Amas Musical Theatre Presents The New York Premiere of TEA FOR THREE, Beginning 5/30

Amas Musical Theatre (Donna Trinkoff, Artistic Producer) to present the New York premiere of TEA FOR THREE: Lady Bird, Pat & Betty starring Elaine Bromka, written by Drama Desk and Lortel Award nominee Eric H. Weinberger with Ms. Bromka and directed by Byam Stevens. Tea For Three begins performances on May 30 and will celebrate its opening on Monday, June 3 and will run through June 29, 2013 at The 30th Street Theatre (259 West 30 Street). Tickets are $45 (preview tickets are $25 through June 2) and are available at www.teaforthree.com or by calling (212) 868-4444. Discounts for seniors, students and groups are available.

Emmy Award-winning actress Elaine Bromka takes on three women who suddenly found themselves celebrities in politically tumultuous times: Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon and Betty Ford. TEA FOR THREE offers a witty, intimate and thought-provoking perspective on the politics of love, devotion, and first ladydom, revealing the personal cost of what Mrs. Nixon called the "hardest unpaid job in the world."

Touring the country, Tea for Three and Ms. Bromka have been critically acclaimed for its blend of humor and passion, cited as "marvelous, poignant" (The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J.) and "a fascinating evening, laced with insight, emotion and humor... brilliant acting" (The Record-Review, in Westchester County.) Ms. Bromka has over thirty years' experience in film, television, Broadway, and off-Broadway. She appeared as the mom in Uncle Buck with John Candy, as Stella on "Days of our Lives," and on "E.R.," "The Sopranos," and "Law and Order." She received a New England Emmy for her work in "Catch a Rainbow."

The inspiration for Tea for Three came about when Bromka starred opposite Rich Little in The Presidents, which she performed across the country and on PBS. Called upon to impersonate eight First Ladies, she ended up spending months poring over videotapes of the women. Studying nuances of their body language and speech patterns to explore psychologically why they moved and spoke as they did, she became more and more drawn in by their personalities. "These were women of intelligence and grit who suddenly found themselves in a fishbowl," Bromka observed. "I realized I wanted to tell the story from their point of view. And I wanted to explode myths. Pat was called 'Plastic Pat' in the press, for example, because she was always smiling. Look more closely at her eyes, though. There's nothing plastic about her. You see the eyes of a private, watchful survivor." Her collaborator, Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Award nominee Eric H. Weinberger, is the author of several Off-Broadway plays, including Wanda's World and Class Mothers '68. He and Bromka zeroed in on the three women, linking their stories by revealing each one at the threshold moment of the end of her time in the White House.