Jonathan Bank Takes Over As Director Of Mint Theater's SO HELP ME GOD, Opens 12/3

Mint Theater Company today announced that its second offering of the season, So Help Me God! by Maurine Dallas Watkins (the author of Chicago, the play upon which the musical is based), will be directed by Mint Artistic Director Jonathan Bank, taking over for the previously announcEd Martin Platt, who has left the production for personal reasons. Performances will begin as scheduled on November 18th, with opening night set for December 7th at the Lucille Lortel Theater (121 Christopher Street). Kristen Johnston, two-time Emmy Award winner for her performance in "3rd Rock from the Sun," will perform the role of Lily, a fabulous dramatic diva who must fend off a challenge from her ambitious but naïve understudy, played by Anna Chlumsky (My Girl films). Watkins's play was written 20 years before All About Eve.

The cast includes, in addition to Ms. Johnston and Ms. Chlumsky, Brad Bellamy, Catherine Curtin, Amy Fitts, Jeremy Lawrence, Ned Noyes, Kevin O'Donnell, John G. Preston, Allen Lewis Rickman, Kraig Swartz, Peter Van Wagner, Matthew Waterson, Margot White, and John Windsor-Cunningham. Scenic design will be by Bill Clarke, with costume design by Clint Ramos, lighting design by Robert Wierzel, and sound design by Jane Shaw.

This past June, the Mint presented a one-night reading of So Help Me God! starring two-time Emmy Award-winner Kristen Johnston, which demonstrated that this lost work deserved a full production. Ms. Johnston will reprise her role as Lily Darnley, "the star to whom all wagons are hitched," as the author describes her.

For this one production Mint will venture out of the West 43rd St. space that has been its home for more than 15 years, to the Lucille Lortel Theater in Greenwich Village, which has a larger stage and twIce The seating capacity. Bank says, "With its rich history and wonderful theatrical atmosphere the Lucille Lortel Theater is the perfect setting for this play about a classic (not classy) Broadway diva."

Kristen Johnston has appeared on and off-Broadway in The Women, Aunt Dan and Lemon and The Skin of Our Teeth. Anna Chlumsky's NY stage credits include Unconditional (LAByrinth Theater Company), and The Fabulous Life of a Size Zero (DR2), among others. Her films include In The Loop, Blood Car, My Girl 1 & 2, as well as the upcoming My Sweet Misery and Eavesdrop.

Mint Theater Company, "that truffle hound of half-buried treasures from the past" (Village Voice), has a celebrated reputation for re-discovering worthy but neglected gems and has brought new vitality to timeless but timely plays since 1992. The Mint was awarded an Obie for "combining the excitement of discovery with the richness of tradition." Mint was awarded a special Drama Desk Award for "Unearthing, presenting and preserving forgotten plays of merit."

The Lucille Lortel Theater is located at 121 Christopher Street. Performances for So Help Me God! will be Tuesday through Thursday at 7 PM, Friday at 8 PM, Saturday at 2 PM & 8 PM, and Sunday at 2 PM. Tickets are $55. To purchase tickets, visit TicketCentral.com or call 212/279-4200.

Visit www.minttheater.org

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