Final Week to See A PICTURE OF AUTUMN and THE FATAL WEAKNESS Presented by Mint Theater

Mint Theater Company today announced that the highly popular Silver Lining Streaming Series, the on-demand streaming of the three-camera archival recordings (filmed in HD!), will conclude on June 27th with two of Mint's most acclaimed hits: A Picture of Autumn by N.C Hunter, directed by Gus Kaikkonen and The Fatal Weakness by George Kelly, directed by Jesse Marchese.

The "Silver" of the Silver Lining Streaming Series also refers to the Mint's Silver Anniversary: twenty-five years of unearthing and preserving forgotten plays. The price of admission is FREE. NO PASSWORD REQUIRED! Closed captioning is now available for all of Mint's upcoming streaming productions. But only through June 27th.

Over the last year, Mint Theater Company has offered on-demand streaming of archival recordings of eight plays. With one week to go, total viewing time now stands at 43,542 hours - that's 4 years, 354 days and 6 hours! Nearly 10,000 viewers saw their first Mint production this year via streaming, from 84 countries and every state in the U.S. Mint has received over 2,000 contributions from viewers, helping to provide paychecks and benefits to 96 actors, directors and designers.

Beyond the numbers is the immense gratification of bringing pleasure and distraction to so many, while furthering Mint's mission of creating new life for these lost plays. Mint has received over 2,000 contributions in the past year, as well as numerous letters of thanks: "A lifeline in a time of crisis!" "It gave me joy in the middle of a very anxious time. I always had a smile on my face when it was over. Thank you. You enriched my life." "During such a difficult period, watching such wonderful theatre, made available to us easily and for free, has been a gift, a balm for the soul, and a blessing which has been and still is much appreciated."

Featured in A Picture of Autumn are Helen Cespedes, Christian Coulson, Barbara Eda-Young, Mark Emerson, Katie Firth, Jonathan Hogan, George Morfogen (March 30, 1933 - March 8, 2019), Paul Niebanck, and Jill Tanner. A Picture of Autumn has set design by Charles Morgan, costume design by Sam Fleming, lighting design by William Armstrong, sound design by Jane Shaw.

The Fatal Weakness features Cliff Bemis, Cynthia Darlow, Kristin Griffith, Sean Patrick Hopkins, Patricia Kilgarriff, and Victoria Mack. The Fatal Weakness has scenic design by Vicki R. Davis, costume design by Andrea Varga, lighting design by Christian DeAngelis, original music & sound design by Jane Shaw, and properties design by Joshua Yocom.

Mint will return to live performances beginning in January 2022, with three new productions planned. "I know that's a long wait for our loyal audience," says Mint Artistic Director Jonathan Bank, "I promise it will be worth it. And for our many new friends who can't make it to New York, I assure you we will offer more streaming in the future. I've always dreamed of the day that we would be able to serve a larger audience in a more accessible way. That's why I began making HD archival recordings of all our productions many years ago."

Mint has been investing in creating professionally shot and edited full length, three-camera archival recordings filmed in HD since 2013. No Zoom boxes or Computer Generated Imagery - these are professional quality, high-definition recordings of live performances, captured in the theater with live audiences. Mint's recordings are meant for private viewing only and may not be screened for any other purpose. These recordings have been made available in partnership with the employees represented by Stage Directors & Choreographers Society, Actors' Equity Association and United Scenic Artists. Mint is proud to pay our artists.

"One of the few welcome surprises of 2020 was the announcement by New York's Mint Theater that it had spent the preceding seven years taping broadcast-ready three-camera archival videos of its off-Broadway productions, and that in lieu of live performances during the pandemic, it would stream these videos for free. As regular readers of this column know, the Mint specializes in small-house revivals of unjustly forgotten 20th-century plays. I have been reviewing one or two of its shows most seasons for the past decade and a half, and each one I've seen has been well chosen and flawlessly acted and staged. No other theater company in America has a more consistently high record of artistic quality. The Mint will be webcasting five more shows between now and June, and my plan is to watch and review them all. The company's motto is 'Lost Plays Found Here,' and I have relished all of the 14 scripts, none of which I had previously seen or read, that Jonathan Bank, the Mint's producing artistic director, has exhumed and brought to my attention since 2005. To be able to see such shows in your home, especially now, is an amazing, heart-easing luxury-one that won't cost you a cent," wrote Terry Teachout in The Wall Street Journal, January 7, 2021.

Mint was awarded an OBIE Award for "combining the excitement of discovery with the richness of tradition" and a special Drama Desk Award for "unearthing, presenting and preserving forgotten plays of merit."

To learn more about Mint's On Demand Streaming, go to minttheater.org. The price of admission is FREE. NO PASSWORD REQUIRED!

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

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