Jo n a t h a n B a n k ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Sherri Kotimsky GENERAL MANAGER
NEW ENGLISH VERSION AND DIRECTION BY
Martin Platt
VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO
Heather Randall Chairman and Director
Mint Theater is exceedingly grateful and honored to have been chosen to receive the 2007 $100,000 grant for this production. 2007 Tony Randall Theatrical Grant Selection Committee
Jed Bernstein Steve Buscemi Charles Busch Michael Cerveris Cherry Jones
Jack Klugman Michael Mastro Marian Seldes Gary Springer Ben Vereen
The dramatic literature from every country, beginning with Greece, is our heritage. It is not to be read; it is to be seen on stage. Most Americans know little of it. This is our challenge, our duty, and our mission in life – to bring live theatre to our city & country at a price Tony Randall, 1999 which families can afford.
Mint Theater Company
Jonathan Bank, Artistic Director Sherri Kotimsky, General Manager presents
THE POWER OF DARKNESS by
Leo Tolstoy
with Mark Alhadeff, Lisa Altomare, Jennifer Bissell, Steve Brady, Peter Bretz, Randy Danson, Matthew A.J. Gregory, Letitia Lange, Anne Letscher, Peter Levine, Angela Reed, Jeff Steitzer, Alok Tewari, Goldie Zwiebel
Sets
Costumes
Bill Clarke
Holly Poe Durbin Music
Lights
Jeff Nellis
Props
Ellen Mandel
Scott Brodsky
Stage Manager
Assistant Stage Manager
Allison Deutsch Press Representative
Lyndsey Goode Graphics
David Gersten & Associates Jude Dvorak New English Version and Direction by
Martin Platt Opening night September 24, 2007
The Power of Darkness 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.
THE POWER OF DARKNESS by Leo
Tolstoy
“ If the claw is caught the bird is lost” CAST Pyotr Ignatich Anisya, his second wife Akulina his daughters by his first wife Anyutka Marfa, Pyotr’s sister MitriTch, an old soldier
Peter Bretz* ANGELA REED* ANNE LETSCHER* JENNIFER BISSELL GOLDIE ZWIEBEL JEFF STEITZER*
Nikita, Pyotr’s hired man Akim, his father Matryona, his mother
MARK ALHADEFF* STEVE BRADY* RANDY DANSON*
Marina, an orphan girl Semyon, later, her husband
LETITIA LANGE* Alok Tewari*
Mavra, a neighbor A Police Officer Pavlovich, Akulina’s bridegroom Ivan, his father Anna, his mother
LISA ALTOMARE* Peter Bretz*
}
MATTHEW A.J. GREGORY PETER LEVINE* GOLDIE ZWIEBEL
* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
The action of the play takes place in the village of Tula, Russia, in 1886 and 1887. ACT ONE Scene 1: Autumn. Interior of Pyotr and Anisya’s large peasant hut. Scene 2: Months later. Their yard and root cellar. Scene 3: Months later. Winter. The interior of the hut. -- intermission -ACT TWO: Scene 1: Months later. An Autumn evening. The yard and root cellar. Scene 2: A few weeks later. Outside the hut and threshing barn. Scene 3: Immediately after. The interior of the hut.
NOTES ON THE PLAY The play is based on the trial of a peasant of the province of Tula (where Yasnaya Polyana, the Tolstoy estate is located) named Efrem Koloskov, which took place in the Tula District Court, October 21, 1880. Tolstoy’s close friend N.V. Davydov, the court prosecutor, told him about the crime. Tolstoy started work on the play in October 1886 after he had received a letter from M.V. Lentovsky, organizer of the Moscow National Theatre, asking him to help set up a theatre for producing “popular and universally accessible plays.” THE POWER OF DARKNESS was his response to this request. In November 1886, Tolstoy submitted his manuscript to the “spiritual censorship” (dukhovnaia tsentsura), who refused to grant permission for either performance or publication of the play as written—each license was handled by a separate authority. “The whole of Act IV,” one censor wrote, “is unlike anything that ever appeared on the stage…You need nerves of steel to withstand it.” In December, Tolstoy completed rewriting the last half of Act IV and his friends began a campaign to see the censor’s ban lifted. The actor Stakhovich gave private readings of the play for members of the aristocracy, and eventually for Tsar Alexander, using the revised fourth act. The Tsar was so moved and impressed that he was prepared to support an Imperial production, but later his religious advisor wrote urging him to reconsider. This advisor had read the play with horror—it had been published with both variations of Act IV in February, and his letter caused the Tsar to withdraw his backing and stop a planned production which was about to begin rehearsals in St. Petersburg. The play received its World Premiere in Paris in 1888, in the second season of André Antoine’s Théâtre-Libre, where it was performed using Tolstoy’s original Act IV, which we also use in our production. The play was performed across Europe after the Paris production, in Geneva, Amsterdam, Milan, Rome, Turin, Venice, Genoa, Berlin and finally, in September 1895, shortly after Tsar Alexander’s death, a license was granted for a production in Russia. Actor Jacob Adler had a New York hit in 1904 with his own Yiddish translation—the first successful production of a Tolstoy play in the United States—and in 1920 the Theatre Guild presented the English-language premiere on Broadway—although they omitted the play’s second act entirely and employed the alternate fourth act. Alexander Woollcott, writing for The New York Times, described the text as “somewhat softened and greatly abbreviated,” but still commended the production and applauded the “earnest and determined Theatre Guild” for bringing it to life. With thanks to F.D. Reeve and Jefferson Gattrall
MARK ALHADEFF (Nikita): Rearview Mirror (Carl Forman, dir.), Bigger Man (Partial Comfort), The Pagans (Abington), Rum & Vodka (ohio theater). Regional: performed at Seattle Rep, Berkeley Rep, and the McCarter in Mary Zimmerman’s Secret in the Wings, and The Odyssey, young Houseman in the east coast premier of The Invention of Love at the Wilma Theatre, dir. by Blanka Zizka (Barrymore award nomination). Other theatres include Cincinnati Playhouse, Pittsburgh Public, Dorset Theatre Festival, New Jersey Shakespeare Festival. TV & Film: “Law & Order”, “Daily Pops”, “Middle Class Poverty”, “Monday Night Mayhem”, “Paper Covers Rock”, and “Lock” (premiered at 2007 Tribeca Film Festival). Mark will donate a portion of each paycheck to StopGlobalwarming. org. This performance is for Lauren.
BIOGRAPHIES
LISA ALTOMARE (Mavra) makes her Mint Theater debut. In New York, the world premieres of God Hates the Irish: the Ballad of Armless Johnny at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Baltimore Star at Hudson Stage Company and Last Chance of Happiness at T. Schreiber Studio. Additionally in New York: Young Playwright’s Fesival, Chekov Now Festival, The Brothers Karamazov at the Culture Project, Serious Fun! At Lincoln Center, Martin Guerre at New Dramatisits, The Normal Heart at the Clark Studio Theater, The Beauty Part at the Bank Street Theater and numerous mad-cap musicals downtown with Hairspray’s Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. Regional: A Christmas Carol at the McCarter Theater, HayFever at Baltimore’s CENTERSTAGE, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at Fleetwood Stage, Escape From Happiness at the Schoolhouse Theater. Films include “Hysterical Blindness,” “You Can Count on Me,” “The Road to Wellville,” “Marvins Room,” “Blue Moon,” “Kill by inches,” “The Color of Truth,” and “Whirlygirl.” Television: guest appearances on “Law & Order,” “Ed,” “100 Centre Street,” “Chappelle’s Show,” and “The Sopranos.” She is a graduate of New York’s Performing Arts High School and SUNY Purchase School of the Arts. Lisa will be seen in the upcoming film “The Chosen One” with Rob Schneider. Proud 20 year member of actor’s Equity. JENNIFER BISSELL (Anyutka) New York City Debut! Regional: Aspects of Love (Jenny) at The Media Theatre; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (Lucy) at Prince Music Theater. Other favorites include The Mikado (Yum Yum); Durang’s Medea (Medea); Sleeping Beauty (Princess Briar Rose). Current sophomore at NYU Tisch CAP 21, also trained at British American Drama Academy Midsummer in Oxford. Graduate of Shipley School—Bryn
Mawr, PA. Thanks to Noble Talent, Forrest McClendon, Russell Faith; most of all Mom and Dad. STEVE BRADY (Akim) has performed on Broadway, Inherit the Wind, and Off-Broadway, Poor Beast in the Rain, Irish Arts; and at the Broadway Playhouse, The Elephant Man, in Los Angeles. In National Tours, The Exonerated with Lynn Redgrave and Robin Williams; and in National Parks- no work, just like going to them, and King O’ The Moon, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. From Canada, Enigma Variations, with Donald Sutherland, to La Cañada, A Christmas Carol. At the Papermill, Diary of Anne Frank, and at Mill Mountain, Proof, Summer of ’42. In D.C., String Fever at Theater J (Helen Hayes Nomination) to Spin at the Wilma, in Philadelphia PA. From the Gateway, The Fantastics, Urinetown, to the Gateway to the West, 1776. Stages, St. Louis. Somehow, it’s all connected! TV includes The “Law & Orders,’” “Letterman,” “Spin City,” “Seinfeld,” “Beverly Hills 90210,” and watching way too much. Steve lives three blocks from here with his rabbit-eared TV & life size poster of John Wayne. Thanks S. and AEA. Peter Bretz (pyotr / Police Officer) New York theatre includes work at Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Pearl Theatre Co., and Ubu Rep. Regional Theatre: Cincinnati Playhouse, St. Louis Rep., Papermill Playhouse, Denver Theatre Center, George Street Playhouse, Indianna Rep., Tennessee Rep., Delaware Theatre Co., and Arkansas Rep. Peter trained with and was a company member of the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. Television: “The Sopranos,” “Third Watch” and “Ghost Stories.” RANDY DANSON (Matryona) is making her Mint Theater debut. Recently she appeared on Broadway in Wonderful Town and as Amanda in The Glass Menagerie at Actor’s Theatre of Louisville. Other roles include Vivian in Wit at the Philadelphia Theatre Company for which she won the Barrymore Award and the title role in The Good Person of Szechuan at the Arena Stage for which she won the Helen Hayes Award. She has appeared on television in various “Law and Order’s,” “Conviction,” on PBS in “The Prince of Homburg” and in the filmed version of “Blue Window” as Libby, a role she originated on stage. She was in Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ” and several features of independent filmmaker, Mark Rappaport, including “The Scenic Route”, an award winner at the British Film Institute. In 1992 she was awarded an Obie for Sustained
Excellence. She designs and makes jewelry for her company Maiden Lane. www.roxlane.com MATTHEW A.J. GREGORY (Bridegroom) As an actor and a costume designer, Matthew has worked on and off Broadway, and in venues across the country. He has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Saratoga Shakespeare Company, and Capital Rep. His designs have been seen at the Juilliard School, the Village Theatre in Seattle and the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. Matthew has also worked as a costume artisan on various films including “XMen”, “How The Grinch Stole Christmas”, and “Charlie’s Angels”. As an educator, Matthew has taught at Adelphi University, SUNY Albany and Siena College. Matthew holds his M.F.A. from the UCLA School of Theatre, Film and Television. He would like to thank the Mint Theater for the opportunity to be a part of this challenging production. LETITIA LANGE (Marina) is thrilled to be working with the Mint Theater for the first time. She has just come back to New York after traveling the country with the National Tour of Doubt. She is a recent graduate of the MFA program at Rutgers University, and received her BA in Theater Arts from Penn State. Favorite roles include Miranda in Tempest, Phoebe in As You Like It, and Maggie in Lovers by Brian Friel. She would like to thank all the everyday angels in her life who keep her afloat, they know who they are. ANNE LETSCHER (Akulina) is excited to be at the Mint Theater working on some Tolstoy. Since graduating from Ithaca College she’s spent lots of time in Russian shows. Besides Power of Darkness she was in Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway and regionally she did a cycle of Chekhov plays that included Uncle Vanya (Sonya), The Cherry Orchard (Anya), and Three Sisters (Natasha) with Olympia Dukakis. Other credits include: War in Paramus (Thelma) directed by Austin Pendleton, Princesses (Camille) at Goodspeed and The 5th Ave, national tour Annie (Star-to-Be) dir. by Martin Charnin, and Henry Sweet Henry (Val) at the York Theatre. I’m super thankful for my family and friends, Peter, God, and esp. my little nephew Liam!
ANGELA REED (Anisya) Mint Theater: The Madras House, The Daughter-in-Law, Miss Lulu Bett. Additional NY credits: He and She (TACT), Therèse Raquin (Classic Stage Company), and standing by for Lizzie in The Rainmaker on Broadway. Regional: Rabbit Hole (Cleveland Play House), Olly’s Prison (ART), After Ashley (Denver Center), Camille (Round House), Wilder Short Plays (Baltimore Center Stage), The Real Thing and Crimes of the Heart (Syracuse Stage), Three Sisters (Shakespeare Theatre of NJ), as well as work at La Jolla Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, St. Louis Rep, Coconut Grove, Indiana Rep, Merrimack Rep, Santa Fe Stages and numerous productions at Actors Theatre of Louisville including How I Learned to Drive, Angels in America, Othello, and The Triumph of Love. Television & Film: “Law & Order”, “L & O: Criminal Intent”, “Third Watch”, “The Girl in the Park”. This past summer Angela had the pleasure of performing with her husband, Todd Cerveris, in Talley’s Folly at the Dorset Theatre Festival in Vermont. JEFF STEITZER (Mitritch) recently made his Broadway debut as the Mayor in Inherit The Wind, with Christopher Plummer and Brian Dennehy. He has been seen regionally at the Old Globe, Seattle Rep., Arizona Theatre Co., Intiman Theatre, Long Wharf, Yale Rep., GEVA Theatre, among others. He has also been seen in films (“Georgia,” “The Beans Of Egypt,” “Maine,” “Delivered,” “Nowheresville”), on TV (“Law & Order,” “The Fugitive”) and heard on dozens of voiceovers for commercials and CD-Rom games (most notably as the Voice of God Mutliplayer Announcer on all three HALO games for Microsoft XBox). He is also a busy director who has directed over 150 professional productions over the years. He is the proud father of Caitlin and Ben.
BIOGRAPHIES
PETER LEVINE (Ivan) Back in Brooklyn after thirty years in Michigan, Peter spent July playing Willie Clark in The Sunshine Boys in Mt. Gretna, Pa.. New York credits include The Madwoman of Chaillot (with Anne Jackson, Alvin Epstein, Kim Hunter), The Front Page (Walter Burns), and Brecht’s The Private Life of the Master Race, in which he played nine
roles. He is a member of Emerging Artists Theatre (EAT) and has appeared for them in numerous plays. EAT also produced his first full-length play, The Kitchen Table, in 2006, and this Fall is producing The Gipper. Regional credits include Art (Mark), Angels in America (Roy Cohn), Indians (Buffalo Bill), and Inherit the Wind (Brady), Barefoot in the Park (Velasco), and Death and the Maiden (Gerardo). In his former life, Peter wrote A.G. Spalding and the Rise of Baseball; Ellis Island to Ebbets Field: Sport and the American Jewish Experience; Idols of the Game (with Robert Lipsyte); and a novel, The Rabbi of Swat. He lives in Brooklyn, with his wife, Gale, and only a block away from their daughter, Ruth, son-in-law, Matt, and most especially, from his grandchildren, Lily and Ben.
Alok Tewari (Semyon) Credits include: Theatre: Betrothed (Ripe Time); Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (Lark Play Development Center); Fear Up - Guantanamo (NY Fringe 2006); India Awaiting (Immediate Vision, NYC); The American Revolution (Inverse Theater); On the Origin of Darwin (Inverse Theater); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Stuart Vaughan (White Barn/Lucille Lortel); The Merry Wives of Windsor (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival); Henry VI, Part I (ATWT); Measure for Measure (APAC); Chaos Theory (AlterEgo/ Here) and Marco Polo (The Group - Argentina). Television: “Law & Order;” “L&O: Criminal Intent;” “L&O: SVU.” Training: Public Theatre’s Shakespeare Lab; Actors Studio Drama School MFA. GOLDIE ZWIEBEL (Marfa / Anna) Goldie studied at the Michael Howard Studio and is currently studying with Jen Krater and Brad Calcaterra at the Sally Jonhson Studio. She studied and performed improv at Chicago City Limits and the People’s Improv Theater in New York, is a Voice Over artist, a writer and a character and dramatic actor who has played a wide variety of roles in film and on stage. She originated the roles of Sadie Cohen in The Lower East Side Project (George Street Playhouse) and Sylvia Minkoff in The Bronx Balmers (Turtle Shell Theater), was Charlotta in The Cherry Orchard (Phare Play Productions) and is developing a one woman performance piece. Goldie thanks her kids, her parents, her friends, her teachers, the writer, director and cast of this play for the opportunity to be doing what she loves.
BIOGRAPHIES
LEO TOLSTOY (Playwright) Count Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born in Tula Guberniya, central Russia, to an aristocratic family in 1828. Considered by many to be the father of the realist novel, Tolstoy is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s greatest fiction writers, thanks in part to his masterpieces Anna Karenina and War and Peace (Voina i mir). While remembered primarily as a novelist today, Tolstoy was perhaps the single most influential thinker of nineteenth century Russia. It was not until after his service in the Russian army as a young man that he reached renown as an author, greatly drawing upon his experiences in battle. He relocated to St. Petersburg in 1855 where he published several short stories and developed friendships with prominent literary figures Turnegev and Chernyshevsky. It was during this stay in St. Petersburg that he was most prolific, penning a great majority of his fictional works including War and Peace and
Anna Karenina. The success of these writings was unprecedented, acclaimed as two of the greatest examples of the novel genre. Yet it was during these successes that he experienced a profound spiritual shift, looking to criticism of social life rather than creative writing. In an astonishing move, he turned his back on his fortune in exchange for a return to country life, where he lived with the Russian peasantry. It was during his return to humble living that he questioned the institution of organized religion and eventually published a series of works directly criticizing the tenets of the Russian Orthodoxy. He reinterpreted the Old Testament in his Union and Translations of the Four Gospels (1892-1894) and in What I Believe (1884). In Tolstoy’s revisionist Christianity, Christ emerges as a teacher rather than incarnation of the Divine; Tolstoy was excommunicated from the Orthodox Church in 1901 for heresy. Yet despite his dismissal from the Church, he became a de-facto figurehead for socio-political change across the globe. Tolstoy died in 1910; despite his radical views, the czar declared a day of mourning upon his death. MARTIN PLATT (New English Version and Direction) Previously for the Mint Theater: D.H. Lawrence’s The Daughter-in-Law and St. John Ervine’s John Ferguson. His directing work in New York has also included the off- Broadway productions of Sallie Bingham’s Treason and the Jon Marans/Ed Thomas musical Irrationals. He has also directed for The Huntington Theatre Company (Boston), Cincinnati Playhouse, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Meadowbrook Theatre, Playmakers Repertory, the Asolo Theatre, the Alliance Theatre Company (Atlanta), Merrimack Repertory Theatre, and the Court Theatre (Chicago). Mr Platt was founding artistic director of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival where he directed over 50 productions during an 18 year tenure; General Director of Birmingham Opera Theatre; and founding artistic director of Santa Fe Stages, an international performance festival. From 1991-2001 he was co-director of Fifth Amendment Productions Ltd UK (London), producing and/or directing over fifty productions, including work from South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Haiti, Australia, and New Zealand. His opera productions have included Tosca, La Fille Du Regiment, La Traviata and La Tragedie de Carmen. As a producer, the South African dance show Gumboots toured the world for over five years. His overseas directing work has included the UK Tour of Janet Suzman in The Free State, Lady Day at
Emersons Bar and Grill and Miss Evers Boys in London and on tour in the UK; Doubt in Vienna; and Don Juan Flamenco in Seville. In New York his producing work has included Shylock, the Obie Award Winning An Oak Tree, and Bebe Neuwirth in Here Lies Jenny. Immediately after this production opens at the Mint, Mr. Platt will be directing Doubt in Salt Lake City, and a new play A Dangerous Personality, off-Broadway. As co-director of Perry Street Theatre Company, he is working on a major revival of a Gershwin musical, and a new Australian Play. Mr. Platt lives in Manhattan, and when not directing, producing, or at the opera, can be found at Madison Square Garden watching the New York Rangers. BILL CLARKE (Sets) is happy to return to the Mint after John Ferguson last season and 2003’s The Daughter-In-Law, both directed by Martin Platt. He designed A Walk In The Woods on Broadway, abroad in Moscow and Vilnius, and on television for American Playhouse; at City Center he designed the new musical Abby’s Song. Off-Broadway work includes the recent Perry Street Theater production of Treason, Drama Dept’s June Moon, Queens Blvd, Disappearing Act, Ann Magnuson’s You Could Be Home Now (NYSF), Keith Reddin’s The Innocents Crusade (MTC), Alan Havis’ Morocco (WPA), and The Cherry Orchard (Juilliard). He works extensively in regional theaters including Seattle Rep, Old Globe, Alley Theatre, Denver Center, the Huntington, A.R.T., Coconut Grove, Pittsburgh Public, Berkshire Theater Festival, McCarter, Milwaukee Rep and Cincinnati Playhouse. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and a recipient of a Hollywood DramaLogue Award and a San Diego Theater Critics Circle Award.
Holly Poe Durbin (Costumes) is an award winning costume designer for theater,
Ellen Mandel (Music) has composed music for over forty plays including The Voysey Inheritance, Welcome to Our City, and The Flattering Word, at the Mint, and Rough Crossing, Oedipus Rex, The Cure at Troy and many others for the Jean Cocteau Rep., where she was Resident Composer. Other productions include Candida, Macbeth and Richard III for Riverside Shakespeare, On the Verge and The Trial for Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, Peter Pan and Twelfth Night for the Asolo, and many plays for the Peterborough Players, Arkansas Rep., and others. She has written five film scores, and released three CDs: Every Play’s an Opera, her theatre music; a wind has blown the rain away, her E.E. Cummings songcycle; and the first of all my dreams, new songs with lyrics by Cummings, Seamus Heaney and others. Dizzy Gillespie called her a “wonderful musician.” Scott Brodsky (Props) is a Prop Coordinator and Designer working in New York City and the metro area. Scott has worked with New York City Opera, Center Theater Group, Signature Theater, The New Group and Bard Music Festival’s Summerscape. He has also toured nationally with The Acting Company and continues to work on projects for CBS, Warner Brothers, and Showtime. Scott is pleased to return to The Mint.
BIOGRAPHIES
Jeff Nellis (Lights) Broadway: Prymate. Off Broadway: Tryst (NY Outer Critics Circle Nomination), The Milliner, John Ferguson, Treason, Flight, Shylock, From Door to Door, Zanna Don’t!, The Daughter-In-Law, One Shot One Kill, Cobb, Our Sinatra, The Devils Music, The It Girl, and My Italy Story. Regional: Hartford Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Alley Theatre, TheaterWorks, North Shore Musical Theatre, Bay Street Theatre, Florida Stage, Madison Rep., City Theatre Company, Trinity Repertory Theatre, Adirondack Theatre Festival, Los Angeles Opera, Connecticut Grand Opera. Upcoming: Centerstage, Walnut Street Theatre, and The Repertory Theatre of Saint Louis.
opera, film and themed entertainment. She is extremely pleased to return to the Mint Theater where she designed costumes for The Daughter-In-Law. Recent projects include the LA TheatreWorks national tours of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, and The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial and Ceely’s Circus, a video game for children. Regional and West Coast theater credits include SkyGirls, Time Flies, An Infinite Ache and Beyond Therapy for the Old Globe Theater, the Mark Taper Forum and the London West End premiere of Chekhov’s The Wood Demon, The Cherry Orchard, Collected Stories, The Berlin Chalk Circle for the Evidence Room Theater, The Winters Tale for the Missouri Rep., Much Ado About Nothing for Shakespeare LA, and Falstaff for Royce Hall in Los Angeles. TV work includes PBS’s Coronado: Building a Dream, pilot Make Room for Daddy, and cable series Last Chance. Independent film work includes “In Pursuit,” “Movie Magic” with Steven Spielberg for Universal Studios, and “Trust” for HBO. Previous collaborations with Martin Platt include Don Juan Flamenco in Seville, Spain, Cabaret Verboten for the Huntington Theater, Le Tragedie de Carmen for Santa Fe Stages and Miss Evers Boys for the Cincinnati Playhouse.
Allison Deutsch (Production Stage Manager) is thrilled to be back at the Mint Theater where she previously stage managed The Madras House, Far and Wide, No Time for Comedy, The Voysey Inheritance, Miss Lulu Bett, and August Snow & Night Dance. Other NY credits include: I Can Get it For You Wholesale and The Great Big Radio Show (York Theatre); Pentecost (The Barrow Group); Havana Under the Sea and Nuyorican Voices (INTAR); Down South (Rattlestick Theatre); An American Family and Songs of Paradise (Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre). Regional credits include: Gem of the Ocean (Geva Theatre Center), Trying (Ford’s Theatre), and six seasons at The Peterborough Players where she stage managed twenty- two shows including: The Heiress, Last 5 Years, Tuesdays with Morrie, Inherit the Wind, Cookin’ at the Cookery, Laughing Stock, The Glass Menagerie, Mr. Pim Passes By, and People Like Us. Proud member of Actors’ Equity Association. LYNDSEY GOODE (Assistant Stage Manager) NY Credits: Fate’s Imagination, Becoming Adele (Gotham Stage), Victoria Martin: Math Team Queen (Women’s Project), New Work Now & Arab/Israeli Festival (Public/NYTW), Tale of 2 Cities (PS122/UCLALive), Have a Nice Life (NYMF), School of the Americas (LAByrinth/ Public), I Love You Because (Village Theater), In the Continuum, WARPlay, Beckett in the Bronx (Mud/Bone), The Tempest (Resonance Ensemble), Sunfish (NYU), The Expense of Spirit (International WOW), Legends of Motor City (Big Fish Concerts); Regional: The Interview (Chester Theater), Ragtime (Papermill), The Food Chain (The Old Globe), The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (South Coast Rep), Just So (NSMT), Opera Pacific, Musical Theatre West, Lamb’s Players Theatre. Member of Gotham Stage and Coyote REP. Graduate of UC-Irvine (MFA) & Abilene Christian Univ.
BIOGRAPHIES
Stuart Howard, AMY SCHECTER & PAUL HARDT (Casting) have cast hundreds of shows over the past 25 years. Among their favorites are: Broadway: Gypsy (Tyne Daly), Chicago (Bebe Neuwirth, Ann Reinking), Sly Fox (Richard Dreyfuss), Fortune’s Fool (Alan Bates, Frank Langella) & the original La Cage Aux Folles. Off Broadway: I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change & The Normal Heart. Happily casting for The Mint for the past 2 seasons. DAVID GERSTEN & ASSOCIATES (Press Representatives) also represents the OffBroadway hits Altar Boyz (3rd year - NYC and National Tour), Naked Boys Singing! (ninth full frontal year!), and The Awesome 80s Prom
(3rd year NYC, Chicago). Other current clients include New World Stages, Red Bull, Ensemble Studio Theatre, York Theater, The Lucille Lortel Foundation, and The League of Off-Broadway Theatres & Producers’ annual Lortel Awards, which David also writes and co-produces. David Gersten is Associate Producer of the new Off-Broadway hit, My First Time at New World Stages; previously, he produced the acclaimed Tea at Five starring Kate Mulgrew as Katharine Hepburn as well as the musicals Dr Sex and Eleanor & Hick. SHERRI KOTIMSKY (General Manager) Produced for Naked Angels: Meshugah, Tape, Shyster, Omnium Gatherum, Fear: The Issues Project and several seasons of workshops and readings. As Naked Angels Managing Director, Hesh and Snakebit. Produced Only the End of the World and Blood Orange. For two years Theatre Manager for the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace University, home to National Actors Theatre, Tribeca Film and Theatre Festivals, River to River Festival and the Carol Tambor Awards 2005 productions, amongst many others. Currently working with several theater companies as business consultant. JONATHAN BANK (Artistic Director) has been the artistic director of Mint since 1996 where he has unearthed and produced dozens of lost or neglected plays, many of which he has also directed. Most recently at the Mint, Bank directed The Return of the Prodigal by St. John Hankin and before that, Susan and God by Rachel Crothers. Bank both adapted and directed Arthur Schnitzler’s Far and Wide and The Lonely Way which he also co-translated (with Margaret Schaefer). These two plays were published in a volume entitled Arthur Schnitzler Reclaimed which Bank edited. He is also the editor of two additional volumes in the “Reclaimed” series (Harley Granville Barker and St. John Hankin) as well as 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, along with five other Mint rediscoveries. Other directing credits include critically acclaimed productions of Ivanov and 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 The Heiress, Hobson’s Choice, 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.
ABOUT THE MINT THEATER Mint Theater Company produces worthwhile plays from the past that have been lost or forgotten. These neglected plays offer special and specific rewards; it is our mission to bring new vitality to these plays and to foster new life for them. Under the leadership of Jonathan Bank as Artistic Director, Mint has secured a place in the crowded theatrical landscape of New York City. We have received Special Obie and Drama Desk Awards recognizing the importance of our mission and our success in fulfilling it. The Wall Street Journal describes Mint as “one of the most consistently interesting companies in town.” Our process of excavation, reclamation and preservation makes an important contribution to the art form and its enthusiasts. Scholars have the chance to come into contact with historically significant work that they’ve studied on the page but never experienced on the stage. Local theatergoers have the opportunity to see plays that would otherwise be unavailable to them, while theatergoers elsewhere may also have that opportunity in productions inspired by our success. Important plays with valuable lessons to teach—plays that have been discarded or ignored—are now read, studied, performed, discussed, written about and enjoyed as a result of our work. Educating our audience about the context in which a play was originally created and how it was first received is an essential part of what we do. Our “Surround Events” enrich the experience of our audience and help to foster an ongoing dialogue around a play— post-performance discussions feature world class scholars discussing complex topics in an accessible way and are always free and open to the general public.
1999-2000 THE VOYSEY INHERITANCE By Harley Granville Barker ALISON’S HOUSE By Susan Glaspell MISS LULU BETT By Zona Gale 2000-2001 WELCOME TO OUR CITY By Thomas Wolfe THE FLATTERING WORD & A FAREWELL TO THE THEATRE By George Kelly & Harley Granville Barker
DIANA OF DOBSON’S By Cecily Hamilton 2001-2002 RUTHERFORD AND SON By Githa Sowerby NO TIME FOR COMEDY By S.N. Behrman 2002-2003 THE CHARITY THAT BEGAN AT HOME By St. John Hankin FAR AND WIDE By Arthur Schnitzler THE DAUGHTER-IN-LAW By D.H. Lawrence 2003-2004 MILNE AT THE MINT Two Plays by A.A. Milne ECHOES OF THE WAR By J.M. Barrie 2004-2005 THE LONELY WAY By Arthur Schnitzler THE SKIN GAME By John Galsworthy 2005-2006 WALKING DOWN BROADWAY By Dawn Powell SOLDIER’S WIFE By Rose Franken SUSAN AND GOD By Rachel Crothers 2006-2007 JOHN FERGUSON By St. John Ervine THE MADRAS HOUSE By Harley Granville Barker RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL By St. John Hankin
ABOUT THE MINT
We not only produce lost plays, but we are also their advocates. We publish our work and distribute our books, free of charge to libraries, theaters and universities. Our catalog of books now includes an anthology of seven plays entitled Worthy but Neglected: Plays of the Mint Theater plus three volumes in our “Reclaimed” series, each featuring the work of a single author: Harley Granville Barker, St. John Hankin and Arthur Schnitzler.
1995-1998 QUALITY STREET By J.M. Barrie MR. PIM PASSES BY By A.A. Milne UNCLE TOM’S CABIN By George Aiken THE HOUSE OF MIRTH By Edith Wharton & Clyde Fitch
The following generous Individuals, Foundations, and Corporations support the Mint Theater, and we honor their contributions: Patrons Robert Brenner Carnegie Corporation of New York The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation New York City Department of Cultural Affairs New York State Council on the Arts The James B. Oswald Co. The Tony Randall Theatrical Fund The Shubert Foundation, Inc. anonymous Artistic Directors Circle Geoffrey & Carol Chinn Barbara Bell Cumming Foundation Edgar & Renee Jackson DJ McManus Foundation Newman’s Own Foundation The Fan Fox & Leslie R Samuels Foundation The Ted Snowden Foundation The Harold & Mimi Steinebrg Charitable Trust Mary Elisabeth Swerz Michael Tuch Foundation
DONORS
First Priority Platinum Circle American Theater Wing Axe-Houghton Foundation Malvin & Lea Bank Linda Calandra Adam D. & Linda Chinn Edward & Lori Forstein The Heidtke Foundation Dorothy Loudon Foundation Karl Lunde Edith Meiser Foundation The New York Times Company Foundation Fund for Mid-size Theaters, a project of A.R.T./ New York Pfizer Foundation Jeffrey & Judith Prussin Tina & Howard Rieger Gary A. Schonwald Wallace Schroeder Stephen D & Elsa A Solender The Dorothy Strelsin Foundation Sukenik Family Foundation First Priority Gold Club American Friends of Theatre Inc Steve Allen & Caroline Thompson Sari Anthony Jonathan Bank Andre Bishop Bernice & Frederick Block Jon Clark Jeffrey Compton & Norma Ellen Foote Grover Connell Robert & Ruth Diefenbach Cory & Bob Donnally Charitable Fund Monte Engler
ExxonMobil Foundation Fine Family Foundation Nicholas & Edmee Firth Barbara Fleischman Holly Fogler & Michael Solender Edward & Joan Franklin Burry Fredrik Ruth Friendly Mr & Mrs Ciro Gamboni The Gordon Foundation The Gramercy Park Foundation Inc Virginia Gray Antonia & George Grumbach Guild Family Foundation Ron Guttman George B. Hatch Hickrill Foundation Barbara Hill Anna B. Iacucci Linda Irenegreen & Martin Kesselman Joseph Family Charitable Trust Peter Haring Judd Fund Joan Kedziora, MD Rose Klimovich Anna Kramarsky & Jeanne Bergman Mildred C. Kuner Eugene M. Lang Foundation Kent Lawson & Carol Tambor Penny Luedtke/The Luedtke Agency Samuel & Gabrielle Lurie Daniel Loos Macken Robert & Marcia Marafioti The Memorial Foundation for the Arts Joel & Susan Mindel Carol & Dick Netzer The New York Times Company Foundation Naomi & Gerald Patlis Susan & Peter Ralston Joe Regan, Jr. Eleanor Reissa & Roman Dworecki Irven Rinard George Robb Susan & Jon Rotenstreich Rubin Foundation William & Earlyne S Seaver The Martin E Segal Revocable Trust Carole M. Shaffer-Koros & Robert M. Koros Stephen Siderow Rob Sinacore State of New York – Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation David Stenn Suzanne & Jon Stout Dennis & Katherine Swanson The Ellen M. Violett & Mary P. R. Thomas Foundation, Inc Litsa Tsitsera
First Priority Club
James C. Giblin Ardian Gill & Anna L. Hannon Howard & Joann Girsh David & Suellen Globus Ruth Golbin Joyce Golden Charles & Jane Goldman Caryl Goldsmith Gordon & Mary Gould Anna Grabarits Richard Grayson Anita & Edward Greenbaum Greenwich House Senior Center The Rogers Family Foundation/Mary R. Guettel Victoria Guthrie Gunilla Haac James C & Julia Hall Katherine Halmi Mimi Halpern Bob & Lynne Hanson Carol Hekimian Reily Hendrickson Cory & Art Henkel Sigrid Hess Anita Highton Eleanor Hodges Edward & Dorothy Hoffner Milton & Madelaine Horowitz Anne Humphreys Harriet & Elihu Inselbuch Jocelyn Jacknis Ellie Jacob Irwin & Ann Jacobs Peter & Ellen Jakobson Neil & Cathy Janovic Morton & Dahlia Jarashow James & Jacqueline Johnson Johnson & Johnson Roberta A. Jones Ronald & Hildegaard Jones Gerhard Joseph Eleanor M. Kahn Gus Kaikkonen & Kraig Swarz Jane Kapsales Annette Karan Regina Kelly Laurie Kennedy & Keith Mano Gerald Kiel David H. Kirkwood & Annie Thomas Kaori Kitao Caral G Klein Karl Kroeber Carmel Kuperman Lester Kushner Anne Lanigan Richard & Lee Laster Gordon & Margaret Leavitt Ira & Gloria Leeds Robert & Jane Lehrman Eliot & Jane Leibowitz Neil & Harriet Leonard Roy & Rachel Levit Barbara & Herbert Levy Carol & Stanley Levy
DONORS
Lisa Ackerman Actors Equity Foundation David R. Adler Judith Aisen & Kenneth Vittor Marc Anello Laura Altschuler Stephen Anderson & Amy Cohn Carmen Anthony AT&T Foundation Mitch Bacharach Mary Bacon & Andrew Leynse Earl Bailey Bank of America Richard Barnes & Marta Gross Robert & Ellie Berlin Nidia Besso Mary & Jeffrey Bijur David M. Blank Steven Blier Louis Blumberg Barbara & Ronald Blumenthal Dr & Mrs. Allan Blumenthal Rose-Marie Boller & Webb Turner Dr. & Mrs. Jeffrey S. Borer Lori & Rick Borman Len & Barbara Bornstein Lynn Brenner Patricia Broderick Virginia Brody June Barbi Brogan Leslie Bryant Ann Butera Elaine B. Bye Richard Carroll Andrew H. Chapman & Stefania de Kenessey Stephen & Elena Chopek Herbert & Phyllis Cohen Kathleen H. Corcoran Penelope & Peter Costigan Anthony & Ruth Demarco Gennaro A. DeVito Bernard & Katherine Dick M. Burton Drexler Martin & Mina Ellenberg Jeanne Epstein Rachel & Mel Epstein Don & Grace Eremin Sharon Esakoff Judith Eschweiler Susan Etra & Michael Yeoli H. Read Evans William Finnegan Angela T. Fiore Eva & Norman Fleischer Charles Flowers Fred Forrest Donald Fowle & Lionel Lorona Nancy Fowler Richard Frankel Productions Monroe Freedman Sandra & Burton Freeman Dr. H. Paul & Delores Gabriel Mary Ann & John Garland
DONORS
Sheldon & Lucille Lichtblau Allon Lifschitz Susan Linder Kathleen Lingo Joel & Diane Lipset Steven Lorch & Susanna Kochan-Lorch Ruth Lord Jeni Mahoney & Ben Sahl Mary Rose Main John & Vivian Majeski Barry Margolius Margaret Mastrianni Anne McCrory Betsy McKenny Martin & Martha Meisel Richard Mellor, Jr. John D. Metcalfe Ivan & Leila Metzger Radley Metzger Muffie Meyer Eleanor S. Meyerhoff Susan & Ronald Michelow Bernard & Lusia Milch Judith K.& Allan Mohl Elaine & Richard Montag Elaine Montgomery Virginia & Robert Montgomery Joseph Morello George Morfogen Ronald & Elaine Morris Munsell Family Foundation Janet George & Daniel Murnick Erick Neher Egon & Florence Neuberger Dorinda J. Oliver Shelly G. Orringer Peter & Marilyn Oswald Richard & Dorothy Oswald Daniel & Polly Paladino Satoko Parker Edwin Partikian & Camille Infranco Bruce & Gwen Pasquale John & Judith Peakes Penina Petruck Stepanie Pierson David & Jean Plessett Jack & Ina Polak Irwin & Sheila Polishook Stephen W. Porter & Arnold Somers David & Phyllis Quickel Judith & Sheldon Raab Norman & Leigh Raben Ken Raboy Anthony & Marianne Reed H. Anthony Reilly Clayton S. Reynolds Jim J. Reynolds Arleigh Richards & William Wise Jeanne Richman Earl S. & Phyllis Roberts Theodore Rogers Seymour & Renee Rogoff Sylvia Rosen Claire Rosenstein
Barbara Rosenthal Mark Rossier Isaiah & Enid Rubin, MD Samuel Kress Foundation Anita Sanford Anne Kaufman Schneider Irwin Schwartz Phyllis Schwartz Sherry Schwartz Dr. Jerome S. & Harriet Seiler Barbara Seril Donald & Barbara Shack Richard & Camille Sheely Rebecca & Philip Siekevitz Martin Y. & Kayla J. Silberberg Rayna & Martin Skolnik Lili N. Smith Philip Smith Dr. Norman Solomon Linda & Jerry Spitzer Stagedoor Entertainment Erika Stadtlander Nicholas Stathis Michael Stebbins Lee Steelman Bob & Sherry Steinberg Ulrich & Elaine Strauss Pamela Stubing Kathrin Perutz & Michael Studdert-Kennedy Larry E. Sullivan Mary Swartz Kathryn Swintek Leonard & Myra Tanzer Douglas Tarr Thomson Tax & Accounting Alice Timothy Peter & Roberta Tomback Jill Tran Ken & Linda Treitel Jan Vinokour Bill Vivic & Brian Colbath Joan & Bob Volin Edith & Gordon Wallace John Michael Walsh Robb Webb & Pat DeRousie-Webb Saul & Lillian Wechter George Weeks Reny Weigert The Sandra and George Weiksner Foundation Richard Weisman Howard M. & Patricia Weiss Zoe Caldwell Whitehead Robert & Lillian Williams Ralph M. Wynn, MD Kenneth Zarecor Burton & Susan Zwick anonymous This list represents donations made from July 2006 through August 2007. Every effort is made to insure its accuracy. Please contact us regarding any mistakes.
STAFF FOR THE POWER OF DARKNESS Assistant Sound Designer Jessica Paz Assistant Lighting Designer Ben Krall Master Electrician Laura Cornish, Renée Molina Electricians Wavetek Productions Assistant Costume Designer Jeannette Aultz Look Costume Makers Deborah Hertzberg, Young Yoon Kim Head Carpenter Carlo Adinolfi Carpenters Adam Branson, Justin Hollinger, Matthew Moss, Joe Rayome, Jason Reuter, Zdenko Slobodnik House Carpenter Dennis Luczak Scenic Artists Julia Hahn, Brian Howard Wardrobe Supervisor Julie Vesselle Run Crew Michael Joseph Ormond Board Operator Matt McKenna Fight Choreographer Michael Chin House Manager Toni Anita Hull Box Office Assistants Janel Cooke, Ivana Karapanzich THE
PRODUCERS
WOULD
LIKE
TO
THANK
THE
FOLLOWING:
CUNY Brooklyn College’s C. Rebecca Cunningham Costume Shop, Oleg Kucherenko, Natasha Lutov, Michael Lydon, Robert Martin, Vladimir Morosan at musicarussica.com, Faina Rozenblit, Odds Costume Rentals and the tdf Costume Collection for their assistance in this production. 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. Ricola Natural Herb Cough Drops courtesy of Ricola USA, Inc.
Actor’s 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 provisions of its various agreements with theatrical employers across the country.
MINT THEATER COMPANY STAFF Jonathan Bank Artistic Director Sherri Kotimsky General Manager Colleen T. Sullivan Box Office Manager Hunter Kaczorowski Assistant to the Artistic Director Ellen Mittenthal Development Consultant BOARD OF TRUSTEES Jonathan Bank Linda Calandra Jon Clark Eleanor Reissa Gary Schonwald M. Elisabeth Swerz
“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 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.
311 West 43rd Street, Suite 307 New York, NY 10036
www.minttheater.org Box Office: (212) 315-0231