He and She Presented by The Actors Company Theatre

By: BWW News Desk Nov. 11, 2005

TACT (The Actors Company Theatre), Co-Artistic Directors Scott Alan Evans, Cynthia Harris and Simon Jones continue its mission of "presenting neglected or rarely produced plays of literary merit" with the second offering of their 13th season. TACT Company Member Kyle Fabel will direct HE AND SHE, an early feminist "battle of the sexes" drama (1911) by Rachel Crothers. "He" and "She" are Tom and Ann Herford, husband and wife artists whose marriage is threatened when they both compete for a prestigious commission. Decades ahead of its time, HE AND SHE examines the plight of the emancipated woman and the double standard she must confront when trying to reconcile career and family. Performances will take place at Florence Gould Hall at the French Institute Alliance Français (55 East 59th Street) on Saturday, November 19th at 7:30pm; Sunday, November 20th at 2pm; and Monday, November 21st at 7:30pm. Tickets are $20 and may be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at 212-307-4100. Tickets can also be purchased at the Florence Gould Hall box office located at 55 East 59th Street (between Madison and Park Avenues).

HE AND SHE is directed by Kyle Fabel with a cast that includes TACT Company Members Eve Bianco, Rachel Fowler, Greg McFadden, Gloria Moore, James Fowler and Guest Artists Paul DeBoy and Angela Reed. The production team includes Shelley Tseng (Assistant Director), Mary Louise Geiger (Lighting Designer), Steve Cozzi (Costume Coordinator), and Jonathan Faiman (Original Music). Dawn Dunlop is Production Stage Manager.

The remainder of the season includes: Both Your Houses, by Maxwell Anderson; March 11-13, 2006 and The Hot L Baltimore, by Lanford Wilson: May 6-8, 2006. For more information on TACT, please visit www.TACTnyc.org.

THE ACTORS COMPANY THEATRE - TACT (Scott Alan Evans, Cynthia Harris, Simon Jones - Co-Artistic Directors) celebrates language, the actor, and the spoken word. Founded by professional actors in 1992, TACT is dedicated to presenting neglected or rarely performed plays of literary merit with a focus on creating theatre from its essence: the text and the actor¹s ability to bring it to life.

RACHEL CROTHERS (1878-1958) never identified herself as a feminist, but nearly all of her plays dealt with, as she phrased it, "the changing social attitude towards the morals of women." When her physician father¹s successful practice suddenly went bankrupt, her mother picked up a copy of "Gray¹s Anatomy," leading her to attend medical school and go on to become one of the most successful female doctors of her day. After graduating from Illinois State University in 1892, Rachel studied dramatic art in Boston and New York City and even appeared with several theatrical companies in New York City. After a few attempts at one-acts, she wrote her first full-length Broadway play The Three of Us in 1906. Although He and She was written in 1911, it took Ms. Crothers nearly 10 years to bring it to Broadway. When she did, she took on the role of the woman torn between her love for her family and her need to bring her art into being. While nearly all of the contemporary reviews raved about her skills as a dramatist, they disagreed wildly as to what she was trying to say.

One declared it emphatically "a triumph for the fair sex" and that "mere man is relegated to his proper place," while another just as clearly announced "In this play of married life, poor old Feminism never had a chance!" Noted New York World columnist Heywood Broun took on the alleged message of the play even more squarely saying "the play espouses a side of the feminist question with which we are in the most complete disagreement. We have always found that the soup tastes just the same whether it is opened with loving care or by the hired help." Though He and She was successful, it did not have a major revival until 1980 when it was mounted by the BAM Theatre Company.

This time, critics united in praising the undoubtedly feminist message of the play, with one critic noting "its arguments about the relationship between the sexes have a topicality that is downright eerie. In fact, entire lines from this play are probably being spoken this very moment at Weight Watchers meetings, in the dressing rooms at Bloomies, in the checkout lines at Zabar¹s and in bedrooms throughout America." Twenty-five years since its last major production, TACT presents this important and thought-provoking piece of literature.

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He and She Presented by The Actors Company Theatre

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