GARSIDE'S CAREER World Premiere Cast Announced At Mint Theater Company

Mint Theater Company has announced the complete cast for the New York Premiere of Garside's Career by Harold Brighouse (Hobson's Choice), directed by Matt Dickson, beginning performances February 1st for a limited engagement. 

Joining the previously announced  Daniel Marconi (Tobias in the recent revival of Sweeney Todd opposite Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford, Michael Banks in Mary Poppins, The Mountains Look Different for Mint Theater), who will essay the title role of Peter Garside, will be Erik Gratton (West Side Story - International Tour, Elf the Musical - National Tour); Sara Haider (Mint Theater:  Partnership); Melissa Maxwell (Henry V, Henry IV, Part 1/Henry IV, Part 2, Richard II, Steel Magnolias - Guthrie Theater); Paul Niebanck  (Mint Theater: A Picture of Autumn; Lincoln Center Theater: In the Next Room (or the vibrator play), Blood and Gifts; Off-Bway: The Revenger's Tragedy, The Changeling, The Spanish Tragedy - Red Bull Theater; Richard III, Plenty - Public Theater; Much Ado About Nothing - TFANA; Boy, A Walk in the Woods - Keen); Michael Schantz (Mint Theater: Fashions for Men, Liliom; Othello with Daniel Craig - New York Theatre Workshop; Life Sucks - Wheelhouse Theatre; Film: upcoming - The History of Sound with Paul Mescal); Madeline Seidman (Mint: Becomes a Woman, Partnership); Amelia White (Mint Theater: Chains,  Conflict, Women Without Men; Broadway: Crazy for You, The Heiress;  Off-Broadway: Atlantic Theater, Ground-Up Productions; Theatre World Award for The Accrington Pals - Hudson Guild; Film/TV: The Tulse Luper Suitcases, The Bastard, The Siege of Golden Hill, Three Ways to the Sea, “Judging Amy,” and “The Young and the Restless;”) and Avery Whitted (Mint: Chains;  Henry IV, Part 1 - Folger Theater; Against the Hillside - Ensemble Studio Theater). The design team will include Christoper Swader & Justin Swader (scenic), Kindall Almond (costume),  Yuan Li (lighting), and Carsen Joenk (sound).

Mint's production will be the New York Premiere. The play had an extended run in Boston in 1919 (“admirable in construction, realistic in characterization, bright in wit and keen in satire”) and a New York production was announced, but never happened. Even in the U.K. this bright, witty, political satire seems to have completely disappeared. This Off-Broadway engagement at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street) will begin February 1st for a limited run through March 15th. Opening Night is set for Thursday February 20th. Tickets from $39 are now on sale at minttheater.org.

Artistic Director Jonathan Bank says, “One of the reasons I was drawn to producing older plays in the first place is they can show how today's 'alarming issues' have usually been around for ages.  Working on them (or seeing them) helps put things in perspective. ‘If there's one thing you learn by going regularly to the Mint,' a critic* once wrote, ‘it's that the world has changed less than you think.' Garside's Career is especially deft at making that point, using a good deal of humor and a little sex too. Written 110 years ago, it's a story about the intoxicating feeling that candidate Peter Garside has when commanding a crowd from the top of a soapbox, 'the glorious sensation of holding a crowd in the hollow of your hand,' and the problems this creates for his fiancé, his family and his constituents.”
(*Jason Zinoman, The New York Times, 1/30/2011, writing about Mint's production of What the Public Wants by Arnold Bennett)  

Garside's Career tells the story of Peter Garside's soaring flight from working engineer to member of Parliament, propelled by a ‘silver tongue' and an insatiable fascination with his power to persuade: “You don't know the glorious sensation of holding a crowd in the hollow of your hand, mastering it, doing what you like with it.” Peter's fiancé knows the danger of Peter's fascination, “The itch to speak is like the itch to drink, except that it's cheaper to talk yourself tipsy.” 

Tickets for Garside's Career, which are on sale now, start at $39 and may be purchased online at minttheater.org, by phone by calling 212/714-2442, ext. 45 (Tuesday - Sunday from 12 noon to 5PM), or in person at Theatre Row Box Office (located at 410 West 42nd Street). Service fees will apply for online or phone orders.

Performances will be Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday evenings at 7pm with matinees Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2pm. Added performances Wednesday evenings 2/19 & 3/12 at 7pm and Thursday matinee 3/13 at 2pm. No performance on 2/21; no evening performance on 3/15.

Theatre Row, located at 410 West 42nd Street (between 9th & 10th Avenues), is a fully accessible venue: all bathrooms are accessible; there is an elevator to all floors; the bar and lounge are fully accessible; assisted listening devices are available.

For more information, including photos and videos of previous Mint productions, visit minttheater.org.

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