Oxford University and a Doctorate in Psychology from Edinburgh University in Scotland.

SATURDAY, JUNE 8 after the matinee: PAULA SPAN, AUTHOR OF WHEN THE TIME COMES, FAMILIES WITH AGING PARENTS SHARE THEIR STRUGGLES AND SOLUTIONS Paula Span writes the New Old Age Blog for The New York Times. As a journalist, Span spent half her career at The Washington Post, the other half was devoted to freelancing for a raft of publications, including The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Boston Globe, The New York Times and its magazine, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Magazine, and others. Span teaches at the Columbia Journalism School.

Check our website for updates and more information.

311 W. 43rd St. 3rd Floor New York, NY 10036

SUNDAY, JUNE 2 after the matinee: DR. BARBARA Z. PERMAN, AUTHOR OF NO ORDINARY MOVE—RELOCATING YOUR AGING PARENTS

JILL TANNER

MAY 23 through JULY 14 866-811-4111 or minttheater.org Sets CHARLES MORGAN Costumes SAM FLEMING Lights WILLIAM ARMSTRONG Sound JANE SHAW Props JOSHUA YOCUM Dialects & Dramaturgy AMY STOLLER Casting JUDY BOWMAN Production Stage Manager KATHY SNYDER Assistant Stage Manager LAUREN McARTHUR Illustration STEFANO IMBERT Graphics HEY JUDE DESIGN, INC. Advertising THE PEKOE GROUP Press DAVID GERSTEN & ASSOCIATES

“A writer with a lot of “A subtle, charm, skill and taste...” civilized comedy...”

A PICTURE OF AUTUMN, by N.C. Hunter, is a sensitive, intelligent and comic depiction of one family’s attempt to grow old gracefully. AUTUMN tells the story of Charles and Margaret Denham, living in disarray in the decaying ancestral home with ancient Uncle Harry and senile Nanny. Their son Robert returns to England after several years abroad and finds that both the house and its occupants have faded from past glory. When an opportunity to sell the burdensome property arises, Robert leaps at the chance to help his parents downsize.

A PICTURE OF AUTUMN made its debut on February 11, 1951 in a one-night ‘try-out’ performance presented by the Repertory Players, at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London. The Repertory Players offered new plays on Sunday nights; by the time they presented AUTUMN, they were “the oldest and most successful of the surviving Sunday play-producing societies” having staged over 190 plays, 62 of which were picked up and produced elsewhere—32 on the West End. The Times applauded A PICTURE OF AUTUMN: “Mr. Hunter treats us to some shrewd observations on character and to some delicately exciting scenes perfectly timed and exactly calculated to inspire sensitive actors.” The Stage was equally enthusiastic: “Mr. Hunter’s treatment is ingenious, his characterization clear and firm, and a mood of far-away things kept alive in memory well conveyed.”

However, Hunter’s comedy was not picked-up after its try-out—it may have been too subtle for the commercial producers. The Times critic called it “the greatest of fun”—saying that it had “so much to commend it that it may be worth remarking on certain obstacles to our complete enjoyment…” and then chided the author for “crediting all the members of his audience with his own sly humor.”

Although no West End production of the play followed, Hunter’s Waters of the Moon was produced two months later, having been serendipitously picked off the top of a rejected scripts pile in the office of a theatrical producer by the great British actress, Dame Edith Evans. Another nuanced portrayal of faded gentility struggling for survival, the play opened at the Theatre Royal in London with a cast that included Dame Sybil Thorndike and Dame Edith Evans. The production ran for 835 performances making its author a household name for a few years.

Hunter enjoyed great success with Waters of the Moon, A Day by the Sea and A Touch of the Sun—his plays dominated the West End throughout the fifties. But A PICTURE OF AUTUMN, the play that introduced him as “a writer who brought a new tone and unfamiliar nuances into the English theatre” gathered dust—until now.

N.C. HUNTER (1908-1971) was one of the leading English dramatists of the 1950s and early 1960s. As theatrical revolution—spearheaded by John Osborne and his school of “angry young men”—exploded around him, Hunter kept his head down and provided moving portraits of a people questioning their own purpose in chaotic post-war England.

Announcing our online Production Archives!

Now open for browsing!

Go to minttheater.org, the Production Archives link is under Plays & Events on the main menu. You can view the Archives By Author or By Year or you can view an Archive Slideshow.

Take a stroll down memory lane, or investigate shows that you missed. Our Online Archives includes programs, flyers, photos and video.

In Celebration of the launch of our online Production Archives, our 2013 Gala will feature scenes from our past, chosen by you!

Norman Charles Hunter was born on September 18, 1908 in Derbyshire. Originally intending to follow in the footsteps of his father, a decorated Lieutenant Colonel, Hunter was educated at the Royal Military College. In 1930 he was commissioned in the Dragoon Guards but relinquished his position three years later, deciding to devote his life to literary pursuits. He found a day job on the staff of the BBC and began writing. In the years prior to the outbreak of World War II, Hunter produced six plays and four novels. His early plays showed the promise of a true writer with a strong sense of craftsmanship.

Hunter returned to playwriting in 1947 after having served with the Royal Artillery during the war. Over the next four years, Hunter continued to develop his craft, eventually acquiring a reputation as the “English Chekhov”. Waters of the Moon brought Hunter to prominence. It was followed by A Day by the Sea, which opened in 1953 and ran for 386 performances starring Dame Sybil Thorndike, Irene Worth, Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson. In New York, A Day by the Sea opened in 1955 with Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn headlining the cast, Hunter’s only Broadway production.

In reviewing A Day by the Sea, Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times called Hunter “a writer with a lot of charm, skill and taste” and went on to acknowledge that To call a playwright ‘Chekhovian’ today is to utter opprobrium and to consign him to the doghouse. For ‘Chekhovian’ has become a synonym for preciousness and languor... But the word is not applied to him maliciously in this column. For he is a reflective writer in his own right.The dawdling pace, the improvised narrative, the characterizations of people who associate but never blend, the random remarks—are methods that become him…. they result in a subtle, civilized comedy.

Hunter’s restrained naturalism fell out of fashion as playwrights like Joe Orton introduced flamboyance and controversy into the British theatre. In Great Writers of the English Language, William Tydeman praises Hunter’s “careful characterizations and finely orchestrated dialogue, his immaculate control of exposition and dénouement, his overall craftsmanship,” and predicts that “Hunter’s work may yet receive that fuller appraisal its quality still merits.”

Mint Theater Company is proud to create the opportunity for that appraisal by presenting the American Premiere of A PICTURE OF AUTUMN.

MINT THEATER COMPANY’S ANNUAL BENEFIT MONDAY JUNE 24TH AT THE COSMOPOLITAN CLUB, 122 EAST 66TH ST. HONORING GEORGE MORFOGEN AND FEATURING SCENES FROM THE MINT ARCHIVES. Browse through our new online Production Archives and vote for the plays you’d like to see represented. Click on the Playing Favorites button on the right of your screen which will direct you to an online survey where you can vote for up to five plays. You do NOT need to buy tickets to the Gala to vote.

We will present scenes from the winning plays* at the Gala on June 24th.

Join us to celebrate Mint’s history and honor one of our most significant artistic contributors: George Morfogen from The Voysey Inheritance, Farewell to the Theatre, The Lonely Way, and The Madras House—and now starring in A Picture of Autumn.

Proceeds from the 2013 Benefit will go towards establishing Mint’s Legacy Fund.

The Legacy Fund will support Mint’s Archival activities, including our online Production Archives, video-taping of productions, and preservation of historically important materials.

For tickets or more information, call 212.315.0231 or go to Special Events on our website. * Actors in the winning scenes may not be the same as in the original Mint production.