Program for The Rat Trap by Noël Coward

EDDY, JAMES EVANS, ELISABETH GRAY, KATE HAMPTON,

KHALAF, HELOISE

MACE, CLAIRE SAUNDERS, SARIN MONAE WEST

ABOUT THE PLAY

“Rocks are infinitely more dangerous when they are submerged, and the sluggish waves of sentiment and hypocrisy have been washing over reality far too long in this country.” So wrote the wildly versatile playwright-actor-composer-di rector Noël Coward (1899-1973) in the 1924 introduction to Three Plays. The vol ume included The Vortex, Fallen Angels and The Rat Trap, originally written in 1918 and representing Coward’s “first really serious attempt at psychological conflict,” as he later recalled. In his introduction to Three Plays, Coward idealistically elabo rated upon his intentions for an English drama that—defying the forces of “sex-repression, lack of education, religious mania, respectability, and above all, moral cowardice”—freely explored the complex geometries of modern relationships.

The Vortex and Fallen Angels might be considered part of the canon of 1920s “sex plays” that Coward defended against the “ardent crusade” of the censoring Lord Chamberlain’s Office. Although sharing much with the other plays in the 1924 volume, The Rat Trap is something else: both a sparkling comedy of manners and a turbulent drama of marriage influenced by Coward’s youthful hero, George Bernard Shaw. The play’s history also reveals a little-known episode in the fabled life of Coward: his close friendship with Meggie Albanesi, a brilliant young actress who—like the playwright—embodied the truth-seeking youth culture of the early 1920s. “This was the most vivid personality and accomplished actress who had stepped upon our stage for years…. But for her untimely death, she would have been queen of our stage,” lamented theater historian W. Macqueen Pope. Albanesi’s tragically young death in 1923 devastated her friend at the brink of his transformation into a theatrical sensation—and his iconic persona of “the witty young man with the clenched cigarette-holder and the silk dressing-gown,” as described by Sheridan Morley.

In the midst of a whirlwind of publicity and success, with the revue On with the Dance, and the plays Hay Fever, Fallen Angels and The Vortex all running simultaneously in the West End in 1925, Coward himself may have contributed to the generally dismissive critical reception of The Rat Trap the next year. Agate commented in The Sunday Times, of the play’s London premiere at the Everyman Theatre in Hampstead, “To produce the piece on the fringe of town, half apologeti cally and as a work of youth and curiosity, was to damage it in advance.” The pro ducer and critic J.T. Grein speculated upon “one possible reason for the reticence of the London manager,” in not transferring The Rat Trap to the West End: “The play is very simple: it is not sensational, but purely domestic.” Despite its bright bouquet of epigrams, The Rat Trap’s direct engagement with women’s rights and

Revealing the Rocks: Noël Coward, Meggie Albanesi and the Friendship behind The Rat Trap by Maya Cantu

ABOUT THE PLAY

its psychological realism may have fit un easily with Coward’s new roles of frivolous farceur and decadent enfant terrible

In 1926, a few critics observed Coward’s sensitive portrayal of female am bition in conflict with conventional expec tations of marriage. Grein observed in his review for The Illustrated London News: “Both [Keld and Sheila] were writers: he a dramatist, modestly endowed, she a novel ist, undoubtedly his superior. But he was the master, and, as often is the case when two people work for publicity, the man thinks he must come first, and the woman tolerates his preponderance.” In his review, Grein dis cerned the influence of The Rat Trap upon Coward’s mid-decade plays: “This play has all the qualities that are more forcibly apparent in Coward’s later work… It is both en tertaining and amusing; it is unpretentious, and yet, under its simple surface, there is a vision, an understanding of life, which is truly astounding in an author who wrote it in his ear lier twenties.”

The influence of Albanesi, as Coward’s “much-loved” friend and companion, comprises a hidden yet significant aspect of The Rat Trap’s production histo ry that was not discussed during the play’s premiere in 1926. Albanesi’s sudden death in December of 1923, at the age of twenty-four, was fresh in the minds of many in the London theater world during the original production. Her loss weighed upon Coward, who in 1924, dedicated The Rat Trap’s first published edition to the “Dear Memory” of Albanesi. The actress stunned playgoers and critics with what John Galsworthy called her “curious and unique faculty of emotional truth.” Sir Ralph Richardson reminisced of Albanesi (a plaque of whom hangs in the foyer of London’s St. Martin’s Theatre): ‘her brilliance might have outshone all…not many can remember her now, though I for one forever will.”

Kindred spirits, Coward and Albanesi boldly embodied modernity in the early 1920s. Whereas Albanesi led her life as a sexually emancipated young wom an, Coward lived semi-openly as a gay man: discreet in the eyes of the public, but teasingly alluding to his homosexuality in his lyrics; in plays like The Vortex and The

ABOUT THE PLAY

Rat Trap; and in the camp comedy Semi-Monde (first produced in 1977). In her biography Meggie Albanesi: A Life in the Theatre, Frances Gray observes that the actress’s “uniqueness lay in her ability to show the youth of the twenties to itself,” as she played forthright and independent young women in plays like Galsworthy’s The Skin Game and Clemence Dane’s A Bill of Divorcement. In the former dra ma, Albenesi embodied “post-war youth, the energy, the irreverence, the sense of betrayal and the new way of speaking and moving and behaving; others would follow—notably Noël Coward—but Meggie was the first to give it shape,” as Gray describes.

Coward and Albenesi met around 1919: the year that Coward performed in a revival of The Knight of the Burning Pestle, while continuing to seek out pro ductions of his plays. The daughter of Italian musician Carlo Albanesi and the pro lific English popular novelist Effie Adelaide Rowlands, Albanesi graduated in 1917 from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and moved on to the West End stage. Both were scrappy and ambitious, at the start of illustrious careers. As Coward recounted in Present Indicative: “While relying upon my own funds, I choose a suitably understanding partner such as Gertie Lawrence, or Meggie Albanesi, and we would dine frugally, and go up to Murray’s, or Rector’s, or the Savoy, where it was possible to slip in by the Embankment without a ticket.”

In the 1930s, Coward became known for his dazzling collaboration with Gertrude Lawrence, with whom he co-starred in Private Lives and Tonight at 8:30. By contrast, Frances Gray speculates that Coward may have intended The Rat Trap as a 1923 vehicle for himself and Albanesi, as part of producer Basil Dean’s Playbox subscription series of special matinees, and intended for eventual transfer to the West End. Gray observes: “Given that like many of his plays it contained ‘a whacking good part for himself,’ it might have offered a chance to see the two of them together. It would have been a combination of talents very different from Coward’s other famous partnerships. Exploring a marriage of writers in which gen der roles, unequal talents and commercial success make a volatile mix…. Rat Trap needed a spiky difference of styles, one that actors as different as Meggie and Coward could have brought to it.”

Only a few close friends, and likely Coward, knew the submerged truth about Albanesi’s early death. The actress died not from an operation for appendi citis or from “nervous tension”—among other causes circulated by the press—but from the complications of a botched abortion. Others speculated that the imagina tive intensity with which Albanesi approached her roles killed her. “Too indomitable a spirit in a body too frail was the tragedy of this young artist. The blade wore out the scabbard,” James Agate memorialized. Basil Dean remembered Albanesi as “the first to arrive and the last to leave” during rehearsals. Yet it wasn’t only her

ABOUT THE PLAY

hard work that killed the young actress. According to Frances Gray, Albenesi likely underwent the perils of an illegal abortion in March of 1923. After a period of ap parent convalescence, Albenesi returned to the stage. Gray recounts that during a performance of Lilies of the Field, “That night she was visibly ill during Lilies, her voice so hoarse she could hardly speak; she would not take a curtain call and wept in her dresser’s arms.” Albanesi died of peritonitis on December 9, 1923.

Albanesi’s death put a likely end to the intended Playbox production. Coward expressed his private sorrow in a letter to Albanesi’s mother Effie: “It is utterly impossible to write what one really feels. Meggie will always be a very dear and sweet memory to me, and I shall always mourn her. I fully understand how utterly meaningless life must seem to you now that she has gone.”

Coward’s brief but close friendship with Albanesi adds additional context and meaning to a play that only decades later emerged to acclaim as a prescient work of the 18-year-old playwright. When London’s Finborough Theatre revived The Rat Trap in 2012, The Evening Standard’s Nicholas de Jongh called the play “an absolute revelation.” The critic observed: “Here, taking a path from which he would soon detour, an eerily mature teenage Coward dons the mantle of a Shavian feminist in terms the Virginia Woolf of A Room of One’s Own would have applaud ed.” The Rat Trap reflects the young Coward, still experimenting with his play wright’s voice, as “one of those eager young writers with their unpleasantly truthful problems, who, after all, are only expressing the spirit of their times,” as he wrote in his 1924 Three Plays introduction. Mutually intent on revealing the rocks under treacherous waters, Coward shared this honest and defiant spirit with Meggie Albanesi.

MAYA CANTU Since 2013, Maya has worked on sixteen productions at the Mint. She is the author of the book, American Cinderellas on the Broadway Musical Stage: Imagining the Working Girl from Irene to Gypsy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015). For her essay “Beyond the Rue Pigalle: Recovering Ada ‘Bricktop’ Smith as ‘Muse,’ Mentor, and Maker of Transatlantic Musical Theater,” published in Reframing the Musical: Race, Culture and Identity, Maya was selected as the 2020 recipient of the American Theatre and Drama Society’s Vera Mowry Roberts Research and Publication Award. Maya teaches at Bennington College, and re ceived her D.F.A. in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism at Yale School of Drama.

WHO:

EMILY BOSCO

(Understudy - Sheila, Ruby, Naomi) Emily Bosco is beyond grateful to be mak ing her New York the atre debut with the Mint! She is a proud Colombian-Italian actor and singer, and holds an MFA from UNC Chapel Hill’s Professional Actor Training Program. Favorite credits include Steel Magnolias and Native Gardens (Creede Rep), Pride & Prejudice (Greenbrier Valley Theatre), Seared (Gloucester Stage), Everybody and Sense & Sensibility (PlayMakers Rep), and Significant Other (Theatre Raleigh). AEA Member. Other passions include dogs, hiking, and being the world’s best Auntie to her niece and nephews. For Grandma and Grandpa Bosco, and my parents – my biggest fans.

JASON EDDY

(UnderstudyEdmund, Keld) NYC Theater & Mint Theater debut; UK/Europe: Everybody Is Gone (The New Wild, Berlin); The Talented Mr. Ripley (The Faction); Astley’s Astounding Adventures (The New Vic); Twelfth Night (Vienna’s English Theatre/ Dubrovnik Midsummer Scene/Bermuda Festival); Beauty and the Beast (Polka Theatre); Antony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare’s Globe); Romeo and Juliet (The Rosemary Branch); The Tempest (Teatro Vivo); Sense and Sensibility (The Rosemary Branch Theatre/UK Regional Tour); The Odyssey (Teatro Vivo); Breakfast

With Emma (The Rosemary Branch Theatre/UK Regional Tour); A Midsummer Night’s Dream & Twelfth Night (Guildford Shakespeare Company). Film: An Intent To The Spirit; HOME; The Forgotten Man. TV: “The Blacklist”, “Wanderlust”, “Berlin Station”. Training: The Guildhall School of Music & Drama, AMDA.

JAMES EVANS (Keld Maxwell) Theater credits in clude The Woman in Black (The McKittrick Hotel & American Conservatory Theater), Salty (The Tank), The Spider’s Web (Bristol Valley Theatre), Oresteia, Our Country’s Good, The History Boys (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), Dr. Faustus (Cambridge Arts Theatre), Hamlet (Bacon Theatre), Dido, Queen of Carthage, Ivanov, Romeo and Juliet, Frost/Nixon, Closer (University of Cambridge), Much Ado About Nothing (Brown University). TV includes: “The Food That Built America” and “The Booze, Bets and Sex That Built America.” Education and training: University of Cambridge, American Academy of Dramatic Arts. www.jamesevansactor. com @thisisjamesevans

ELISABETH GRAY (Olive Lloyd-Kennedy) Broadway: Breakfast at Tiffany’s . OffBroadway: Yours Unfaithfully at Mint Theater Company, Wish I Had a Sylvia Plath, Southern Discomfort. TV:

“Limitless,” “Forever,” “Unforgettable,” “The Affair,” “Odd Mom Out.” Film: Sunspring, The Voorman Problem, Big Significant Things. Writer/Director: “The Parable of the Disappearing Recliner” with Amy Sedaris, “Severance” with Elizabeth Ashley, Womanifesto at the Park Avenue Armory with Kathleen Turner. Creator: “Socks and Bonds” on PBS and “Understudies” (www. UnderstudiesTheShow.com). Awards: Fringe First for Innovative New Writing. Education: BA(Hons) Oxford University, M.Div. in motion at Yale University. www. ElisabethGray.org

KATE HAMPTON (Understudy - Olive Lloyd-Kennedy, Burrage) Broadway: Birthday Candles, Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, The Deep Blue Sea. First National Tour: Spring Awakening. OffBroadway: The Master Builder (BAM); The Typographer’s Dream, 100 Aspects of the Moon (Clubbed Thumb); Have You Seen Steve Steven? (13P); Museum (Keen Company); All My Sons (Roundabout). Regional Favorites: A Doll’ s House, Part 2, God of Carnage, Fallen Angels, Boeing, Boeing, Noises Off, Once in a Lifetime, Pride and Prejudice (Asolo Rep); An Inspector Calls, How the Other Half Loves, The Cocktail Hour, Lend Me a Tenor (Florida Rep); Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Palm Beach Dramaworks); Talley’s Folly, Absurd Person Singular (Peterborough Players); Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom (Humana Festival); Loot (Arden); The Real Thing (Olney);

Hard Times, All My Sons (Williamstown). TV: “Bones,” the “Law & Order” trifecta, “The Education of Max Bickford,” “Sex and the City.” Training: Brown University; Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

RAMZI KHALAF (Edmund Crowe) could most recently be seen as Richard Dreyfuss in the new musical Bruce (Seattle Rep) and Bob Cratchit in the San Francisco produc tion of Broadway’s A Christmas Carol (Golden Gate Theatre). He is a recent graduate of The Juilliard School’s Drama Division, where some of his favorite roles include: The Baker in Into The Woods, Peter in Red Speedo, and Mr. Bonaparte in Golden Boy. Other Regional: Berkshire Theatre Festival, Goodspeed Opera House, McCarter Theatre, The O’Neill Center, Paper Mill Playhouse. TV: Chef Rasmus Ray on “The Blacklist.”

HELOISE

LOWENTHAL (Naomi Frith-Bassington)

trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Her work for theatre includes Robin Hood (Bristol Old Vic); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Yvonne Arnaud/Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre); Semi-Monde (Oxford Playhouse); and the multimedia production Otis and Eunice (Raucous Theatre). Her work for screen includes, “Before We Die” (Channel 4); “The Cidershed Dreams” (Pasture

Promise); “Rockumentary” (Pendennis Films). She also works as a dramaturg for “London Playwrights Blog.” This is her New York Debut.

CYNTHIA MACE (Burrage) was in per formance with Women on Fire when NYC locked down in 2020. To be back on the boards and back with Mint Theater Company is inexplicable joy. Past theatre credits include: Off-Broadway Skintight (Roundabout), The Suitcase Under the Bed and The Mountains Look Different (Mint Theater Company), Nightingale (MTC, cover for Lynn Redgrave). Ms. Mace is known for her seminal portrayal of Harper in the world premiere of Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Perestroika at The Mark Taper Forum. Past TV for Netflix: “The Chair”, “Mindhunter”, and “The OA.” Recent Films: The Cathedral, A Call To Spy. Upcoming Film: The Warm Season, Silent Retreat . Upcoming TV: “Succession” (HBO).

CLAIRE SAUNDERS (Ruby Raymond). Seattle native turned New Yorker. OffBroadway: Chains (Mint Theater). Select NY & Regional credits: Importance of Being Earnest (Cecily), Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (Betty Haynes), School Girls; or the African Mean Girls Play (Ericka), Cyrano (Orange Girl), The Wolves (#8),

Taming of the Shrew (Bianca); TV/Film: Modern Love (Amazon), “Law & Order: SVU” (NBC), “Tell Me a Story” (CBS), The Good Cop (Netflix), The Intern (Warner Bros), 18 1/2 (Waterbug Eater Films), CitiBank commercial. Carnegie Mellon graduate. Aside from the acting thing, Claire dabbles in culture work, all things fitness, and anxiety. Thanks to Take3Talent! Love to her people. Check out her & the fam: thesaunderscollective. com @clairesaundy

SARIN MONAE WEST (they/she) (Sheila Brandreth) is an ac tor and writer original ly from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Sarin was most recently seen in The Skin of Our Teeth (Broadway, directed by Lileana BlainCruz) and in Merry Wives (Shakespeare in the Park, directed by Saheem Ali, adapted by Jocelyn Bioh), and as Mia in Mia MIA (La MaMa). TV: “The Equalizer” (CBS), “The Other Two” (HBO). Follow @ sarinmonae and www.sarinmonae.com

NOËL COWARD (Playwright) Born in 1899, Noël Coward was raised as a working class boy in the London suburb of Teddington. His father was an unsuc cessful piano salesman with little person al ambition, often resulting in poor fam ily finances. From a young age Coward possessed a natural intelligence; he was an avid reader and instinctive perform er with an insatiable ambition to learn and succeed.

Encouraged by his mother to attend a dance academy in London, Coward

entered into the professional world of theatre at the age of 12. From this point on, his writing and acting career swiftly flourished and he gradually became ac quainted with a different class of people. Coward’s presence in the public eye turned him into a celebrity in his own right across both the UK and USA. The media avidly followed and reported on Coward’s plays and public appearances, elevating his celebrity status significantly as his career continued to develop. Despite his high-profile persona and arguably lavish lifestyle, Coward was fundamentally a man who loved all ar tistic forms and possessed a work ethic like no other. He immersed himself in work from the age of 10. Consequently, he was hugely prolific; his final verse was written only days before he died.

ALEXANDER LASS (Director) an award-nominated theatre director who specialises in timely revivals of classic texts and world premieres. He believes in the beneficial power of theatre to pro mote joy, encourage kind curiosity, cul tivate understanding, and celebrate our shared humanity. Alex is thrilled to be making his New York debut directing Noël Coward’s debut solo play The Rat Trap for Mint Theater. Born and raised in London, UK, Alex trained at LAMDA, The Orange Tree Theatre, and on The National Theatre Directors Course. Directing cred its include: Untold Stories by Rabiah Hussain, Naomi Sheldon, Kaamil Shah and Rosanna Suppa (Hampton Court Palace, London); My Name Is Asher Lev by Aaron Posner (Rehearsed Reading, JW3 London), The Permanent Way by David Hare (Vaults, London), Ages of the

Moon by Sam Shepard (Vaults, London), When The Birds Come by Tallulah Brown (Underbelly, Edinburgh); The Green Ship by Quentin Blake (ACE Funded UK Tour); 46 Beacon (Trafalgar Studios 2), Giant Leap by Mickey Down and Konrad Kay (Pleasance, Edinburgh), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (LAMDA), Unrivalled Landscape by Caitlin Shannon and others (Orange Tree Theatre, London). Associate/Assistant Directing credits include: Shakespeare in Love (UK Tour), No Man’s Land starring Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart (UK Tour / West End), Poppea (Royal Academy of Music Opera), Confusions & Hero’s Welcome (SJT/ UK Tour), Oppenheimer (RSC Swan Theatre / Vaudeville West End), London Wall (Mint Theater). www.alexanderlass.co.uk

VICKI R. DAVIS (Sets) USA 829 Previously at the Mint: The Mountains Look Different, The Price of Thomas Scott, Suitcase Under the Bed, The Lucky One, Women Without Men, The Fatal Weakness, Katie Roche, Rutherford and Son, Temporal Powers, Wife to James Whelan, The Fifth Column, The Skin Game, The Lonely Way, Echoes of the War, Far and Wide, The Voysey Inheritance, Miss Lulu Bett, Welcome to our City, August Snow & Night Dance, and The House of Mirth. Off Broadway: Adobe, AMAS, Blue Heron, HB Studio, Lincoln Center Director’s Lab, The Ontological, LaMaMa, Folksbiene, New Yiddish Rep, Henry Street Settlement, Kings County Shakespeare, Bronx Opera, Bel Canto Opera, Wings, WPA, Playhouse 91. Regional theater and Opera: Laguna Playhouse, Arena Stage, The Alliance, Milwaukee Rep., Dallas Theater Center,

WHO:

Spooky Action, Starlight Kansas City, Madison Rep., The Barter, Capital Rep., Passages, Georgia Shakespeare, Utah Shakespearean Festival, Utah Opera, Kansas City Opera, Omaha Opera, Theater of the Stars, Boston Lyric Opera, Lake George Opera Festival, Chester Theater, and Music Theater North.

HUNTER KACZOROWSKI (Costumes)

Previous Mint: Yours Unfaithfully (Hewes Award nom.) and The Price of Thomas Scott. Other New York: Stet and The Gentleman Caller (Abingdon Theatre), Mister Miss America (AFO/Rattlestick), HAM (Ars Nova), as well as Heartbeat Opera, The Public, Astoria Performing Arts Center, HERE Arts, Dixon Place and The Joyce Soho. Regional credits include 8 seasons with The Berkshire Theater Group: Godspell, The Importance of Being Earnest (Berkshire Critics Award), The Skin of Our Teeth, The Petrified Forest (Berkshire Critics nom.), Lost Lake, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Design for Living. Other Regional: Sense and Sensibility (Alley Theatre), Ragtime (Bay Street), Much Ado About Nothing (Shakes NJ), The Fix (Signature Theatre), The Sound of Music, Dear Elizabeth, A Doll’s House (all Northern Stage), A Streetcar Named Desire (Yale Rep). As Assistant: Company and Angels in America (Broadway reviv als). Upcoming: The Railway Children (Northern Stage). MFA: Yale Drama. www.huntersk.com

CHRISTIAN DeANGELIS (Lighting) is very excited to be designing with Mint Theatre again. Selected Design Credits: Mary Poppins (Village Theatre); Preludes (Firehouse Theatre, Richmond Critics cir-

cle Nomination); Spamalot (5th Avenue Theatre); The Mountains; The Price of Thomas Scott, Days to Come, Hindle Wakes, The Fatal Weakness (Henry Hewes Design Award Nomination), The Lucky One, Philip Goes Forth, Love Goes To Press, The New Morality (Mint Theatre); Through the Night (City Theatre, PA. & Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, OH.); Don Giovanni (Ash Lawn Opera); Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, The Brother’s Size (City Theatre, PA.); Lizzie Borden (Living Theatre, NY. Drama Desk Nomination); The Clean House, A Blessing of a Broken Heart (San Diego Rep); Pericles (Old Globe Theatre); Into the Woods, Boy Gets Girl, Trip to Bountiful, Pride & Prejudice, Arabian Nights, Junta High (VCU-Hodges Theatre). Christian currently teaches at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA.

BILL TOLES (Sound) is making his Mint Theater debut. His work across special ties includes Off-Broadway and dance design for Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Dutchman, Knock Me A Kiss (Audelco Award), and Ayodele Casel’s Chasing Magic. Regional theater credits include TheatreSquared’s The Mountaintop, and Detroit ’67 . Installation and per formance art credits include Shimon Attie’s Light Under Night , Carrie Mae Weems and Nona Hendryx’s Refrigerated Dreams, Sekou Sundiata’s 51st Dream State and blessing the boats, and Craig Harris’ Brown Butterfly. Film credits in clude Like Twenty Impossibles (Cannes Cinefoundation Selection), Paul Robeson: Here I Stand (American Masters), and The Deadliest Disease In America. Music credits include Noel Pointer, Caron Wheeler, Ani DiFranco’s Rhythm & News

Tour with Sekou Sundiata, and Meshell Ndegeocello’s Grammy-nominated de but Plantation Lullabies.

SAMANTHA SHOFFNER (Props)

Broadway: Trouble in Mind, Slave Play (2019, remount, & August Wilson Lobby redesign). Associate Broadway: Children of a Lesser God, The Price, Noises Off, Falsettos, China Doll, Living on Love. Select Off-Broadway: Only Gold (MCC), My Broken Language, Confederates, A Case…God (Signature), To My Girls (2st), Twelfth Night, Seize the King (CTH), A Strange Loop (Pulitzer Prize for Drama), Merrily We Roll Along (Roundabout), Is God Is (Soho Rep), Songbird. Regional: May We All (TPAC), HVSF (2022, 2016). Corporate: Google, Samsung, Grammys, Emmys, H&M, Macy’s. Production Design: Dancing Monkey (feature), IBM, NBCUniversal, BMW, Disney, Marvel. Assistant Props: As They Made Us (AppleTV+). Professor at Citytech; Props & Paint. Freelance Interior Designer and artist. www.smartsetsbysam.com.

AMY STOLLER (Dialect Design & Dramaturgy) has helped Mint Theater Company casts suit words to actions for more than 30 productions, most recent ly Elizabeth Baker’s Chains and the revival of D.H. Lawrence’s The Daughterin-Law. Other recent projects include Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 at the A.R.T (Cambridge, MA); the premiere of Jodi Long’s American Jade (Bucks County Playhouse); the Scottish musical Islander (Playhouse 46, NYC); Ann (Cape May Stage; Kate McCauley Hathaway in the title role); Fires in the Mirror (Theatrical Outfit, Atlanta, GA; livestreamed); and

the feature film Zola (Colman Domingo as X). Amy works frequently with Anna Deavere Smith; projects to date include Notes from the Field (development, 2nd Stage, touring, HBO, and audiobook), Let Me Down Easy (development, 2nd Stage, touring, PBS), Talking About Race (Public Theater, NYC; Aspen Ideas Festival), Watching Wilson and Watson (World Science Festival, NYC), On Grace (San Francisco; Chicago), and others. www. stollersystem.com.

JUDI LEWIS OCKLER (Intimacy Director) Past collaborations with: Classic Stage Company (Snow in Midsummer, A Man of No Importance ), Signature/New Group/YW Theater @ Signature ( Hot Wing King, One in Two, Jasper), WP the ater/Second Stage (Hatef**k, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord ), New World Stages ( MsTrial ), Bedlam Theater Company (Persuasion),and Williamstown Theater Festival (A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Robert O’Hara). Intimacy Coordinator TV/film credits include Out of the Blue, directed by Neil La Bute; Plan B , with Jamie Lee; Cyclone , with Francisco Solorzano; Up Here (Hulu). She is a cer tified Intimacy Director with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators. She teach es/directs intimacy in performance at NYU Tisch Drama, National Theater Institute, and Sarah Lawrence College. judilewisockler.com

TOMMY KURZMAN (Wigs) ) Broadway: Macbeth, Mrs. Doubtfire, All My Sons, True West, St. Joan, My Fair Lady, Little Foxes, Long Day’s Journey, Bright Star and Fiddler on the Roof. Off-Broadway: Little Shop of Horrors - Westside Theatre,

WHO:

MCC, The Atlantic, The New Group, The Public, MTC, NWS. Regional: The Huntington, The MUNY, Geva Theatre, Resident Ensemble Players, Cape Playhouse, Sig. VA, MSM. Associate Hair Designer on over 15 Broadway Productions. IG: @TommyKurzmanWigs

JEFF MEYERS (Production Stage Manager) was in a play once. He played the “Captain” in the Grand Junction, Colorado, high school production of Carousel. He then turned to stage man agement. He is very pleased to be continuing his collaboration with Mr. Bank having previously worked on fourteen Mint productions including Chains, The Daughter-in-Law, Conflict, Hindle Wakes, Fashions For Men and Ernest Hemingway’s The Fifth Column . His New York highlights also include Beyond Therapy and Happy Birthday (TACT), Painting Churches and Marry Me A Little (Keen Company), Amazons and their Men (Clubbed Thumb), Orange Flower Water and Adam Rapp’s Stone Cold Dead Serious (Edge Theater Company), Hamlet (CSC), Critical Darling (New Group) and Greg Kotis’ Eat The Taste (Barrow St. Theatre). Regional highlights include Dracula (Triad Stage) and ten summer seasons with The Theater at Monmouth. His union of choice is AEA, and he ded icates this and every performance to his Mom and Dad.

MIRIAM HYFLER (Assistant Stage Manager) Recent Credits: Chains (Mint Theater Company), Twelfth Night (Music Theatre Wichita), hang (Shakespeare & Company), Shanghai Sonatas (Master Players Concert Series), In The Heights (Park Playhouse), Death Of A Driver

(Urban Stages), On Blueberry Hill, Maz And Bricks (Origin Theatre/Fishamble), Three Small Irish Masterpieces, It’s A Wonderful Life, Woman And Scarecrow (Irish Repertory Theatre), The Dingdong (Pearl Theatre Company), author Directing author (La Mama), How to Break (HERE), Henry V (New York Classical Theatre), Cymbeline, Capsule 33 (Barrow Street Theater), I Call My Brothers, The Sonic Life of a Giant Tortoise, Ludic Proxy (The Play Company), several seasons with Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, Pan Asian Rep, and New Century Theatre. Love to @orangefreddyg.

INTUITIVE PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT (Production Management) is a New York-based theatri cal production firm specializing in OffBroadway, Opera, Dance and Live Events. Founded by Robert Signom III and Scott H. Schneider, Intuitive brings superior production values and person alized support to each performance. www.intuitiveprodmgmt.com

ROBERT SIGNOM III (Production Manager) has been working in produc tion for over twenty years. As Production Manager, he has worked for Boston Lyric Opera, Heartbeat Opera, Opera Naples, Tri-Cities Opera, Signature Theatre, Gotham Chamber Opera, Aspen Opera Theatre Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, HERE Arts Center, NJPAC, and others. He is an Eagle Scout, the Curator of America’s Packard Museum, and a grad uate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

SCOTT H. SCHNEIDER (Production Manager) has been Production Manager for Bronx Opera Company for fifteen sea

sons. Other credits include The Preacher and The Shrink and An Error of the Moon (The Beckett Theatre), The Megile of Itzik Manger and KulturefestNYC (National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene), She Loves Me (Caramoor), Marie Galante (Opera Francais de New York), Darkling (AOP), and Joy (The Actors’ Playhouse). Stage Manager for Opera and theatre, OffBroadway, regional, and on tour. Former treasurer Stage Managers’ Association; graduate Wesleyan University; Artistic Director Bad Dog Productions.

STEPHANIE KLAPPER (Casting Director)

Stephanie’s award-winning work is fre quently seen on Broadway, off Broadway, regionally, on concert stages, film, televi sion, and streaming media. Select recent credits include Chains; The Daughter in Law (both for Mint Theater Company); The Lucky Star; Goldie, Max, & Milk; and The New Golden Age (all three for the Volt Festival at 59E59); Grace, the musical (Ford’s Theatre), Cymbeline (NYCT) Elf Quest, the audio movie, Ranked, the musical/HBO Documentary; Candide (Cincinnati Symphony / Philadelphia Orchestra). Stephanie, along with her exceptional team, is dedicated to con tinuing to expand and champion diver sity, equity, and inclusion in the business and is passionate about arts educa tion. Member of the National Board of Governors for Casting Society and Board Member for Casting Society Cares. Cohost of the podcast Someone’s Thunder. For Bob and Florence.

ARTS FMS provides outsourced finan cial management services to nonprofit arts groups, focusing on long-term fiscal health and sustainability and help

ing organizations focus on mission fulfillment. Arts FMS serves a variety of arts organizations with a particular focus on the performing arts. www.artsfms.com

DAVID GERSTEN & ASSOCIATES (Press Representatives) has served as press representatives and marketing consul tants on Broadway and off for over twenty-five years. In addition to Mint (since 1995), current clients include several not-for-profit theaters including Godlight Theatre Company, NAATCO, and Red Bull Theater, among others. David is VicePresident and a Trustee of ATPAM, the Association of Theatrical Press Agents & Managers (IATSE), where he also serves as the Off-Broadway Steward. He is a member of the Off-Broadway League and co-founder/Vice-President of the Off-Broadway Alliance.

MATTHEW McVEY-LEE (Associate Producer) is a producer and director. He has worked with Mint Theater Company on Chekov/Tolstoy: Love Stories, The Daughter-in-Law, and Chains as well as the streaming of Katie Roche, Conflict, Women Without Men, Hindle Wakes, and more. Favorite authors featured by Mint Theater are Teresa Deevy, Hazel Ellis, Elizabeth Baker, Miles Malleson, and George Kelly. Previously he was the Associate General Manager at Aaron Grant Theatrical, an off-Broad way general management firm where he worked on many projects including Love for Sale, Van Gogh’s Ear, Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, Bulldozer the Musical, Stranger Sings!, and others. Select direct ing credits include the murder mystery Truffles, Theater 3’s Cassandra, and the development of Drew Morrison’s Goner

WHO’S

JONATHAN BANK (Producing Artistic Director) has been the artistic director of Mint Theater Company since 1995, where he has unearthed and produced over 50 lost or neglected plays, some of which he has also directed. Some favorites include Wife to James Whelan by Teresa Deevy, Yours Unfaithfully by Miles Malleson, The New Morality by Harold Chapin, Mary Broome by Allan Monkhouse, the American Professional Premiere of The Fifth Column by Ernest Hemingway, and Maurine Dallas Watkins’ So Help Me God! starring Emmy Awardwinner Kristen Johnston. That produc tion received four Drama Desk nomina tions, including Outstanding Revival and Outstanding Director.

Bank spearheaded Mint’s ambitious four-play, two-book Teresa Deevy Project, dedicated to reclaiming the lost voice of “one of the most undeservedly ne glected and significant Irish playwrights of the 20th century” ( The Irish Times ). In a feature article about the project in America Magazine, Andrew Garavel writes, “Thanks are due to Jonathan Bank and the Mint Theater for bringing such a distinctive voice from the past so satisfyingly into the present.”

Under Bank’s leadership the Mint has earned an international reputation as the source for high-quality revivals of forgot ten works and has become, in the words of The New York Times’ Jason Zinoman, “the leading New York entrepreneur” of the neglected play business. In his re view of Mint’s 2018 production of Conflict by Miles Malleson, Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal described Jonathan

Bank as “one of a handful of theater art ists in America whose name is an abso lute guarantee of quality.”

MINT THEATER COMPANY was found ed in 1992. Jonathan Bank became artis tic director in 1995 and began to shape the company’s mission, focusing on ne glected plays from the past. Since then, the Mint has introduced theatergoers to dozens and dozens of terrific forgot ten plays, by authors as renowned as Hemingway and Tolstoy, and as obscure as Teresa Deevy and Allan Monkhouse. In the words of New York Times critic Ben Brantley, Mint Theater is the “resurrec tionist extraordinaire of forgotten plays.”

We take great pride in our many suc cessful productions, from our first major success in 1999, the American pre miere of The Voysey Inheritance by Harley Granville-Barker, to the four-time Drama Desk-nominated So Help Me God! by Maurine Dallas Watkins in 2009, to London Wall by John van Druten in 2014 and Fashions for Men by Ferenc Molnár in 2015—both of which were broadcast for local television on WNET THIRTEEN’s “Theater Close-Up.”

Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal writes that Mint has “a near-per fect track record of exhuming forgotten plays of the previous century that de serve a happier fate.” In 2020-21, Mint offered free streaming from their exten sive library of three-camera archival re cordings, reaching an international audience of grateful theatergoers stuck at home, while paying union salaries to over 100 artists.

MINT DONORS

The following generous Individuals, Foundations, & Corporations support the Mint Theater, and we honor their contributions. This list represents total donations made from October 1, 2021 to October 21, 2022..

CRÈME DE LA CRÈME:

$25,000 and above

The Shubert Foundation The Dorothy Strelsin Foundation

CRÈME DE MINT:

$10,000 - $24,999

Ted Snowdon Foundation Mental Insight Foundation Robert Brenner Virginia Brody Gail P. Gamboni

Royal Little Family Foundation

The Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation Jerome Robbins Foundation Lorna Power

The Michael Tuch Foundation Wallace Schroeder John J Yarmick

SILVERMINT:

$5,000 - $9,999 Geraldine Stutz Trust Sukenik Family Foundation Mary & Bruce Crawford Lucille Lortel Foundation Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation Axe-Houghton Foundation John & Janet Harrington

Gretchen Adkins

David L. Klein Jr. Foundation Charles & Judith Freyer Marta Heflin Foundation Blanche & Irving Laurie Foundation Southwind Foundation David Stenn

CHOCOLATEMINT:

$2,500 -$4,999

Nicholas Firth Louis Alexander Kenneth & Carole Boudreaux Marvin & Janet Rosen

Christopher Joy & Cathy Velenchik Brian & Roselle Kaltner Barbara Gottlieb H-N Raisler Fund Anonymous

Kathryn Swintek & Andre Dorra Mary Ellen & Karl Von Der Heyden Francis H. Williams

SPEARMINT:

$1,500 - $2,499 David & Kim Adler Jon Clark & Ryan Franco Barbara & John Lehman Frederick Meyer Dorinda Oliver Stagedoor Manor John Q Smith Burton & Sue Zwick Barbara Berliner & Sol Rymer Lambs Foundation Joseph Bell & Peter Longo Sandra & Jonathan Landers Stella Strazdas & Hank Forrest

PEPPERMINT:

$750 - $1,499 Martin & Maude Meisel Steven Williford Robert Sinclair Judith E Barlow Jean Cheever George Crow Anonymous Bob Donnalley Bonny & Dodge Dorland Judy Evnin Anonymous Agnes M. Gautier

Wendy Gimbel & Douglas Liebhafsky Charles & Jane Goldman Kris & Marc Granetz Sigrid A. Hess William & Margaret Kable

David & Mary Lambert James Periconi George Robb Kathy Moses Salem Ron Shaw Mary K. & Gary Stern Susan Vice Hickrill Foundation John Carley & Pia Lindstrom Actors’ Equity Foundation Julie Connelly Mihaela Cosma Sarah-Ann Kramarsky

Claire Lieberwitz & Arthur Grayzel, MD Dr Carole Shaffer-Koros & Dr Robert Koros

DOUBLEMINT:

$250 - $749

John David Metcalfe Charles J. Sperling Linda & Lloyd Alterman Robert Hall Louise Hirschfeld Stephanie & Robert Olmsted Betty Reardon

Jeanne Bergman & Anna Kramarsky Al Berr

Joseph & Susan Biernat Mary Boast Diane Broccolino Lois A Burke Thomas G. Byrne Russell Charlton & Julie Norwell Ira Cohen

Caroline Donhauser Judith Eschweiler Carol & Burke Fossee Edward & Joan Franklin Nicholas Garaufis & Betsy Seidman Margaret L Goodman Lynne Halliday John Hargraves & Nancy Newcomb Michael Herko & Robert Bennett

MINT DONORS

Kim Ima Gregory & Mary Juedes Anonymous

Lianne Lazetera Stanley & Carol Levy

Joe Mader Tom Mandia Barbara Manning Robert & Jean Markley Lisa Martorella & Summer E Moulton Susan & Joel Mindel

Ann Miner

Donna & John Moroney Asha & Devdutt Nayak Greenway O’Dea Trisha Ostergaard

Robert & Carlo Prinsky Cordelia & David Reimers Fund Anonymous Win & Mary Rutherfurd

Benjamin Segal & Jacqueline Mahal Joe Sherman

Zachary & Susan Shimer Anonymous Anonymous Pamela Stubing Anne Teshima Joan & Bob Volin Anonymous

Peggy Correa Anonymous

Patricia & Richard White Frank Morra Stuart & Sue Davidson Ronald & Amy Guttman Mark Rossier

Mary & John Wight Carmen Anthony Bert C. Bach

Steven Blier & James Russell Steven Coe Douglas & Diana Dooley Ellen & Frank Estes Barbara G.Fleischman Greg Gorel

Linda Irenegreene & Martin Kesselman Anonymous

Every

Richard & Dana Reimer Martha Van Hise John Michael Walsh Marilyn Singer & Steve Aronson Susan Zappone & Mitchell Bacharach Stacy Banks & Scott Balogh Mary (Robin) Baskett Robert & Ellie Berlin Clinton F. Best

Eugene & Joann Bissell Elaine & Martin Buss Peter Cameron Alice Perkins Audrey & Fergus Coughlan Vicki R. Davis Jamie De Roy Carolyn E. Demarest Jamie Deroy Francisco Diaz Bob Disch and Melinda Chandler Nancy Donahue Joan Drelich

Emily T Dunlap Sharon Esakoff Linda Feinstone James Feldman & Natalie Wexler Richard Ferrone & Cynthia Darlow Lisa & William Finkelstein Charles Forma Lawrence Franks & Ellen Berelson Dina A. Gamboni Joseph Goldberg Sally Graudons George & Antonia Grumbach Anonymous Henry Hecht & Sally Wasserman Carol Hekimian Claude Hersh Claire Hinchcliffe

Jocelyn E Jacknis James W Jackson Wendy & David Johnston Leonard Kreynin & Louise R. Radin George Laforest

Julie Laitin Dennis Lalli William & Robert Lang

Eva Lichtenberg & Arnold Tobin Paul Lubetkin & Joyce Gordon Joan M Lufrano

Mary Rose Main Lorraine Matys Doris & David May Cheryl & Harris May Thomas McDonald

Doreen Morales John & Michelle Morris Monica Mullin Jane & Saleem Muqaddam Virg and Bob Nahas Arts FMS

Terry Davis Perl Susan D. Ralston Anonymous

Tom Repasch

Peter Robbins & Page Sargisson Richard G Safran Catherine Scaillier Caroline Schimmel

Daphne & Peter Schwab Marilyn & Joseph Schwartz Robert & Nancy Shivers Shelley & Joel Siegel Joyce Silver Barbara Smith Anthony & Patricia Smith Karan Spanard Shondell & Edward Spiegel Anonymous Martha S. Sproule Susan Stockton Larry Sullivan

Douglas Tarr Jane Tate

Denny Denniston & Chris Thomas Patricia & Peter Valenti Jacob Waldman Daniel & Judith Walkowitz Richard Watson Trudy Wood & Jacob Goldberg Daniel Marshall Wood Nancy Workman & Jonathan Miller

Michael S. Rosenberg President & CEO

James Farkas VP & CFO

Julie Mason Groob VP & COO

Tia Powell Harris VP, Education & Community Engagement Stanford Makishi

VP & Artistic Director, Dance Programs Molly Meloy VP, Marketing & Communications Naomi Weinstock VP, Development

PROGRAMMING

Lear deBessonet Artistic Director, Encores! Mary-Mitchell Campbell Music Director, Encores! Clint Ramos

Producing Creative Director, Encores! Jenny Gersten Producer of Musical Theater

Josh Clayton Director of Music Administration & Score Restoration

Adrian Alea Creative Associate, Encores!

Jeanine Tesori Creative Advisor

Jack Viertel Consulting Producer for Musical Theater Cathy Eilers

Associate Director, Dance Programs Mia Silvestri Coordinator, Dance Programs

Nia Sadler

Dance Programming Apprentice

GENERAL MANAGEMENT

Jessica Perlmeter Cochrane General Manager Amy Eingold Assistant General Manager Elmes Gomez Artist Services & Company Manager

AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT

Thomas Mygatt Director of Audience Engagement & Sales John Toguville Box Office Treasurer Jon Ferreira Assistant Box Office Treasurer

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Don Lavis Director of Information Technology Rodney Morris Desktop Support Specialist

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

Joe Guttridge Communications & Editorial Director Cody Andrus Director of Marketing

Ben Miller Website Manager & Video Producer

Jessica Goldschmidt Copywriter

Jasmine Thorson Designer

Sara Garcia Communications & Marketing Coordinator

Catherine Hunt

Digital Marketing Coordinator

Austin Spero Social Media Manager

Kaelyn Johnson Marketing Apprentice

PRODUCTION & VENUE OPERATIONS

Carlos Dolan Director of Production & Venue Operations

Julie Shelton-Grimshaw

Director of Production Nadine Love Assistant Director of Rentals & Venue Operations

Tim Thistleton

Technical Director

Sophia Pesetti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Assistant Production Manager

Alison Jaruzelski

& Rentals Assistant

Gerry Griffin Head Carpenter Evan Vorono Head Electrician

Justin Malone Head Properties Caroline Conoly House Manager Alex Johnson

House Manager, Stage I & II Tia White Head Usher Sydnee Davis

Production Management Apprentice

OUTSIDE SERVICES

Naomi Warner Customer Care Associate Manager Ashley Vasquez Customer Care Associate Erin Finnegan McCarthy

Customer Care Associate

BUILDING MANAGEMENT

Kauff McGuire & Margolis LLP Counsel Shelby Silverman Mulligan Security Corp

Building Security Lutz & Carr, Fred Martens,

Public Accountants DeWitt Stern Group

Insurance Brokers Sweet Hospitality Group Lobby Refreshments SweetHospitalityGroup.com Medical Consultant Bernard Camins, MD

Chief Engineer

Jay Dority Director of Facilities & Capital Planning Gabby Goldstein Facilities Manager Krystal M. Ramroop Facilities Assistant Maria Cortez Operations Assistant Max Perez

Heather Gallagher Director of Development Jessica McEwen Director of Individual Giving Susan Strebel Director of Special Events & Development Operations Shaun Newport Individual Giving Officer William Gfeller

Giving Manager Brittney Woolley

D&B Audiotechnik Loudspeaker Systems

DIRECTORY

212.247.0430,

Membership Manager Ivan Yi-Heng Manager of Donor Information Randall Simmons

Giving

Special Events Coordinator Brian Bizier Institutional Giving Assistant Theresa Regan Individual Giving Assistant Matt Sanger

Assistant Nikita Shrimanker Development Apprentice

Loureannie Reynoso-

Sarah Kutnowsky

Adkisson

Malaikia Sims-Winfrey

Alexander Frenkel

Andrea Williams

Quin Bommer

Michael Hartwyk

Judith A. Disla

& COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Inclusion Manager

Manager,

–

10am – 6pm Security Desk, Lost & Found

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