New York, NY Pe r m i t N o . 7 5 2 8
PA ID
FEB. 4 THROUGH APR. 1, 2012
NON - PROFIT U . S . POSTAGE
866-811-4111 or minttheater.org
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
JONATHAN BANK GENERAL MANAGER
SHERRI KOTIMSKY
(Regular Price $55. $2.75 per ticket service charge applies to all orders)
ORDER YOUR TICKETS TODAY!
PERFORMANCES
PHONE: 866-811-4111
Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday at 7pm
M-F 9am -9pm; S-S 10am - 6pm
Friday & Saturday at 8pm Saturday & Sunday at 2pm
IN PERSON: 311 W. 43rd St, Ste 307 Call for hours: 212.315.9434
No performance Tuesday, February 14th or Tuesday, February 28th.
ONLINE: minttheater.org
Special Matinee Wednesday, February 15th at 2pm.
CHEAP TIX You don’t have to be a cheapskate to appreciate a bargain, especially these days. We offer a LIMITED NUMBER of HALF-PRICE TICKETS ($27.50) for EVERY PERFORMANCE. FAQ: How many seats are available? About 10 per night, sometimes less—and once they’re gone, they’re gone. Do I get to choose where I sit? No. We assign your seats the night of the performance. But don’t worry, our theater only has 100 seats. Will I get to sit with my friends? Absolutely. We won’t ever split your party.
SAVE THE Mint’s Annual Spring Benefit:
DATE:
April 23rd, 2012
The Cosmopolitan Club
Monday, February 13th A Special EnrichMint Event
Reading of A Man and Some Women by Githa Sowerby Join Sowerby biographer Patricia Riley for dinner at Etcetera Etcetera on West 44th St. Enjoy a delicious gourmet meal while Pat talks talk about Sowerby and her play A Man and Some Women. Then hear the play read at the Mint, followed by cookies and coffee with the cast. A Man and Some Women debuted in 1914 at the Gaiety Theater in Manchester. The play tells the story of a husband and the women dependent on him: his wife, his unmarried sisters and a family friend. Sowerby had hoped for a London transfer in 1914, but Britain’s escalating involvement in the First World War dashed those hopes. The Shaw Festival in Canada will be giving this play a full production this summer. DINNER: 6:00 PM READING: 8:00 PM
$60 PER PERSON (INCLUDES DINNER AND READING) READING ONLY: $25
The Spectator
BY GITHA
SOWERBY
DIRECTED BY RICHARD
CORLEY WITH:
ROBERT HOGAN ELI JAMES ALLISON MCLEMORE JAMES PATRICK NELSON SANDRA SHIPLEY DALE SOULES SARA SURREY DAVID VAN PELT VICKI R. DAVIS COSTUMES CHARLOTTE PALMER-LANE LIGHTS NICOLE PEARCE SOUND ELLEN MANDEL & JANE SHAW PROPS JOSHUA YOCUM CASTING AMY SCHECTER DIALECTS AND DRAMATURGY AMY STOLLER PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER ALLISON DEUTSCH ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER ANDREA JO MARTIN ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR JESSE MARCHESE GRAPHICS HEY JUDE DESIGN, INC ADVERTISING THE PEKOE GROUP PRESS DAVID GERSTEN & ASSOCIATES SETS
311 W. 43rd St. 3rd Floor New York, NY 10036
Save 30% February 4 & 5: Pay Only $38.50 Save 20% February 7 through March 4: Pay Only $45 (use code Mint45)
Ben Brantley, The New York Times
SPECIAL DISCOUNT OFFER!
“Mint Theater Company, Resurrectionist Extraordinaire of Forgotten Plays”
At the Mint Theater, 311 West 43rd St, 3rd floor
minttheater.org
866-811-4111
Photo by Richard Termine. Pictured, Robert Hogan
Set in the industrial north of England, RUTHERFORD AND SON tells the story of a father determined to do whatever it takes to ensure the success and succession of the family glassworks, started by his own father, but now in danger of shattering. John Rutherford rules home and business with an iron fist, a tyrant who inspires fear in his workers and hatred in his grown children. But a rebellion is brewing. His eldest son, working in secret has discovered a process that could save the firm, cutting costs by one third—but he refuses to share it with his father unless he “gets his price.”
“It is far better than most of Shaw and easily stands comparison with another Edwardian masterpiece, Harley Granville Barker’s The Voysey Inheritance…Every line, every emotion, rings satisfyingly true. A great play has been reclaimed.” Daily Telegraph
“This is a real, rare theatrical discovery…And the subject is change and revolt—revolt against material values, against “A real, rare, theatrical absolute parental power and discovery.” female submission to dictatorial males.” The Evening Standard In 1912, a new play by an unknown author took London by storm. RUTHERFORD AND SON by K.G. Sowerby was called: “One of the very best, strongest, deftest, and altogether most masterly family dramas that we have had for a long time from any one, however famous.” The production moved from the Royal Court to the West End and then across to the States. The acclaim continued in New York: “Undoubtedly one of the most powerful dramas that New York has seen in many a day…It is a never-to-be-forgotten treat of the first water.” Cursed with predictions of immortality, the play slowly faded into obscurity. Finally, in 1994 the National Theatre gave Githa Sowerby’s powerhouse drama a production that would “grant RUTHERFORD AND SON the classic status it so richly deserves.” In 1999 RUTHERFORD AND SON was honored by the National Theatre with a place on their list of One Hundred Plays of the Century.
“…a major rediscovery...” Spectator
“Rutherford and Son is a gripping, insightful drama.” Mail on Sunday
“This acute play shows how, by striking hard bargains and always winning, a man may lose everything…The play is as skillful as blown glass. It is a subtle meditation on ownership, justice and loyalty.” Observer
ENRICHMINT EVENTS
When RUTHERFORD AND SON premiered at the Royal Court in 1912, critics were astounded that a play of such depth and exquisite stagecraft could be penned by a first-time playwright. The London Times predicted a future “full of promise” for this preternaturally talented writer—known at this point only as “K.G. Sowerby.” What did “K.G.” stand for? No one knew for sure until the author—Katherine Githa Sowerby—came forward. That a woman had written such a brilliant, brutal drama made headlines on both sides of the Atlantic. The Times referred to Githa as a “girldramatist” and observed: “She is the last person in the world one would expect to find as the author of so grim, powerful and closely-thought out a drama of business. Instead of looking as if she wrote this play, she is a young, pretty, fair-haired girl, refined of speech and dainty in dress, who seems far better suited to a drawing room than to the dramatist’s work room.” The press painted her as an English rose who’d stumbled into playwriting—and Githa, a private person who dreaded interviews, did little to correct them. Her diffident answers only added to the misconception. Keble Howard, writing for The Sketch, asked how she had come to write such a startling play. Githa breezily replied, “I wrote most of it in a boat up the river. Just scribbled it with a pencil, you know”—while expressing regret that “some of her characters should be so horrid to one another.” The Manchester Guardian praised her accurate portrayal of Northern England. Githa, in a rare moment of directness, revealed she had grown up in Northumberland. “You cannot live in these industrial towns without feeling how life revolves around the great
EnrichMINT Events are supported in part by a grant from The New York Council for the Humanities and the Michael Tuch Foundation. All events take place immediately after the performance and usually last about fifty minutes. They are free and open to the public. Speakers and dates subject to change without notice.
Saturday February 11 and Sunday February 12, after the matinees Patricia Riley, Author, Looking for Githa
industries, and how they dominate the thought and aspirations of the community,” she said. Indeed, Githa was neither as naïve, nor as young, as the press assumed. Thirty-five years old, she’d supported herself for years as an author of children’s books. Her knowledge of “great industry” came firsthand. Her family had once owned one of the largest glassworks in Europe; their history inspired her play.
The details of Githa Sowerby’s life were a mystery until Pat Riley wrote Looking for Githa, the first Sowerby biography, in 2009. During her research, Riley uncovered previously unknown documents in England and Canada and conducted several interviews with Sowerby’s elderly daughter Joan. The project was funded by the Arts Council of England. Ms. Riley has degrees in law, social science, and management. On retirement from a career in government, she began a degree in theatre studies, deepening her life-long love of theatre. During her coursework, she was introduced to a powerful play by an early twentieth century feminist playwright no-one seemed to know anything about— Rutherford and Son by Githa Sowerby. Curious to discover what kind of a woman had been brave enough in 1912 to write this play, Ms. Riley began the research that ended with the publication with Looking for Githa. Three leading scholars from the Ivy League—Princeton, Columbia, and Cornell—join us for discussions on RUTHERFORD AND SON and playwright Githa Sowerby.
Githa kept her history private—and it nearly went with her to her grave. Shortly before her death in 1970, Githa burned her personal papers. By that time, both her and her work had been forgotten. None of her plays after RUTHERFORD AND SON had achieved acclaim; even RUTHERFORD disappeared from the repertory.
Sunday, February 19, after the matinee Dr Michael Cadden, Princeton University
When the National Theatre revived RUTHERFORD in 1994, inspiring new interest in Githa, her biography remained a mystery. It was only two years ago, with the publication of Looking for Githa by Patricia Riley, that concrete details of Githa’s life and family history emerged. Riley interviewed Githa’s daughter, Joan, several times and uncovered previously unknown Sowerby family documents in England and Canada. Now, on the centenary of RUTHERFORD AND SON, thanks to Patricia Riley’s research, we can finally begin to understand Githa Sowerby.
Martin Meisel is the Brander Matthews Professor Emeritus of Dramatic Literature at Columbia. He is the author of Shaw and the Nineteenth-Century Theater (Princeton and Oxford), as well as numerous essays and articles on drama and the visual arts. He has been the recipient of two Guggenheim Foundation Fellowships, an American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship, residential fellowships at the National Humanities Center, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (among others.) In 2003 he received the Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching at Columbia.
In September, 2001 Mint Theater produced RUTHERFORD AND SON. The New York Times declared that:
Michael Cadden is currently Director of the Program in Theater and Dance at Princeton University, where he has been teaching for 25 years. In 1993, Michael was awarded the University’s President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching. In 2003, he helped inaugurate Princeton’s new Roger S. Berlind Theater.
Sunday, February 26, after the matinee Dr. Martin Meisel, Columbia University
Saturday March 3, after the matinee Dr. J. Ellen Gainor, Cornell University J. Ellen Gainor is Professor of Theatre and Associate Dean of the Graduate School at Cornell. A specialist in British and American drama of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and women’s dramaturgy, she is the author of the award-winning studies Shaw’s Daughters: Dramatic and Narrative Constructions of Gender and Susan Glaspell in Context: American Theater, Culture and Politics 1915-48. Most recently, she co-edited The Norton Anthology of Drama. She has edited two influential essay collections, Imperialism and Theatre and Performing America: Culture Nationalism in American Theater. With Linda Ben-Zvi, she co-edited The Complete Plays of Susan Glaspell, the first complete anthology of Glaspell’s plays.
ON THE ISSUES “The Geiger counter that the Mint Theater Company waves over theater history in search of long-unperformed treasures has identified a still-ticking nugget.” Ten years after Mint first introduced it to New York audiences, RUTHERFORD AND SON returns. “There are magic moments,” The New York Post wrote in 2001, “when a gifted, ready company takes up a lost but exciting play from the past. So now the Mint Theater has come up with a 1912 play by Githa Sowerby, a shy woman from the north of England who’d earlier written only children’s books. It is a marvelous play, alive with human passions and tyrannies.” Make plans today to attend this marvelous play!
Dr. Donald J. Jonovic, an internationally respected family business consultant, will discuss the play’s portrayal of family business and intergenerational conflict. Sunday, March 4, after the matinee
Donald J. Jonovic, Founder, Family Business Management Services, Inc. Donald J. Jonovic has been an advisor to family business owners since 1973, focusing on the unique issues related to management development, growth, and ownership transition, particularly ownership transition of the successful owner-managed business. His professional consulting practice has included industrial and agricultural clients throughout North America, ranging in size from $5 million to $2 billion.