wife to james whelanby teresa deevydirected by jonathan bank

with: Rosie Benton, Janie BRookshiRe, shawn Fagan, Jon FletcheR, JeRemy s. holm, thomas matthew kelley, aidan Redmond, liv Rooth

set vicki R. davis costumes maRtha hally lights nicole PeaRcesound Jane shaw PRoPeRties deBoRah gaouette

stage manageR samone B. weissman asst. stage manageR lauRen mcaRthuRdialects & dRamatuRgy amy stolleR asst. diRectoR aRielle liPshaw

gRaPhics hunteR kaczoRowski illustRation steFano imBeRt PRess RePResentative david geRsten & associates

casting stuaRt howaRd, amy schecteR & Paul haRdt

artistic directorjonathan bank

general managersherri kotimsky

to purchase tickets: by mail or in person:

311 West 43rd Street, #307, NY 10036

by phone: (212) 315-0231($2.50 service charge applies)

by fax: (212) 977-5211

online: minttheater.org

No service charge for online orders! All tickets are held at the Box Office.

July 29 th thRough sePtemBeR 26 th

at the mint theater (311 west 43rd street, third floor)

Sav e $10 p e r t i c k e t j u ly 29 - S e p t e m b e r 5. pay o n ly $45!(uSe code dv45) regular price $55

sPecial discount oFFeR!

performances Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday at 7pmFriday & Saturday at 8pm Saturday & Sunday at 2pm

25 under 30:Anyone under 30 can order $25 tickets in advance! (limit one ticket per id, needed for ticket pickup)

box office: 12-6 Monday through Friday.Weekend Hours (Beginning July 31): 10-6 Saturday, 11-3 Sunday

FuRtheR Readings

On September 19th at 7:30pm

the king oF sPain’s daughteRFollowed by a discussion with the director & cast.

Considered “among the greatest one-acts ever written,” KiNg OF SpAiN’S DAugHTer tells the story of Annie, a girl whose head swims with daydreams and whose heart beats for adventure. Then one April day, when she must decide between marriage or a grueling factory job, reality threatens to crush her dreams. What will she choose?

Deevy dedicated this play to “an April day,” as she was inspired to write it one sunny April afternoon. Come hear this “delicate and beautiful masterpiece,” a paean to the possibilities—and heartbreak—of an April day.

Tickets $15 per person.

tionól!

Monday, August 23rd

oPening night eventCocktails 6:00-7:30, show at 8:00pm and reception with cast to follow.

Tionól is a gaelic word for gathering, specifically any gathering made with the purpose of sharing. Nothing could be more apt to describe Mint’s exciting opening night festivities for the American premiere of WiFe TO JAMeS WHelAN by Teresa Deevy.

To celebrate, please join us for a Teresa Deevy Tionól! The evening starts with an intimate pre-show cocktail reception, where Dr. Christopher Morash will speak briefly about Deevy and her wonderful play. Then, join us for the opening night performance, followed by a party with the cast and production team.

please join us for this unforgettable event! Tickets $250 per person.

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- The Irish Times

The Mint Theater is proud to be part of 1st irish 2010, New York’s annual Festival of irish theatre. The Festival runs from September 7th to October 3rd at venues across New York. For a full list of events visit www.1stirish.org

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teresa deevy (1894-1963) After years of rejection, Deevy had her first play produced at ireland’s Abbey Theater in 1930, at the age of 36. One of ireland’s leading critics predicted: “The new dramatist from whom most may be expected in the future is Miss T. Deevy.”1

Deevy lived up to expectations in 1932 when Temporal Powers shared first-prize in the Abbey’s new play competition. The Irish Times called it “one of the most thoughtful works seen for sometime at the Abbey.” Frank O’Connor, author and future Abbey director sent Deevy a note: “When i saw Reapers i knew something was happening. When i saw your new play, i realised it had happened with a vengeance.”

in 1936 Deevy’s most popular play, Katie Roche, premiered. it was published in the “Famous plays” series (“even though it cannot yet be called famous,” the publisher acknowledged) and was revived by the Abbey in 1949, 1975 and 1994—each time to critical acclaim: “Full of wisdom and compassionate warmth,” the Irish Independent gushed in 1975, “A most welcome draught of pure, fresh air in the theater.”

Deevy had six plays produced by the Abbey Theatre between 1930 and 1936, and then the Abbey turned its back on her. WiFe TO JAMeS WHelAN, Deevy’s next and perhaps

best play was rejected, effectively ending her career as an Abbey playwright. “i must just make an opening elsewhere,” she wrote to a friend, and then began to write for the radio—a remarkable turn of events, given that she was completely deaf. She lost her hearing due to an illness in her late teens and was never able to hear her beautifully-crafted dialogue spoken.

perhaps it was this handicap that lent her works the touch of genius that was acclaimed by critics. Her characters showed their fascination, not so much in their direct speech as in their half-said allusions which revealed their depths of character and her own searching observations of human nature.2

John Jordan calls Deevy “the most humane of our dramatists….indeed, no other irish dramatist of the last quarter-century,” he writes in 1954, “has been more concerned with probing realistically the vagaries of human nature.”

Beginning on July 29th, 2010, the Mint Theater is very pleased to introduce you to Miss Teresa Deevy: “One of [ireland’s] best and most neglected dramatists.”3

1. The irish Theatre in 1930, Andrew e. Malone: The Dublin Magazine, Vol. 6, No, 2. 2. Obituary, The Irish Times, 1/21/1963. 3. The Irish Times, 1953.

set in a small town in the middle of

ireland, WiFe TO JAMeS WHelAN tells the story of a conflict between ambition and happiness. James is determined to make his mark. Nan thinks he should be content with what he has. When James takes a prized job in Dublin, he leaves Nan behind. “i’ll come back to Kilbeggan to do something,” he vows. James asks Nan to wait for him, but she makes no promises.

We next see James seven years later, sole proprietor of a new enterprise in Kilbeggan, the “Silver Wings” Bus Service and “all the girls are going at him full tilt.” Three women might be ‘Wife to James Whelan’: Nan, his true love, Kate, his true friend, and Nora, who appeals to his ambition—but can anyone or anything bring him happiness?

Beginning on a lazy day in May, the play bursts out with unexpected power and passion. “A play of tragic proportion”, declared the Irish Times, comparing James to King lear, “a tormented figure, passionate yet ambitious, kindly yet prone to blinding anger.”

“A remarkably successful attempt to present in local terms a tragic situation cast in the classical mould,” writes the Irish Tatler. “The hero and heroine with their twisted and conflicting passions belong to the world of Sophocles and Hardy.”

Deevy tells their story with insight and sensitivity; her treatment is “unique in its subtlety,”1 and profound in its psychological complexity. “A simple play, skillfully devised, about a complex character, it opens by setting out its thesis,

and establishing its conflicts; then, very humanely, leaves the biggest of them unsolved.”2

WiFe TO JAMeS WHelAN is “the ultimate testimony to Deevy’s originality, sensitivity, and deep understanding of human nature.”3

1. Irish University Review, 1995. 2. The Irish Independent, 1956 3. Irish University Review, 1995.

e n r i c h m i n t e v e n t s

C h r i s t o P h e r morash is the Head of the School of english, Drama and Media Studies at National university of ireland, Maynooth. He is the author of A History of Irish Theatre 1601- 2000, winner of the 2002 Theater Book prize. Chris recently published A History of the Media in Ireland, commissioned by Cambridge university press.

Thursday, August 19th

“No Use for My Work”:

deevy and iReland’s aBBey theatRe

Deevy had a very fruitful relationship with the Abbey, up until the time they declined to produce WiFe TO JAMeS WHelAN. This discussion will explore that relationship, and it’s ending.

Saturday August 21st: 11:30 to 12:45 (matinee at 2:00).

oN the oUtside: teResa deevy and

iRish theatRe

A special pre-show enrichMint event focused on locating Deevy’s work in the context of other irish playwrights of her era. Dr. Morash will also take questions after the performance.

Sunday, August 21st

“oh, yoU’re A Wild

CreAtUre”: teResa deevy’s women

Deevy created some of the most remarkable female characters in the irish Drama: in Katie Roche, King of Spain’s Daughter and In Search of Valour. This talk will explore their “wild” behavior!

“A more sensitive earfor dialogue and

a more sensitive heart for

human feeling

than many later and harder trying

successors” - The Irish Times, 1975

“teresa deevy may be a genius.”

- St. John Ervine, The Observer

Wednesday, August 4th

Q&A With CAst Meet the cast as they answer your questions about the play.

Saturday, August 7th

ChArtiNg the AirWAves

professor eileen Morgan-Zayachek, SuNY Oneonta

professor eileen Morgan-Zayachek places Deevy’s radio plays within the context of irish radio’s growth prior to World War ii. in the 1930’s and early 40’s, irish broadcasting was underdeveloped and many writers looked down on radio drama. Thanks to pioneers like Deevy and intrepid broadcasters, attitudes changed.

eileen morgan-zayaChek is Chair of english and Associate professor at SuNY Oneonta. She has written extensively on irish radio during the 1930’s and 40’s and is co-editor of A Century of Irish Drama: Widening the Stage.

Sunday, August 8th

irelANd’s NAtioNAl theAter

professor John p. Harrington,Fordham university

After the death of its co-founder W.B. Yeats in 1939, the Abbey underwent many changes. professor John p. Harrington discusses the transitory state of the Abbey during the late 1930’s and 40’s, which was also around the time Wife to James Whelan was rejected.

john P. harrington is the author of The Irish Beckett, The Irish Play on the New York Stage and The Life of a Neighborhood Playhouse on Grand Street and editor of the Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Irish Drama and Irish Theater in America.

Wednesday, August 11th

ANother Wife?Members of the Cast and Director Jonathan Bank

An alternate ending to Wife to James Whelan exists, though it’s unclear if it was ever used or if Teresa Deevy even wrote it.

Tonight, members of cast will read this intriguing “other” ending—and find out what might have been!

Saturday, August 14th

teresA deevy iN CoNtext

professor Maureen O. Murphy,Hofstra university

professor Murphy contextualizes Deevy’s work as a woman writer in ireland during the 1930’s and 1940’s.

maureen o. murPhy was senior editor for the Dictionary of Irish Biography and is currently writing a biography of Asenath Nicholson. She is professor of Curriculum and Teaching in the School of education, Health, and Human Services at Hofstra u.

Sunday, September 12th

My trip to irelANdDirector Jonathan Bank

Bank shares stories from his recent trip to ireland, where he met with members of the Deevy family and visited landscape, the Deevy home for generations. Teresa wrote many of her plays at landscape, where her papers are now housed.

Saturday, August 14th

title title titleprofessor Maureen O. Murphy,Hofstra university

professor Murphy contextualizes Deevy’s work as a woman writer in ireland during the 1930’s and 1940’s.

name here was senior editor for the Dictionary of Irish Biography and is currently.

“one of the most

undeservedly neglected

andsignificant

irish playwrights of the 20th century.”

- The Irish Times, 1994

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.