A Picture of Autumn Newsletter

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Next at the Mint... A PICTURE OF AUTUMN by N.C. Hunter May 23rd- July 14th FPC Hotline: (212) 315-0231 Fax: (212) 977-5211 Address: 311 W. 43rd St. Suite 307 New York, NY 10036 Box Office: Mon.- Sat Noon-6pm Sun.- Noon-3pm Performances: Tues., Wed., Thurs. 7pm Friday & Saturday 8pm Saturday & Sunday 2pm *Wed Matinee: 6/5, 7/3 *No Performances: 6/4, 6/11, 7/2

Full Price: $55 FPC Price: $38.50 (Use Code: FPC) CheapTix: $27.50 (when available) www.mintheater.org

NEXT AT THE MINT

A Picture of Autumn by N.C Hunter

directed by Gus Kaikkonen

May 23rd - July 14th When Robert Denham returns to his family home he finds his aging parents, uncle and eccentric old nurse living in disarray. The garden is overgrown, the curtains are worn and the floors are riddled with dry rot. When an opportunity to sell the burdensome property arrives, Robert leaps at the chance to help his family relocate— if only they can make up their minds to leave! 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. An independent producing society, the Repertory Players offered new plays on Sunday “dark” nights at West End Theatres. By the time they presented AUTUMN, the Repertory Players were celebrating their thirtieth anniversary and had staged over 190 plays, 62 of which were picked up and produced elsewhere—32 of these on the West End. They were “the oldest and most successful of the surviving Sunday play-producing societies” (The Times.) A PICTURE OF AUTUMN was no less successful in the impression it made on London’s theater critics. N.C. Hunter’s sensitive and humorous depiction of old-age was likened by The Times to “a contemporary version of The Cherry Orchard…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 echoed the acclaim: “Mr. Hunter’s treatment is ingenious, his characterization clear and firm, and a mood of far-away things kept alive in memory well conveyed.” Unfortunately, no West End production of the play followed. Instead, 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. The play received a magnificent production with a star-studded cast and ran for over two years on the West End, making its author a household name for a brief time. Meanwhile, A PICTURE OF AUTUMN was nearly forgotten. Though it remains less famous than Hunter’s Waters of the Moon, A Day by the Sea and A Touch of the Sun—all of which dominated the West End Stage throughout the fifties—it is surely the play that introduced him as “a writer who brought a new tone and unfamiliar nuances into the English theatre” (The Times, 1971). Mint Theater Company is proud to finally give N.C. Hunter’s delightful comedy its full due. A PICTURE OF AUTUMN will receive its American premiere with performances running from May 23rd through July 14th.

Jill Tanner, pictured above in Mary Broome will play Lady Margaret. George Morfogen and Jonathan Hogan, pictured left in Mint’s 2007 production of The Madras House will be reunited in A Picture of Autumn.


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