KATIE ROCHE by teresa deevy
directed by jonathan bank
January 26th- March 24th
“A Masterpiece”
“Masterpiece is a word to be used sparingly, but I have no hesitation in applying it to Miss Deevy’s KATIE ROCHE. Imagine a play in which the really eloquent and revealing things are the sentences the players do not say; a play in which words become almost unimportant and situation everything; a play of fantastic irony, of vital convincing characters, of superb craftsmanship. That is KATIE ROCHE.” The Irish Independent, 1936 Katie is a servant girl of uncertain parentage. She is wild with ambition and dreams of finding something great to do. Following the blaze of deeply felt but contradictory feelings, Katie longs to find her way. Teresa Deevy’s brilliantly original drama takes us on Katie’s journey as she struggles to find herself and her destiny.
Originally produced by Ireland’s Abbey Theatre in 1936, KATIE ROCHE was included in the Gollancz Anthology of “Famous Plays of 1936” (“even though it cannot yet be called famous”) along with Clifford Odets’ Awake and Sing. The Abbey chose KATIE ROCHE to kick off their U.S. tour in 1937 and in 1938 it was produced in London.
“An exquisite work of art” The Christian Science Monitor, 1949
don Times acknowledged: “It is almost impossible to give an idea of the quality of this really fine play.” The Independent critic had no hesitation in calling the play a “masterpiece,” neither did he hesitate to “admit frankly that I do not appreciate it fully at the moment. It is a play to be read, to be studied, to be seen again and again.” KATIE ROCHE was revived by the Abbey in 1949, 1975 and 1994—each time to critical acclaim:
“With an economy that is almost skeletonlike, Miss Deevy establishes her every character with some half-dozen sentences often left unfinished. The general effect is that of an exquisite work of art.” The Christian Science Monitor, 1949 “It is full of wisdom and compassionate warmth…Few treatments of volatile youth matched with staid middle-aged in marriage are as engaging and as moving as this…a most welcome draught of pure, fresh air in the theatre.” Irish Independent, 1975 “A depth, a richness and an originality of thought and feeling which make for an absorbing, surprising and ultimately very moving and satisfying evening of drama. On the evidence presented, Miss Deevy would seem one of the most undeservedly neglected and significant Irish playwrights of this century.”
This winter, Teresa Deevy’s groundbreaking drama finally returns to New Those who praised the play most enthu- York with performances running from siastically acknowledged the difficulty January 26- March 24. of describing it. The critic for The Lon-
“Of all the lost names unearthed by the Mint Theater Company, surely the most significant has been the rediscovery of the Irish playwright Teresa Deevy.” Lighting and Sound America
Teresa Deevy was born in 1984 as the youngest of thirteen children in Waterford, Ireland. Though she intended to teach, Teresa contracted Meniere’s disease while at University College Dublin and lost her hearing. She went to London to study lip-reading and the theater provided her an opportunity to practice—there she discovered her calling. Despite obvious obstacles and years of rejection, Teresa eventually became a celebrated playwright. She had six plays produced at Ireland’s National Theater, the Abbey between the years 1930 and 1936. It was KATIE ROCHE that solidified her place as Ireland’s most important female dramatist since Augusta Gregory. A servant girl whose mercurial ambitions reach for the heavens, Deevy’s remarkable heroine introduced a study of feminine power with unprecedented subtlety and depth. Of the play’s protagonist, The Irish Times claimed, “Katie Roche herself is most skillfully drawn—an almost impossibly childlike mind combined with a wild temperament” Mint Theater Company has singlehandedly put Teresa Deevy back onto the literary map with our acclaimed productions of WIFE TO JAMES WHELAN in 2010 and TEMPORAL POWERS in 2011. We proudly present KATIE ROCHE as the final production of our ambitious three-year project dedicated to the brilliant Teresa Deevy.
Meet the cast of KATIE ROCHE on the last page
DISCOVERING DEEVY WEEKEND SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24
12:00 pm
12:30 pm
Lunch with Professor Christopher Morash.
During lunch, Chris will talk briefly about Teresa Deevy and introduce some of the themes and techniques to watch for in the afternoon’s readings of two one-act plays, Within a Marble City, and Eyes and No Eyes. Neither of these plays was ever published (until now—they both appear in Teresa Deevy Reclaimed, Volume Two). Neither of these plays was ever performed on stage.
2:30 pm
Readings of Within a Marble City, and Eyes and No Eyes by Teresa Deevy, followed by a discussion with Dr. Morash. Deevy also wrote a radio version of Within a Marble City which shared first prize in Radio Éirann’s Drama Competition in 1948 when it aired. Philip Rooney, critic for the Irish Press, wrote:
A Screening of our HD recording of a live performance of WIFE TO JAMES WHELAN at Dolby 88 (1350 Avenue of the Americas & 55th St.) followed by a discussion with director Jonathan Bank. Did you miss our highly acclaimed production of Teresa Deevy’s “rejected Abbey play” WIFE TO JAMES WHELAN. Here’s your chance to catch a video recording of a live performance.
“The Mint Theater is certainly making an elegant case that the Abbey Theater in Dublin missed an opportunity almost 70 years ago when it declined to produce WIFE TO JAMES WHELAN. Never less than compelling” – Critic’s Pick, New York Times “Teresa Deevy’s WIFE TO JAMES WHELAN might be described as a battle of the sexes that features an intense love-hate relationship. But almost everything about Deevy’s crisp psychological drama, which was lost for decades after being rejected by Ireland’s Abbey Theatre nearly 70 years ago, is richer and subtler than those terms imply.” Time Out New York
“In her new play, Miss Deevy brought to life a small group of people from an Irish provincial town. “Brought to life” is not in this instance a carelessly used complimentary phrase, for that is precisely what the writer has done.
“Assembled for the purpose of presenting Deevy's long forgotten work is one of the finest ensembles I have seen on a New York stage.” nytheatre.com
“Her people—the shrewd young shopman, the girl in love, the elderly merchant—are very much more than a competently drawn group of credible characters; one and all they are people straight out of life, people presented in their full stature, the quiet drama of their lives, the drama that springs directly from the core of each character’s unique personality.
2:00 pm
“The story of these people is, on the surface, so slight as to be little more than a sketch, a study of characters at a moment of minor crisis. But Miss Deevy is a playwright who does not work on the surface. Her interest is in the complex quality of character, in the stresses and strains which underlie all human relationships and which determine, often so strangely, the interweaving of life patterns. “Deevy drew her listener’s interest far beyond the confines of the play and offered them an imaginative interest in the hopes, fears, and future of her characters.”
5:30 pm
Dinner with Jacqui Deevy.
Jacqui’s father Jack was Teresa’s nephew and knew her well. Jacqui is now Teresa’s literary executor and keeper of the flame, a role she inherited from her father. She will share her thoughts on the afternoon’s readings and share stories of the Deevy family. Jacqui grew up in Waterford, living in the Landscape, the Deevy family home for more than 125 years, where Teresa was born and lived, when she was not in Dublin.
8:00 pm
Performance of Katie Roche.
OR Katie Roche, followed by a discussion of the play with Dr. Morash, Head of the Department of English, National University of Ireland. Professor Morash is the author of A History of Irish Theatre 16012000, winner of the 2002 Theater Book Prize and A History of the Media in Ireland, both published by Cambridge University Press. Morash is the author of several other books and numerous papers. He is a much sought after speaker and will be returning to the Mint for his fourth straight year, having first come to New York in 2009 to discuss Lennox Robinson’s Is Life Worth Living?. Chris is a co-editor of Teresa Deevy Reclaimed. *If you’d like to attend both the screening and the post-show discussion, there will be plenty of time to make it from the screening to the Mint.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25 7:00 pm Katie Roche, Opening Night
Join us for the show and post-show cast party at West Bank Cafe. Celebrate Deevy with the cast of KATIE ROCHE, Jacqui Deevy and her family, and many of the actors who have been in our earlier Deevy productions.
ENRICHMINT EVENTS An exclusive weekend offering an opportunity to immerse yourself in the dramatic imagination of Teresa Deevy. See as much or as little as you like. These events are being offered exclusively to First-Priority Club Members; reserve your place today before we open them up to the general public. SATURDAY FEBRUARY 23
Join us for Lunch before the Readings, or Dinner after - or both. Add KATIE ROCHE for full immersion in DISCOVERING DEEVY
$75
Lunch
$215
Dinner
$250
Dinner & Katie Roche
$275
Lunch & Dinner
$310 Lunch, Dinner, and KATIE ROCHE *pricing per person. includes one ticket to reading, and a signed copy of teresa deevy reclaimed volume two.
All events take place immediately after the matinee performance and usually last about 50 minutes and are free and open to the public. Speakers and dates subject to change without notice. SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3
Professor John P. Harrington
Professor of English and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Fordham University
Harrington was educated at Columbia University, University College- Dublin, and he earned his Ph.D. in literature from Rutgers University. He has written extensively on Irish literature and culture, including The Irish Beckett (1991), The Irish Play on the New York Stage (1997), and The Life of the Neighborhood Playhouse on Grand Street (2007). He edited W. W. Norton's anthology Modern and Contemporary Irish Drama (1991; new edition 2008) and Irish Theater in America (2009). Harrington is past President of the American Conference for Irish Studies, founding member of the International Committee of the Irish Theatrical Diaspora project, and North American Editor of Irish Studies Review. John is a co-editor of Teresa Deevy Reclaimed and a member of the Mint Board of Trustees. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20
Professor Abby Bender Adjunct Assistant Professor of Irish Studies, New York University
MONDAY FEBRUARY 25
Professor Bender’s research and teaching interests focus on Irish literature and culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Her approach is often informed by religious and political history, as well as transnational, postcolonial, and cultural studies. Professor Bender has been an invited speaker at the Columbia University Irish Studies Seminar, The James Joyce Summer School in Dublin, and the New York Public Library. At NYU, she teaches courses on Irish Drama, James Joyce, Contemporary Irish Fiction, and Women’s Writing in Ireland.
Katie Roche & Opening Night Party $100 (West Bank Cafe at 407 West 42nd St)
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 24 WIFE TO JAMES WHELAN Screening 1350 Avenue of the Americas & 55th St.
FREE- reservation required
To make reservations call the FPC Hotline at 212-315-0231 or online at minttheater.org.
Professor Angela Alaimo O’Donnell
Associate Director of Curran Center for American Catholic Studies, Fordham University
Teresa Deevy’s audience in Ireland in the 1930’s was thoroughly steeped in the Catholic faith. Professor O’Donnell will help to provide that context for KATIE ROCHE, putting the play into the context of faith and transcendence. O’Donnell is a poet and professor at Fordham, where she teaches English, Creative Writing, and interdisciplinary courses in American Catholic Studies. In addition to writing poems, O’Donnell writes essays that engage the nexus between art and religion, with an emphasis on literature in the context of the Catholic intellectual tradition.
Discovering Deevy Weekend’s featured speakers, Jacqui Deevy and Christopher Morash.
O’Donnell’s essays and reviews appear in journals such as America, Commonweal, Studies in Philology, Christianity and Literature and have been included in a variety of collections and anthologies, including The Catholic Studies Reader (Fordham Press, 2011) and Teaching the Tradition (Oxford University Press, 2012).
KATIE ROCHE
January 26thMarch 24th
by Teresa Deevy
FPC Hotline: (212) 315-0231 Fax: (212) 977-5211 Address: 311 W. 43rd St. Suite 307 New York, NY 10036 Box Office: Mon.- Fri.- Noon- 6pm Starting Jan. 26Sat.- Noon- 6pm Sun.- Noon- 3pm www.mintheater.org
Performances: Tues., Wed., Thurs. 7pm Friday & Saturday 8pm Saturday & Sunday 2pm Wednesday Matinees- 2pm Feb. 20 & Mar. 20
No performances Jan. 27, Feb. 19, 26, or Mar. 19
Full Price: $55 FPC Price: $38.50 (Use Code: FPC) CheapTix: $27.50 (when available)
Looking for a thoughtful holiday gift? Gift Certificates are available call 212-315-0231 for more information.
Coming in February 2013...
TERESA DEEVY RECLAIMED VOLUME TWO Edited by Jonathan Bank, John P. Harrington, & Christopher Morash
CONCERNING MEAGHER DIGNITY EYES AND NO EYES GOING BEYOND ALMA’S GLORY HOLIDAY HOUSE
hipp FREE s embers FPC m
KATIE ROCHE Featuring many familiar faces from past Mint Productions. (clockwise from top) Katie Roche Wrenn Schmidt Temporal Powers Stanislaus Gregg Thomas M. Hammond Madras House, Dr. Knock Amelia Gregg Margaret Daly Is Life Worth Living? Michael Maguire Jon Fletcher WIFE TO JAMES WHELAN Margaret Drybone Fiana Toibin Temporal Powers Frank Lawlor John O’Creagh Is Life Worth Living?
IN SEARCH OF VALOUR IN THE CELLAR OF MY FRIEND LIGHT FALLING
5 $15.9ing for
Meet the cast of
ONE LOOK—AND WHAT IT LED TO STRANGE BIRTH THE KING OF SPAIN’S DAUGHTER WITHIN A MARBLE CITY
Pre-order your copy today! Call 212-315-0231 or visit minttheater.org to reserve your copy today!
New to the Mint (not pictured): Rueben Jamie Jackson
Jo Mahony David Friedlander