Mint Theater Company
Jonathan Bank Ted Altschuler Rochele Tillman Timothey Sullivan Sherri Kotimsky Aaron Lenehan
Board of Trustees Geoffrey Chinn, President Elsa A. Solender, Secretary Linda Calandra Carol Chinn Jon Clark Toehl Harding Eleanor Reissa Gary Schonwald M. Elisabeth Swerz Kate Weingarten Jonathan Bank
Artistic Director Associate Director Box Office Manager Assistant to the Artistic Director Bookkeeper Website Design
MINT THEATER COMPANY
Good stories well told.
Board of Advisors John Booth J. Ellen Gainor Charles Keating Austin Pendleton George Morfogen David Rothenberg
“When it comes to the library,” our 2001 Obie citation states, “there’s no theater more adventurous.” In 2002 the Mint was awarded a special Drama Desk Award for “unearthing, presenting and preserving forgotten plays of merit.” MINT THEATER COMPANY 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. Mint has a keen interest in timeless but timely plays that make us feel and think about the moral quality of our lives and the world in which we live. Our aim is to use the engaging power of the theater to excite, provoke, influence and inspire audiences and artists alike. 311 West 43rd St. 5th floor New York, NY 10036 www.minttheater.org Box Office: (212) 315-0231
Margret Schaefer and Jonathan Bank
Translated By
Ilse Grafman Richard Grayson Martin & Eleanor Gruber James C. Hall Robert Hanson George B. Hatch Darlene & Brian Heidtke Reily Hendrickson Mari Lyn Henry Madelaine & Milton Horowitz Anna Iacucci Jocelyn Jacknis Edgar & Renee Jackson Noel Grean Jahr Lisa & Keith Jewell James & Jacqueline Johnson Roberta Jones Gus Kaikkonen & Kraig Swartz Cynthia Kane John Kellogg Regina Kelly David Kirkwood & Annie Thomas Milton & Fradie Kramer Irvin Kricheff Mildred Kuner Carmel Kuperman Mikel Sarah Lambert Ira Leeds Ronald Lemoncelli Barbara & Herbert Levy Sheldon Lichtblau Eliot Liebowitz Ross Lipman Joel & Diane Lipset Steven Lorch & Suzanna Kochan-Lorch
Harold & Elisabeth Lorin Mary Rose Main Vivien & JF Majeski Teresa Stoughton Marafino Clark Marlor George Wm. Mayer, Jr. James G. McCarthy Dorothy T. McElroy Deborah McManus Martin Meisel John David Metcalfe Eleanor Meyerhoff Ronald & Susan Michlow Luisa & Bernard Milch Vera Miller Ellen Monk Elaine P. Montgomery Doreen & Larry Morales Joseph Morello Janet Murnick Celeste Myers Egon & Florence Neuberger Andrew & Barry Newburger Jeffrey & Arlen Nichols Richard & Dottie Oswald Dr. Satoko Parker Bruce Pasquale Naomi & Gerald Patlis Ellen Perecman Fred & Alice Perkins Susan & Robert Peterson-Neuhaus Dr. Leonard & Gillis Plaine Sheila & Irwin Polishook
Sidney & Phyllis Polsky Tony Porpora Constance H. Poster Dr. & Mrs. Guy D. Potter Michael Printz Maria M. Proctor David & Phyllis Quickel Judith & Sheldon Raab Cheryl Reich James Reynolds Arleigh Richards & William Wise John Rieck Phyllis & Earl Roberts Sheila Roher Sylvia Rosen Barbara Rosenthal Phillip & Marcia Rothblum Martha Rozett David & Helen Samuels Anita Sanford Joan & Arthur Sarnoff Irwin Schwartz Phyllis Schwartz Murray Schisgal William & Earlyne Seaver Jerome & Harrie Seiler Martin E. Segal Carole Shaffer-Koros Camille & Richard Sheely Andrea Sholler & Bart Mosley Rebecca & Philip Siekevitz Martin & Kayla Silberberg Lily Smith Caroline Sorokoff & Peter Stearn Dr. Norman Solomon Linda Spitzer Alec Stais Nicholas Stathis Axel Stawski Lee R. Steelman Sherry & Bob Steinberg Frances Sternhagen Robert & Edna Straus Barbara Strauss Elaine & Ulrich  Strauss Pamela Stubing Mary & Gerald Swartz Sally Swift Alex Szogyi Eloise & James Taussig Brinton Taylor & Francis C. Parson, Jr. Christine Thomas Melvin Tillman Robert Todras Joan & Matthew Tolchin Edith Tuckerman Robert E. Voelkle Bob & Joan Volin Gordon & Edith Wallace Tamara & Gerlad Weintraub Richard Wiesman Howard & Patricia Weiss Reny Weigert Mr. & Mrs. Maurice J. Willey Robert Neff Williams Vincent & Marcia Williams Daisy Wincor Heather Winters
Michael Wolf Dr. Ralph Wynn James Yaffe
$50 - $99 Annon Adams William Bazeley Marvin Carlson Milford & Christine Fulop Wanda Davenport & Martin Cohen Thomas Giallorenzi Robert & Mary Hogan Estelle Clauson Jones Kitao Kaori Susan E. Linder Miles & Janet Marek Betsy McKenny Judith & Allen Mohl Russell Moore & Patsy Wygle Ann Pacifico Barbara & Joseph Psotka Shannon Randall David Rothenberg Alison Ryley Roy Schafer Tom & Rosemarie Seippel Elliot Sirkin Shirley M. Stewart Meryl Stoller Ken & Linda Treitel A. Thomas Turrentine Virginia Wilhelm Robert Williams
$25 to $49 Carmen Anthony Kathie Coblentz Norman & Stefanie Cyril & Violet Franks Carolyn Gentile Elise Goldberg Gloria Goldenberg Diane Gover Bonnie & George Hecht Don & Delores Hilde Ken Kliban Eleanor Lupino Albert & Barbara Lyons Mary M. O’Brien Dr. Mary L. Pfaff Marilyn Pugliese Zaphra Reskakis Corrine Rosenthal Ronald Sauers Ike Schambelan Francess & Kenda Shaw Janet & Joseph Sherman Gail Shulman Lee & Adele Starr Lois & Leonard Stein Leonard & Naomi Tucker Terry Warm Joseph Weiss Janet White Loeb
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The Following Generous Individuals Support Mint Theater
$2,500 and above Malvin and Lea Bank Carol & Geoffrey Chinn M. Elisabeth Swerz
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Mint Theater Company Jonathan Bank, Artistic Director presents
Eric Alperin, Lisa Bostnar, George Morfogen, Ronald Guttman, Jordan Lage, Bennett Leak, Sherry Skinker, Constance Tarbox, John Leonard Thompson with
Translated by Margret Schaefer and Jonathan Bank
Scenery Vicki R. Davis
Lighting Ben Stanton
Costumes Henry Shaffer
Props Judi Guralnick
Casting Sharron Bower
Assistant Stage Manager Dawn Dunlop
Sound Jane Shaw
Furniture Frank Gehry
Production Stage Manager Samone B. Weissman
Graphics Jude Dvorak
Press Representative David Gersten & Associates Directed by Jonathan Bank
The Lonely Way by Arthur Schnitzler CAST in order of appearance
JOHANNA WEGRAT.................................................................................Constance Tarbox
FELIX WEGRAT............................................................................................Eric Alperin STEPHAN VON SALA..................................................................................Jordan Lage DR. FRANZ REUMANN...........................................................John Leonard Thompson GABRIELE WEGRAT................................................................................Sherry Skinker PROFESSOR WEGRAT.........................................................................George Morfogen JULIAN FICHTNER................................................................................Ronald Guttman IRENE HERMS..............................................................................................Lisa Bostnar VALET (to Julian Fichtner)............................................................................Bennet Leak Time:The Present Place: Vienna Act I - Professor Wegrat’s garden. Act II - Julian Fichtner’s rooms, eight days later. - Intermission. Act III - Wegrat’s garden, the next morning. Act IV - Sala’s garden, later that day. Act V - Wegrat’s garden, the next morning. STAFF Technical Director.......................................................................Evan Schlossberg Master Electrician.............................................................................John Anselmo House Manager .....................................................................Danielle Quisenberry Box Office Assistant.............................................................................Janel Cooke Carpenters.......................................................Christopher Connolly, Andrew John, David Kniep, Adam Shine, Brian Williams Electricians..............Phillipe Bachy, Brandi Berry, Kevin Johnson, Devin Lindow Assistant Director........................................................................Kimberley Mueller
SPECIAL THANKS Materials for the Arts, , The Costume Collection, Purchase College, Props Department, Patrick O’Rourke at Big Apple Lights, Patrick Lee at Actors’ Equity Association,. Jean Cocteau Scene Shop, Lighting equipment provided by the Technical Upgrade Project of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York through the generous support of the New York City Council and the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs:special thanks to Mary Jane Louaver. Very special thanks to The Frank Gehry Furniture Collection courtesy of Heller US 149 Fifth Avenue New York NY 10010. 212-685-4200. www.helleronline.com
Actors’ Equity Association was founded in 1913. It is the labor union representing over 40,000 American actors and stage managers working in the professional theatre. For 89 years, Equity has negotiated minimum wages and working conditions, administered contracts, and enforced the provisions of its various agreements with theatrical employers across the country. The Director is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, an independent national labor union.
Foundation Corporate & Government Support
$25,000 and above Robert Sterling Clark Foundation $10,000 - $24,999 Lucille Lortel Foundation The Shubert Foundation
$5,000 - $9,999 Jean & Louis Dreyfus Foundation Irving & Gloria Fine Foundation Ted Snowdon Foundation Michael Tuch Foundation $2,500 - $4,999 American Theatre Wing Axe-Houghton Foundation The Barbara Bell Cumming Foundation JP Morgan/Chase Foundation The Dorothy Strelsin Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation
Up to $2,500 Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York American Friends of Theater Anonymous Edith C. Blum Foundation Gilbert & Ildiko Butler Foundation The Charina Foundation Cory & Bob Donnalley Charitable Fdn. Phyllis Fox & George Sternlieb Fdn. The Gramercy Park Foundation Hickrill Foundation Peter Harring Judd Fund John L. McHugh Foundation The Memorial Foundation for the Arts Pfizer Foundation Rodgers Family Foundation Sukenick Family Foundation
Corporations & Matching Gifts Aegon Transamerica AOL Time Warner AT&T Foundation Matching Gifts American International Group, Inc. Bank Of America I.B.M International Foundation JPMorgan Chase Foundation McGraw Hill Newsweek, Inc. The New York Times Foundation The James B. Oswald Company Pfizer Inc. UBS Matching Gift Program This event is made possible with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts, a State agency.
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A Note from the Director
The Lonely Way had its premiere in Berlin one-hundred and one years ago on February 13th 1904. I didn't know that when I selected February 13th as our official opening night, which makes the coincidence feel that much more significant. However, what is truly noteworthy, I think, is that Mint’s production will be the first ever seen in New York, and for all practical purposes the only production ever in this country. After one-hundred and one years, that’s a long time in coming.
In 1931, the Theater Guild sent the play on the road for an unusually extensive out-of-town tryout, a week in Baltimore and another in Washington followed by Cincinnati and Chicago before coming to New York. During rehearsals, the actor playing Sala broke his leg (a skating accident) and was replaced. By the time the week was up in D.C., the Theater Guild had decided to pull the plug, indicating that they would bring the play to New York the following season when Tom Powers’ leg was fully healed. But The Lonely Way was never heard from again. I’m not sure that Tom Powers was to blame.
Apparently audiences were expecting a very different Schnitzler. The Baltimore press lamented that this play, “long hailed as the major opus of Herr Professor Doctor Arthur Schnitzler, is in both mood and method more akin to the Copenhagen of Henrik Ibsen than the Vienna of Anatol.” Remarkably, not much has changed in the intervening seventy-some years, and audiences in this country still tend to associate Schnitzler with Viennese confection-a sweet and decadent piece of strudel, rather than the dark, bitter and complex writer that he is. Happily for us, after our production of Far and Wide the audience at Mint has a better idea of what to expect.
Leo Carey wrote an insightful article for The New Yorker two years ago on Schnitzler declaring that “behind all the fin-de-siècle props-demimondaines, officers, aristocrats, duels, dances, and dalliances-lurks something strangely modern.” With The Lonely Way it isn’t even necessary to look beyond the trappings of a bygone world to see the startling psychological insights and relevance in this story of unrequited love between parents and their children, children dreamed of, lost, never born, and grown-up. I’m pleased that Mint has the opportunity to introduce New York to this disturbing, compelling and beautiful play. I’m also eager to share both this play and Far and Wide with audiences everywhere hence our publication of Arthur Schnitzler Reclaimed which contains both play scripts, essays by myself and my collaborator, Margret Schaefer, as well as a beautifully written piece by Peter Schnitzler, Arthur’s grandson and executor of his literary estate. Your interest in and support for our work have made this publication possible-thank you. Jonathan Bank
Language Matters by Margret Schaefer
Is translation, as is said about psychoanalysis, an impossible profession? While translating two collections of Arthur Schnitzler’s fiction, I sometimes thought so. If uncertainty and ambiguity drive you crazy, don’t pick translation as a profession. As for me, translating is something I have been doing all my life, although I came to it professionally only recently. Born in Germany, I emigrated to the U.S. at the age of eleven and a half, knowing little more than the elementary school English of “Dick and Jane go home.” When a few weeks after I arrived my new teacher asked me to give a talk about my trip to the U.S. in class, my mother had to translate my speech into English for me. Fortunately she had been a simultaneous interpreter for the American Army in Germany, and knew English well. She was adamant that I should learn English as fast as possible, and insisted I speak only English at home. The perhaps unintended result of all this was that I pursued the study of English all the way to a Ph.D. in English literature at Berkeley. Yet when I began to teach literature at various universities and began to publish, I found myself writing on German writers such as Kleist and Kafka as often as on Woolf and Wilde, whose fin de siecle plays had been the subject of my dissertation.
I never considered translating professionally until a mutual acquaintance introduced me to editor and publisher Ivan R. Dee. One day Ivan and I got into a heated discussion about the merits of Stanley Kubrick’s film Eyes Wide Shut, a film based on one of Schnitzler’s late novellas that I knew well. Ivan had wanted to republish some out of print translations of Schnitzler’s short fiction in a new edition, and had asked John Simon to select them and to write a foreword. But Simon hadn’t found the existing translations adequate, and was only willing to participate if new translations were undertaken. So Ivan asked me if wanted to tackle the project of translation. I did. Schnitzler and fin de siècle Vienna, the birthplace of so much of modern art, music, philosophy, and Freudian psychoanalysis, had always fascinated me. My collection of Schnitzler novellas and short stories, Night Games, was published with John Simon’s foreword in 2001.
When I learned that Jonathan Bank was producing Schnitzler’s Far and Wide-his version of one of my favorite Schnitzler plays, Das weite Land, I knew had to see it, and booked a trip from my home in California. I was delighted and impressed by how Jonathan had managed to stage a play of such vast scale so brilliantly and movingly on the smallish stage of Mint Theater. We met after the production and agreed that other Schnitzler plays also cried out for production. They had been neglected partly because of the lack of acceptable English translations. We agreed that we would work together on another one of Schnitzler’s masterpieces, The Lonely Way. I would provide a preliminary translation, and then Jonathan would help to shape it into a drama suitable for a contemporary audience. I tried to be as accurate, even as literal, as possible in that first draft, but, of course, translation always involves interpretation and a multiplicity of choices. Is a gnaedige Frau a dear madam, a dear lady, or a my lady-or is it just a meaningless piece of Viennese Schmalz? If a character says to someone kuess die Hand, is he actually expressing a wish to kiss a lady’s hand or is he just saying How do you do? The question of what constitutes an “accurate” translation of something is as much a matter of tone, voice, level of discourse, and cultural understanding as of pure linguistics.
Schnitzler was more talked about, and his plays were more performed on the stages of Germany and Austria than any other writer. Schnitzler was both a Jew and a critic of the Austrian Monarchy, contributing to the censorship of his work in his lifetime, and by the Nazi's after his death. His work ultimately suffered the same fate as the Viennese culture that he was describing and vanished into obscurity after Word War I. His best-known play today is Reigen a.k.a. La Ronde. This work was the basis for The Blue Room by David Hare, as well as the recently released film Love in the Time of Money. Audiences may also be familiar with Anatol, an early work (1893) consisting of seven scenes variously controversial, censored or banned for immorality. Neither of these plays accurately represents the breadth or depth of Schnitzler's genius; what Benedict Nightingale describes as his "inquisitive, complex, formidably moral intelligence."
Margret Schaefer (Co-Translator) has published two volumes of translations of Arthur's Schnitzler's fiction, Night Games (2002) and Desire and Delusion (2003), and is currently working on a third. She received a Ph.D. in English at UC Berkeley, and has taught English and Comp. Literature at Berkeley, San Francisco State, and the Univ. of Illinois, Chicago. She has written and published on Oscar Wilde, von Kleist, and Kafka, as well as on female psychology, feminist literary criticism, and the history of psychoanalysis. She is currently chairman of the Northern California Book Reviewer's Non-fiction Committee, and is a PEN member. She recently turned to translating Schnitzler because a publisher, Ivan R. Dee, gave her the opportunity to do so, bringing together her love of literature, psychology, and turn of the century Vienna, and making one of her favorite Viennese authors available to her monolingual friends and to a wider American audience. She is a native speaker of German who emigrated to the US at an age old enough not to lose her German, but young enough so that English became her chief mode of expression. She is the mother of two children and two stepchildren, and lives with her husband in Berkeley.
Ted Altschuler (Associate Director) Directing: operas at New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Rode Hoode (Amsterdam), and Juilliard Opera Theater, where he has taught for 9 years. Plays include: the long-running, award-winning Virginia (Cloud 42, Chicago), On the Verge, The Road to the Graveyard, and The Glass Menagerie (Clavis Theater Ensemble, Milwaukee, where has was Artistic Director). Recent projects: an opera of Poe's A Tell Tale Heart, Georgia O'Keefe x Catherine Rogers, and The Cornell Project on artist Joseph Cornell. Favorite roles include: Phllip (Orphans), Betty/Gerry (Cloud Nine), and Larry (Burn This).
Sharron Bower (Casting Director) Mint: Echoes of the War, The Truth About Blayds, Mr. Pim Passes By, The Daughter in Law, Far and Wide, The Charity That Began at Home. Other: Vermont Stage, Mill Mountain Theatre, Princeton Rep. Co., Miniature Theatre of Chester, animation voiceovers, independent films. Bower recently cast the hosts for Real Simple, a new PBS TV show based on the magazine. She co-founded Lysistrata Project, a day of 1,029 political play readings in 59 countries in 2003, and spoke about political theater at BAM, Berkely Rep, Washburn Univ., and The Brown Foundation. Bower taught Acting and Voice/Speech, and earned an MFA, at UT Austin. Though still seen on the occasional stage or screen, Bower now focuses on casting and coaching actors. David Gersten & Associates (Press Representatives) is proud to continue our relationship with Mint. DGA currently represents the off-Broadway hits Altar Boyz, The Awesome 80s Prom, We're Still Hot, and Picon Pie. Other current clients include Victoria & Michael Imperioli's Studio Dante, Jean Cocteau Repertory, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Storm Theatre, Edge Theatre Company, The Lucille Lortel Foundation, The Drama League, and The League of Off-Broadway Theatres & Producers' annual Lortel Awards (9th year!), which David also writes and co-produces. David serves on the Board of Governors of ATPAM, the Association of Theatrical Press Agents & Managers.
favorite props she has created: the fruit for a Fruit of the Loom commercial, carousel animals for a production of Joseph…, a macramé ass's head for A Midsummer's Night Dream and a lamb for Winter's Tale. Judi has also designed sets for small theaters from Maine to Washington, DC and in Israel. She was part of the Arad Arts Project in Israel, where she had a one-woman exhibition of her drawings, sculpture and macramé hangings. She is the resident Prop Designer at Mint.
Henry Shaffer (Costume Designer) has designed four previous productions at Mint: The Voysey Inheritance, The Flattering Word, Farewell to the Theatre and The Charity That Began at Home and is pleased to be returning for a fifth. He has designed costumes for The Peterborough Players in New Hampshire, The Walters Gallery of Art in Baltimore and the Studio Theater and The Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. He is an associate professor of theatre at Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts.
Jane Shaw (Sound Designer) Mint: No Time for Comedy. NY: Immediate Theater Company's Lobster Face, Connie Beckley's From, TerraNova's Buck Fever, Urban Stages' Comfort Women, Michael Carson's Jonestown the Musical, Susan Marshall's Sleeping Beauty and Other Stories, LABrynth's Fairytale Project, Michael Greif's Monster, The Pearl's When We Dead Awaken, Imaginary Invalid, and Marriage, Queen's Company's Antony and Cleopatra, NAATCO's Othello (dir. Jonathan Bank), and Big Dance Theater's Plan B, Girl Gone, Simple Heart, Shunkin, Another Telepathic Thing, and Mac Wellman's Antigone. Also: Primary Stages, Classic Stage Company, The Flea, The Kitchen, The Ohio, HERE, and the Performing Garage. Graduate of Yale School of Drama and a native of Lawrence, Kansas.
Ben Stanton (Lighting Designer) OffBroadway: Light Raise the Roof, Bexley, OH!, Throw Pitchfork, Glow & The Loyal Opposition (New York Theater Workshop). Play Yourself (dir. Craig Lucas, Century Center Theater), Fine Noble Gases and The Jimmy McDermott Show (Rattlestick), Chef's Theater (Supper Club), The Triple Happiness (Second Stage), Stone Cold Dead Serious & Life is a Dream (Edge Theater), Chocolate in Heat (The Tank), Somewhere
Someplace Else (Ohio), Reno-Rebel Without a Pause (co-designer, Zipper), I Sing! (Maverick). Regional: The Cook (Hartford Stage), Loot (dir. Craig Lucas, Intiman Theatre), Enchanted April (co-designer, Pasadena Playhouse), Chekhov Cycle (WTF - dirs. Peter Hunt, Olympia Dukakis, Austin Pendleton & Louis Zorich). Ben has designed work for the Opera Company of Brooklyn, Connecticut Grand Opera, The New Jersey Ballet, and concerts for David Byrne. Ben is a NYTW Usual Suspect. Graduate of Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst in Theater and Music.
Samone B. Weissman (Production Stage Manager) Mint: Mr. Pim Passes By, The Truth About Blayds and The Daughter-in-Law. Other N Y: Happy Days, On The Razzle, The Servant of Two Masters, Medea (Jean Cocteau Rep), Hamlet (American Globe), Bold Girls (Women's Expressive Theatre/UrbanStages), Metal (HERE) The Shoebox of Ebbets Field, Out of Sterno (Cherry Lane Alternative), The Last Nickel (2002 NY Int'l Fringe Festival), He Ate the Sun (Manhattan Theatre Source), Self Torture & Strenuous Exercise, The Dadshuttle and Not, Not, Not, Not, Not Enough Oxygen (Drama League DirectorFests 2002, 2003 & 2004), The Gifted Program (OVO/Center Stage), 3 Miracles and a Giant (HERE/Pg. 73 Productions) and Our Sinatra (The Reprise Room). Regional includes: High Dive, Last Train to Nibroc (Miniature Theatre of Chester), Flights of Angels, National Anthems (Emelin Theatre). Special thanks to David.
Dawn Dunlop (Assistant Stage Manager) New York: PA for A Christmas Carol at MSG and Contact - 2nd National Tour. Adjunct company member of TACT/The Actors Co. Theater PSM for 11 productions, PSM for belly: 3 shorts (New Georges). California: SM intern for Disney's The Lion King, intern at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and 4 seasons with Center Repertory Co. She received her BA in Theater at UC Irvine.
Arthur Schnitzler (Playwright, 1862-1931) was one of the most famous of all of the great personalities in Vienna at the turn of the last century. A prolific author, Schnitzler wrote more than twenty prose works including stories, novellas and novels in addition to over twentyfive plays. From before 1900 until 1925,
When I had finished the first draft of the play and Jonathan started to work on it, many emails passed back and forth between us discussing this or that revision. His theatrical sense and feel for what would and what wouldn’t work on stage resolved many issues that I had considered problems. How to translate all those charming but meaningless polite Viennese formulas. Jonathan thought they were repetitious and retarded the action, so he cut them. The characters do sometimes ramble on and on: Jonathan cut these lengthy speeches and condensed them, leaving the meat but trimming the fat. Irene no longer says that Julian looks good “in a grey beard”-what if the actor cast doesn’t have a beard? Sala doesn’t take the cigarette he is offered-his doctor told him not to smoke, and anyway, there are those pesky New York fire laws.
Another issue was how best to translate the strong, negative words spoken in the text. Schnitzler’s German retains many of the juicy words of vituperation that English had in Shakespeare’s day, but which have disappeared today: words that could be translated as scoundrel, rogue, bounder, blackguard, wretch, rascal, villain, cad, knave, wastrel, scamp, good for nothing. All of these would be acceptable translations for the German Lump by which Irene ironically refers to her hypothetical twenty-three year old son were it not that they are archaic. In today’s English, we resort to profanity instead: words like bastard, s.o.b., shithead, or ass. But Irene wouldn’t use such a profanity. I first tried lout as a translation of Lump, but wasn’t really comfortable with that. That’s rather archaic, too. Jonathan suggested brat, which highlights that Irene’s name-calling is affectionate in nature, even though by brat we usually mean a young child. But there are some twentythree year olds who are immature enough to be called brats. Brat reflects what Irene is saying better than lout-and so brat it became.
I very much like the text Jonathan and I have come up with. It is leaner, more direct, less leisurely than Schnitzler’s original German version, but it’s still authentically Schnitzler’s Der einsame Weg. We are plunged into the rich depths of this drama, the emotional tumult below that exquisite and charming Viennese surface. In The Lonely Way, Schnitzler reaches beneath the surface appearances of Viennese middle class life to disclose its predicaments, its longings, despairs, and tragedies.
The cliché that literature is whatever is “lost in translation” shows that we are suspicious of translation as such. As the Italian has it, traduttore-traditore!- “translator-traitor!” We know that words are so deeply embedded in the cultural fabric of the society they express, so inextricably interwoven with the lived reality of the users of the language, that we secretly believe that translation can never really reproduce the original. True. A translation is always a re-creation, not a reproduction, and depends upon the fallible hand of the translator. But that’s the only access we have to an author writing in a foreign language. Sometimes while translating Schnitzler; it seemed to me that his text was a score I was trying to play just as a violinist might play a sonata by Beethoven. And just as different musicians produce different Beethovens and Mozarts though they all play from the same score, my translation of Schnitzler’s works is different from that of others. If we’ve succeeded, our version of The Lonely Way is authentic Schnitzler, and we’ve found, rather than lost, him in translation.
Eric Alperin (Felix) A N.Y.C. native and graduate of the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University (BFA). Credits include: NY: Life During Wartime (OOBR Award), Measure For Measure (NYSF). Regional: Princeton Rep - As You Like It (Touchstone) and King Lear (Edmond). International: Scapin (Edinburgh Festival), Travesties and All's Well That Ends Well (London). Film: Eight (Grand Marnier Award - NY Film Festival), Finding Hermann (Portsmouth and SXSW Film Festivals), The Young American (Cannes Film Festival). TV: Law & Order, Guiding Light, All My Children. He is currently developing film projects with Ricochet Pictures. Special thanks to Mari Lyn Henry and my family.
Lisa Bostnar (Irene) is thrilled to be back at Mint under the direction of Jonathan Bank in another wonderful play by Schnitzler. Mint regulars may have seen Lisa in such roles as Genia in Far and Wide, Olivia in Mr. Pim Passes By, Isobel in The Truth About Blayds, Lily Bart in The House of Mirth, Beatrice in The Voysey Inheritance, and Genevieve in Night Dance. Other New York roles include: Beth in A Lie of The Mind, Kate in The Taming of the Shrew, Liz in Our Country's Good, Desdemona in Othello, and Olivia in Twelfth Night. Lisa has guest starred several times on Law & Order, All My Children, and Another World. Regional favorites include: Cora in Going to St. Ives, Candida in Candida, Dutchess Olga in You Can't Take It With You (starring James Whitmore), and Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
George Morfogen (Professor Wegrat) Mint: The Voysey Inheritance, Farewell To The Theatre, Uncle Bob by Austin Pendleton (also L. A. Drama-Logue Award). Broadway: Fortune's Fool, An Inspector Calls, Arms and The Man, Kingdoms. Off-Broadway: Hamlet, Cymbeline, Henry V, As You Like It, Othello (Public Theater), Hannah and Martin (Epic Theatre Co.), Heartbreak House (The Pearl), Cyrano, Mrs. Warren's Profession starring Uta Hagen (Roundabout), The Disputation (Jewish Rep.), Tamara, Principia Scriptoriae (Manhattan Theatre Club). Regional: Baltimore Center Stage, Long Wharf, Pittsburgh Public, Dallas, Seattle, Arizona, Williamstown (17 seasons). Film: 20 Bucks, The Associate, They All
Laughed (also producer), What's Up Doc? Recent television: Oz (HBO), The Jury (Fox). Fox Fellow, 2000. Brown University, Yale School of Drama.
Ronald Guttman (Julian) began acting at the National Theatre (Brussels) in classics by Camus, O'Neill, Marivaux, Dostoyevsky and, yes, Schnitzler. He came to New York in 1986 to play opposite Annette Bening in Tina Howe's Coastal Disturbances and has gone on to work in motion pictures and television. He has appeared in numerous productions at Classic Stage, Naked Angels, Long Wharf, UBU Rep., Jewish Rep, Drama League and Worth Street. Film credits include: The Tollbooth, The Guru, The Believer, Danton, Hunt for Red October, Avalon and Green Card. Selected television: Benjamin Franklin (PBS), The Beast (NBC), And the Band Played On (HBO), and numerous guest star appearances on episodic TV. He will be seen this spring in Mrs. Harris (HBO feature) with Annette Bening and Ben Kingsley.
Jordan Lage (Sala) Founding member: Atlantic Theater Company. Productions with them include: Sea of Tranquility, The Night Heron, Force Continuum, The Water Engine, This Thing of Darkness, The Hothouse, Mojo, Dangerous Corner, Distant Fires, The Woods, Three Sisters, The Blue Hour. Other offBroadway: The Lights and Boys’ Life (Lincoln Center Theater), Men Without Shadows (Horizon Rep.), Night and Her Stars (MTC). Broadway: Gore Vidal's The Best Man, The Old Neighborhood, Our Town, A Few Good Men (National Tour). Regional: Absolution (A.R.T.), Glengarry Glen Ross (McCarter), Love! Valor! Compassion! (Philadelphia Theatre Co.), She Stoops to Conquer (Delaware Theatre Company). Drama Desk nomination, AUDELCO Award nomination, Barrymore Award.
Bennett Leak (Valet) is thrilled to be making his New York debut in The Lonely Way. Bennett studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and recently graduated with his BFA from Boston University. Favorite shows include Cloud 9, The Grapes of Wrath, And Baby Makes Seven, and Venus. Thank you to my friends & family for your love and support.
Sherry Skinker (Gabriele) Broadway: Dinner at Eight, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, Design for Living. Off-Broadway: Kind Lady, Marching to Georgia. She toured in 13 Rue de L'Amour staring Louis Jourdan and has performed in regional theatres for over 25 years where roles have ranged from Belinda in Noises Off to Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire and recently Ellen in Over the Tavern. She has spent three seasons with Stamford Fringe Festival of New Plays and twenty-four summers with The Totem Pole Playhouse. Film: Once We Were Strangers, Time Away, December Ends, and the voice of Queen Neferkitty in the animated film Moses. Television: The Law and Harry McGraw, One Life to Live, All My Children, several series for PBS and numerous commercials.
Constance Tarbox (Johanna) is thrilled to be making her debut at Mint and wishes to thank Mr. Bank for the fabulous opportunity. Previous work includes acting and/or directing with Theater Faction, Gorilla Rep., Expanded Arts, HERE, Todo Con Nada, and Synapse Productions, among others. Constance is the President of The Faux-Real Theatre Company, with whom she has had the pleasure of performing and directing since 1996. She is currently producing/directing Faux-Real's TITUS!, her musical adaptation of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus.
John Leonard Thompson (Dr. Reumann) just appeared in Sin (A Cardinal Deposed) at The New Group. He has done tons of plays on and off-Broadway, on tour (most recently, The Graduate) internationally and at many theatres across the U.S., including Seattle Rep, The Old Globe and the McCarter. At Arena Stage he collaborated with Garland Wright on The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky and Southern Ladies and Gentlemen. Film: Guarding Tess, Killer and Soho, They Call It. Television: Law & Order, Third Watch, The Cheever Stories, A Woman Named Jackie, America's Most Wanted and Sesame Street.
Jonathan Bank (Director and co-translator) Under Bank's leadership, Mint has been awarded both an Obie and a Drama Desk in the last three years. Bank has unearthed and produced more than two dozen worthy but neglected plays including Echoes of the War by J.M. Barrie, The
Daughter-In-Law by D. H. Lawrence and Arthur Schnitzler's Far and Wide which he adapted and directed. He is the editor of Worthy But Neglected: Plays of the Mint Theater Company which includes his adaptations of Thomas Wolfe's Welcome to Our City and Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, both of which he directed at Mint, along with five other Mint rediscoveries. Bank directed Othello for the National Asian American Theater Company, John Brown's Body, The Double Bass and Three Days of Rain for the Miniature Theater of Chester and Candida and Mr. Pim Passes By for the Peterborough Players. He earned his M.F.A. from Case Western Reserve University in his hometown of Cleveland, OH.
Vicki R. Davis (Set Designer) Mint: Echoes of the War, Far and Wide, Welcome to Our City, The Voysey Inheritance, Miss Lulu Bett, August Snow & Night Dance, The House of Mirth, The Time of Your Life, and costumes for Pericles. Upcoming projects include Bach at Leipzig (Milwaukee Repertory Theater). NYC-Scenery: A Novel Romance, Songs of Paradise, An American Family, and Yoshke Muzicant (Folksbiene Yiddish Theater). 'Til The Rapture Comes (WPA). Richard III, Black Mask (The Ontological). Costumes: Adobe's Meanwhile on the Other Side of Mt. Vesuvious, Andre Serbans's Caucasian Chalk Circle at LaMama, American Silents (dir. Anne Bogart), O'Neill (Blue Heron). Off-Broadway: The Occupation, Slasher, Out to Lunch, Relative Values. Regional: Arena Stage, Alliance Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, Madison Repertory Theater, Utah Opera Co, Lyric Opera of Kansas City,Starlight in Kansas City, Georgia Shakespeare Festival, Utah Shakespearean Festival, Barter Theatre, Capital Repertory Theatre, The Miniature Theatre of Chester, Music Theatre North, Passages, Theatre of the Stars, Boston Lyric Opera, Lake George Opera Festival. TCG/NEA Design Fellow. Member USA Local 829. Judi Guralnick (Prop Designer) is the Prop Shop Supervisor for the Conservatory of Theater Arts and Film at Purchase College, and freelances in the NY and Connecticut areas. She spent five years as Prop Designer at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, and many summers at Maine State Music Theater. Some