stage play
A play is a work of drama, usually consisting mostly of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and intended for theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Reading (process), reading. The writer of a play is called a playwright.
Pla ...
by George Kelly about a housewife who becomes an actress (the original actress became a widow and withdrew) while her husband is away on business, with Act I being the rehearsal at their home, Act II is the show, and Act III is afterwards. The play is in the style of, as is the play within the play, of the
Little Theatre Movement As the new medium of cinema was beginning to replace theater as a source of large-scale spectacle, the Little Theatre Movement developed in the United States around 1912. The Little Theatre Movement served to provide experimental centers for the dra ...
.
Production history
It premiered originally in New Jersey at the Savoy Theatre in
Asbury Park
Asbury Park () is a beachfront city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area.
As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 15,188
, directed by Kelly, starring Arthur Shaw (Frederick Ritter), Douglas Garden (Huxley Hossefrosse), Edward Reese (Mr. Spindler), Booth Howard (Ralph Twiller), William Castle (Teddy Spearing), J.A. Curtis (Stage Manager),
Mary Boland
Mary Boland (born Marie Anne Boland; January 28, 1882 – June 23, 1965) was an American stage and film actress.
Early years
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Boland was the daughter of repertory actor William Augustus Boland, and his wife M ...
(Paula Ritter),
Alison Skipworth
Alison Skipworth (born Alison Mary Elliott Margaret Groom; 25 July 18635 July 1952) was an English stage and screen actress.
Early years
Skipworth was born in London. She was the daughter of Dr. Richard Ebenezer Groom and Elizabeth Rodgers, an ...
(J. Duro Pampinelli),
Helen Lowell
Helen Lowell born Helen Lowell Robb (1866–1937) was an American stage and film actress.
Life
Lowell was born in New York on June 2, 1866, to William and Mary Robb. In 1884 she debuted in the title role of Iolanthe at the Academy of Music in Ne ...
(Nelly Fell), Rose Mary King (Florence McCrickett), Daisy Atherton (Clara Sheppard), and Mary Gildea (Jenny). The show would before transferring to Broadway and opening on August 29, 1922 at the
48th Street Theatre
The 48th Street Theatre was a Broadway theatre at 157 West 48th Street in Manhattan. It was built by longtime Broadway producer William A. Brady and designed by architect William Albert Swasey. The venue was also called the Equity 48th Stree ...
. According to the play and The Independent, it was staged at the
Vanderbilt Theatre
The Vanderbilt Theatre was a New York City Broadway theatre, designed by architect Eugene De Rosa for producer Lyle Andrews. It opened in 1918,
The show was revived in 2000 at the Greenwich House, directed by
Dylan Baker
Dylan Baker (born October 7, 1959) is an American actor. He gained recognition for his roles in the films such as ''Planes, Trains and Automobiles'' (1987), ''Happiness'' (1998), '' Thirteen Days'' (2000), ''Road to Perdition'' (2002), ''Spider-M ...
, set design Michael Vaughn Sims, costumes design
Jonathan Bixby
Jonathan Charles Bixby (June 21, 1959 – April 29, 2001) was a costume designer and a founding member of Drama Dept., a New York-based theater company.
Background
Bixby was born June 21, 1959, in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. He attended and ...
and
Gregory Gale
Gregory Gale is a New York-based costume designer.
Career
Gale is a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology and is well known for his character-driven designs. In 2009 he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Costume Design of a Musica ...
, lighting design Mark Stanley, sound design Robert Murphy, hair design Darlene Dannenfelser, production supervision by Entolo, production stage manager John Handy and assistant stage manager Casey Bozeman. The show starred
David Garrison
David Earl Garrison (born June 30, 1952) is an American actor. His primary venue is live theatre, but he is best known as the character Steve Rhoades in the television series, '' Married... with Children''. He has also appeared in numerous theat ...
(Frederick Ritter),
Faith Prince
Faith Prince (born August 6, 1957) is an American actress and singer, best known for her work on Broadway in musical theatre. She won the Tony Award as Best Actress in ''Guys and Dolls'' in 1992, and received three other Tony nominations.
Life ...
(Paula Ritter),
Marian Seldes
Marian Hall Seldes (August 23, 1928 – October 6, 2014) was an American actress. A five-time Tony Award nominee, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for '' A Delicate Balance'' in 1967, and received subsequent nominations ...
Joan Copeland
Joan Maxine Kupchik ( Miller; June 1, 1922 – January 4, 2022), known professionally as Joan Copeland, was an American actress. She was the younger sister of playwright Arthur Miller. She began her career during the mid-1940s, appearing in thea ...
(Nelly Fell), Paul Mullins (Ralph Twiller), Don Mayo (Huxley Hossefrosse), Ralph Cole Jr. (Teddy Sperling), Susan Mansur (Jenny), Claire Beckman (Clara Sheppard), and
Albert Macklin
Albert Macklin (born 1958) is an American film and stage actor.
Filmography Film
* ''David & Layla'' (2005)
* ''Cradle Will Rock'' (1999)
* ''Daylight'' (1996)
* ''Date with an Angel'' (1987)
Television
* ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' e ...
(Mr. Spindler).
It was revived in 2009 at the
Williamstown Theatre Festival
The Williamstown Theatre Festival is a resident summer theater on the campus of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1954 by Williams College news director Ralph Renzi and drama program chairman David C. Bryant. I ...
, again directed by
Dylan Baker
Dylan Baker (born October 7, 1959) is an American actor. He gained recognition for his roles in the films such as ''Planes, Trains and Automobiles'' (1987), ''Happiness'' (1998), '' Thirteen Days'' (2000), ''Road to Perdition'' (2002), ''Spider-M ...
, set design
David Korins
David Korins (born August 4, 1976) is a creative director and the principal designer of Korins.
Career
Korins has designed more than 20 Broadways shows including ''Hamilton'' (Tony Award nomination), ''Dear Evan Hansen, Beetlejuice'' (Tony Awa ...
, lighting design
Rui Rita Rui Rita is an Obie Award-winning New York City based American lighting designer known for his extensive work On- and Off-Broadway.
Career
Broadway
Source:
Off-Broadway
Source:
Regional
Rita continues to work regionally, including ac ...
, costume design Ilona Somogyi, sound design Alex Neumann, original music Michael Garin. The show starred
Jessica Hecht
Jessica Hecht is an American actress and singer who played Gretchen Schwartz on '' Breaking Bad'', Susan Bunch on ''Friends'', and Carol on '' The Boys''. She has also made numerous Broadway appearances.
Early life and education
Hecht was born ...
(Clara Sheppard),
Katherine McGrath
Katherine McGrath was an American singer and stage and television actress, who has appeared in several Broadway plays.
Career
Katherine McGrath studied acting at The Boston Conservatory and later at the Royal Academy of London. McGrath acted a ...
(Duro Pampinelli),
Katie Finneran
Katie Finneran (born January 22, 1971) is an American actress best known for her Tony Award-winning performances in the Broadway play ''Noises Off'' in 2002, and the musical '' Promises, Promises'' in 2010.
(Florence McCrickett),
Andrea Martin
Andrea Louise Martin (born January 15, 1947) is an American-Canadian actress, singer, and comedian, best known for her work in the television series '' SCTV'' and ''Great News''. She has appeared in films such as '' Black Christmas'' (1974), ''W ...
(Nelly Fell),
Edward Herrmann
Edward Kirk Herrmann (July 21, 1943 – December 31, 2014) was an American actor, director, and writer. He was perhaps best known for his portrayals of Franklin D. Roosevelt in both the miniseries '' Eleanor and Franklin'' (1976) and 1982 film ...
(Huxley Hossefrosse), Philip Goodwin (Ralph Twiler), Yusef Bulos (Mr. Spindler),
James Waterston
James Waterston (born January 17, 1969) is an American actor whose first role was playing Gerard Pitts in the 1989 film ''Dead Poets Society''.
Personal life
Waterston grew up in New York City, the son of actor Sam Waterston and Barbara Rutle ...
William Conselman
William Marien Conselman (July 10, 1896 – May 25, 1940) was an American screenwriter who also wrote newspaper comic strips under his Bill Conselman byline and sometimes under the pseudonym Frank Smiley.
Biography
Born in Brooklyn, New York, C ...
and
Bartlett Cormack
Edward Bartlett Cormack (March 19, 1898 – September 16, 1942) was an American actor, playwright, screenwriter, and producer best known for his 1927 Broadway play ''The Racket'', and for working with Howard Hughes and Cecil B. DeMille on sever ...
adapted ''The Torch-Bearers'' into ''
Doubting Thomas
A doubting Thomas is a skeptic who refuses to believe without direct personal experience — a reference to the Gospel of John's depiction of the Apostle Thomas, who, in John's account, refused to believe the resurrected Jesus had appeared to t ...
'' starring
Will Rogers
William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma ...
,
Billie Burke
Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke (August 7, 1884 – May 14, 1970) was an American actress who was famous on Broadway and radio, and in silent and sound films. She is best known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North ...
, and
Alison Skipworth
Alison Skipworth (born Alison Mary Elliott Margaret Groom; 25 July 18635 July 1952) was an English stage and screen actress.
Early years
Skipworth was born in London. She was the daughter of Dr. Richard Ebenezer Groom and Elizabeth Rodgers, an ...
. A 1939 movie ''
Too Busy to Work (1939 film)
''Too Busy to Work'' is a 1939 American comedy film, directed by Otto Brower and starring Jed Prouty, Spring Byington, and Kenneth Howell. It was one of the Jones Family film series, based upon the play of the same name.
References
External link ...
'', starring
Jed Prouty
Jed Prouty (born Clarence Gordon Prouty; April 6, 1879 – May 10, 1956) was an American film actor.
Biography
Born as Clarence Gordon Prouty in Boston, Massachusetts, Prouty was a vaudeville performer before becoming a film actor. Mostly app ...
,
Spring Byington
Spring Dell Byington (October 17, 1886 – September 7, 1971) was an American actress. Her career included a seven-year run on radio and television as the star of ''December Bride''. She was a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player who appeared in ...
, and
Kenneth Howell
Kenneth Howell (February 21, 1913 - September 28, 1966) was an American actor. He is best remembered for roles in films such as ''Pardon My Pups'' (1934), '' The Wrong Way Out'' (1938), '' Pride of the Bowery'' (1940) and ''Ball of Fire'' (194 ...
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a Virtual volunteering, volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the ...