New York, NY Pe r m i t N o . 7 5 2 8
pa i d
non - profit u . s . postage
APRIL14
“A play of quite extraordinary delicacy and soundness of feeling.” -The New York Times, 1922
through
JUNE 25
PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
JONATHAN BANK MANAGING DIRECTOR
SETS Vicki R. Davis
COSTUMES Martha Hally Paton Ashbrook LIGHTS Christian DeAngelis Ari Brand SOUND Toby Algya Andrew Fallaize PROPS Joshua Yocom Michael Frederic DIALECTS & DRAMATURGY Amy Stoller CASTING Stephanie Klapper, CSA Robert David Grant PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER Jeff Meyers Wynn Harmon ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER Kelly Burns Cynthia Harris ILLUSTRATION Stefano Imbert Deanne Lorette GRAPHICS Hey Jude Design, Inc. Peggy J. Scott ADVERTISING The Pekoe Group PRESS David Gersten & Associates Mia Hutchinson-Shaw Theatre Row | The Beckett Theatre 410 West 42nd St., between 9th & 10th
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ONLINE: TELECHARGEOFFERS.COM PHONE: 212-947-8844 IN PERSON: 410 WEST 42ND ST NOON-8PM, MON-SUN PERFORMANCES: Tue-Sat at 7:30pm Sat & Sun at 2:00pm Wed. Matinee: 5/17 and 5/31 at 2:00pm $30 RUSH TICKETS AVAILABLE: One hour prior to performance.
By
A.A. Milne Directed by
Jesse Marchese
APRIL 14 through
JUNE 25 Now Performing at Theatre Row 410 West 42nd St, between 9th & 10th
with:
Jesse Marchese
Terry Teachout, The Wall Street Journal
A.A. Milne
Directed by
330 West 42nd St, Ste 1210 NY, NY 10036
By
“No drama troupe in America has carved out a more distinctive niche for itself than the Mint Theater Company.”
JEN SOLOWAY
Theatre Row The Beckett Theatre 410 West 42nd St.
MintTheater.org THIS PRODUCTION IS SUPPORTED IN PART BY: The New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
By public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
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“ ew plays have ever been more directly and deeply searching of the springs of conduct; more subtle in depicting essential character.” -The New York Times, 1922
THE LUCKY ONE is the timeless story of antagonism between two brothers: Gerald, who stands in the sun and Bob, who stands in Gerald’s shadow. When Bob finds himself in serious legal trouble, he turns to Gerald for rescue. When Gerald fails to come through, years of simmering resentment boil over in a confrontation that is as stirring as it is surprising.
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“ t takes a motive that life and the human mind has conventionalized for ages—even in the old folk and fairy tales— and makes it fresh and new and, in the highest sense, instructive.”
-The Nation, 1922
Alan Alexander Milne had been the assistant editor and a regular contributor to Punch magazine for ten years before he joined the war effort at the age of 32, as a signals officer. It was in the Army that Milne first turned his hand to playwriting, which he considered a luxury for a journalist. “When an article is written,” Milne explained, “the financial reward is a matter of certainty…But when a play is written, there is no certainty of anything save disillusionment…I thought I could write one (we all do) but I could not afford so unpromising a gamble. But once in the Army the case was altered.” As a soldier, Milne felt entitled to spend his leisure time as he wished, and he began writing plays. His earliest efforts were published in 1919 in a volume called First Plays. Milne remarked in the Introduction, “THE LUCKY ONE was doomed from the start with a name like that…I see no hope of its being produced.” Despite Milne’s prediction, THE LUCKY ONE was produced in 1922 in New York, his sixth Broadway production in less than two years, including Mr. Pim Pases By and The Truth About Blayds, both produced by the Mint. A.A. Milne was now “that extraordinarily brilliant theatrical prospect,” and provoking envy and dismay from fellow playwrights: “Something, preferably of a harsh nature, will have to be done about Mr. Milne. He is steadily monopolizing the theatres of the habitable globe for the performance of his plays…He has not yet taken possession of the sixty theatres of New York, but if he continues to occupy them at his present pace, the whole lot will soon be labelled, ‘Reserved for Mr. Milne!” (St. John Ervine, The Observer) THE LUCKY ONE introduced theatergoers to Milne in a dramatic vein. The Nation said it was “simply in a different world from all the other plays of Mr. Milne.”
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“ t analyzes a moral problem in strictly dramatic terms with both delicacy of touch and weightiness of intention.” -The Nation, 1922
enrichMINT events
A.A. MILNE By Maya Cantu
At once ironic and fanciful, the work of A.A. Milne spanned novels, light verse, essays, and children’s literature. Yet beyond his beloved Winnie-the-Pooh books, Milne wrote over two dozen plays marked by “enchanting ingenuity” (E.V. Lucas), skillful craftsmanship, and subtle wit. Peering beneath the polite surfaces and semblances of English life, Milne concealed a serious and penetrating eye under a charmingly light touch. The youngest son of educator John Vine Milne, Alan Alexander Milne was born in London on January 18th, 1882. He attended his father’s Henley House school, followed by Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. Admired for his humorous verse and sketches, Milne became editor of Cambridge’s The Granta, and displayed so much promise in the pages of Punch that, at the age of twenty-four, he was promoted to assistant editor. With the advent of WWI, Milne departed Punch to serve as a signals officer with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. In his spare hours, Milne devised his first play: Wurzel-Flummery, produced in the West End in 1917. Milne’s breakthrough came with the sensational 1920 London premiere of Mr. Pim Passes By, followed by its 1921 production by the Theatre Guild. The Stage praised Mr. Pim as “one of the most delightful comedies (New York) has seen in many months,” and predicted that “Mr. Milne’s...future work will find a ready market in America and England.” Indeed, no less than three Milne comedies opened during the 1921-22 Broadway season: The Great Broxopp, The Dover Road, and The Truth About Blayds, for which Alexander Woollcott named Milne “the happiest acquisition the English theatre has made since it captured Shaw and Barrie.” Though increasingly saddled with a reputation
ENRICHMINT EVENTS ARE SUPPORTED IN PART BY 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, APRIL 15 after the matinee: MEET THE DESIGNERS Director Jesse Marchese and his design team will talk about the process, the production and the play–and answer your questions.
for “whimsy,” Milne demonstrated his versatility with Broadway productions of The Romantic Age, and his 1917 play The Lucky One, produced by the Theatre Guild in 1922. The 1924 publication of When We Were Very Young, followed by Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), marked a pivotal change in Milne’s fortunes. Immortalized by his creation of the Hundred Acre Wood, Milne was increasingly passed by as a writer for adults. Milne later reminisced in his Autobiography of his critical decline, “…The hero of my latest play, God help it, was ‘just Christopher Robin grown up.’” Enjoying his last stage successes in the late 1920s, Milne’s career in the theatre gave way to fiction and essays. He died on January 31, 1956. By this time, his children’s books had sold some seven million copies, though much of Milne’s other writing languished out of print. With its 2004 production of Milne at the Mint—an effervescent pairing of Mr. Pim Passes By with The Truth About Blayds— Mint Theater memorably restored Milne to the stage’s spotlight. Wilborn Hampton commented in The New York Times, “Seeing Mr. Pim and Blayds in repertory reveals Milne as an able craftsman with a droll sense of humor whose work maintains a valid theatrical vitality.” With The Lucky One, the Mint is delighted to return to the work of A.A. Milne, a playwright of enduring charm, depth, and surprise.
SUNDAY, APRIL 23 after the matinee: JEANNE SAFER, AUTHOR OF CAIN’S LEGACY: LIBERATING SIBLINGS FROM A LIFETIME OF RAGE, SHAME, SECRECY AND REGRET Jeanne Safer, PhD is a psychotherapist who has been in private practice for over forty years. She is the author of six acclaimed books on neglected psychological issues. Her most recent book is The Golden Condom: And Other Essays on Love Lost and Found (Picador, 2016). She has appeared on television (“The Today Show,” “Good Morning America,” and “CBS World News Tonight”) and contributed articles to The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. Dr. Safer’s discussion will focus on the play’s depiction of a sibling rivalry.
SATURDAY, APRIL 29 after the matinee: “AS CHARMING AS USUAL?” MAYA CANTU, THEATER HISTORIAN AND DRAMATURG Maya Cantu is a theater historian, scholar, and Dramaturgical Advisor for the Mint. She received a D.F.A. in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism at Yale School of Drama, and joins the Drama faculty of Bennington College this fall. Maya is the author of the book, American Cinderellas on the Broadway Musical Stage: Imagining the Working Girl from “Irene” to “Gypsy.” Her discussion will focus on the life and work of A.A. Milne, and on the contexts and influences informing The Lucky One.
Mint Theater Company Spring Benefit Monday, April 24, 2017 Colony Club 564 Park Ave. For information, or to buy tickets visit the InvestMINT page at MintTheater.org or call 212.315.0231