Out Of The Box Theatre Company to Open 2023-24 Season With THE CONSTANT WIFE By W. Somerset Maugham

Out of the Box Theatre Company will open its 2023-24 season with an Actors' Equity Association-approved showcase production of the 1926 classic comedy The Constant Wife by W. Somerset Maugham, November 1-5. The live, in-person performances will take place at the Bernie Wohl Center, 647 Columbus Avenue (between 91st and 92nd Streets), New York, N.Y. Tickets are $25 and $20 (seniors and students) and can be purchased at http://ShowTix4U.com/events/OutOfTheBoxTheatre.

The Constant Wife will be performed six times only:

Wednesday, November 1 at 7:30pm

Thursday, November 2 at 7:30pm

Friday, November 3 at 7:30pm

Saturday, November 4 at 3pm and 7:30pm

Sunday, November 5 at 3pm

"Stories about culture wars, feminism, a woman's bodily autonomy, the Equal Rights Amendment, financial empowerment, infidelity, the other woman/side piece, sisterhood and the modern woman certainly are daily news staples," said Jeffery V. Thompson, director of the production. "But I'm not talking about the news of 2023. I am talking about the news headlines of New York City in 1920s, the period that The Constant Wife takes place!"

Moving the setting of the play to Manhattan (and adding music), this production takes place in to the fashionable Park Avenue home of Constance and John Middleton. The "happy couple" are dealing with consequences that often arise when two is company but three is a bit messy at best.

In a world where everybody has an opinion about what's best for her, Constance proves to be more than up to all the challenges that her changing world presents-and doing it with intelligence, wit, style, and with the keen vision of the "new woman."

This production of W. Somerset Maugham's classic play is a journey back through time to an exciting New York City of 1926. Maugham's comic and engaging characters find themselves where the Victorian Golden Age rubs elbows, and occasionally bumps heads, with the changing world of the new Jazz Age; where Park Avenue meets Sugar Hill; where laughter is definitely the best medicine; and where, even after one hundred years everything new is old again.

The Constant Wife was first produced in Cleveland, Ohio, at the Ohio Theatre, on November 1, 1926, with Ethel Barrymore playing the title role, and Mabel Terry-Lewis and C. Aubrey Smith in support. It subsequently opened on Broadway, running for 295 performances, and was successfully toured by Ms. Barrymore afterwards. When the first edition of the play was published in 1927, Maugham dedicated it to her. Years later, he said that her performance was the best he had seen in any of his plays.

The cast includes Nick Denning,* Cary Gant, Elizabeth Hayden,* Darrie Lawrence,* Grant Machan,* Roumel Reaux,* Gloria Sauvé,* Vanessa Shaw,* and Jenny Tucker.*

The production is directed by Jeffrey V. Thompson. Scenic design is by Harlan Penn, costumes are by Kathy Roberson, lighting design by Stephen D. Cornelius, and music direction by Cary Gant. Co-producers are Halina Malinowski and Susan Case.

This production will use the original 1927 public domain version of the script.

The mission of Out of the Box Theatre Company, a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization, is to feature working professionals at their peak and in their prime: seasoned actors, directors and designers primarily past 50 years of age, and to present new interpretations of period plays and contemporary classics: works written in the last century and earlier. Out of the Box also distributes free tickets to senior citizen organizations.

The Constant. Wife is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. The Constant Wife also is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

More information about the company, including previous and future productions, can be found at OutOfTheBoxTheatre.com.



*Equity Member appearing with permission of Actors' Equity Association without benefit of an Equity contract in this Off-Off Broadway production.

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