Peccadillo Theater Co. to Present William Inge's A LOSS OF ROSES, Begin. 5/7

The OBIE, Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk Award-winning Peccadillo Theater Company, in association with La Femme Theatre Productions, will present the New York City premiere of the original version of William Inge's A Loss of Roses beginning May 7th at Theatre at St. Clement's, 423 West 46th Street, NYC, and continuing through June 7th, 2014. The play opens officially on May 12th at 7 PM.

Penned in the intimate style of Tennessee Williams, but with William Inge's graceful insight into the lives of broken families, A Loss of Roses is a bittersweet romance about the loss of innocence which garnered 22 year old Warren Beatty a Tony Award nomination as Best Featured Actor in the 1959 Broadway production. The original cast also included Carol Haney, Michael J. Pollard, Betty Field and Robert Webber.

Helen is a devout widow who cherishes the memory of her heroic husband above all else, even as her grown son, Kenny, struggles to fill his shoes and win his mother's love. Lila is a beautiful but emotionally insecure actress who arrives on their doorstep without a job or direction, but with a lifetime of baggage. When Lila moves in, a love triangle is created that can only end in heartbreak when someone must break free.

The original 1959 Broadway production was a bitter professional failure for Inge (his first), playing only 27 performances. His successes included Come Back, Little Sheba, Picnic, Bus Stop and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs as well as the Academy Award-winning screenplay for Splendor in the Grass. In an introduction to the published version of A Loss of Roses, Inge blames the failure on the changes forced upon him by the director and producer, particularly citing the rewritten ending which took the focus off of Lila Green and placed it on Kenny's departure from his mother's home. Peccadillo is producing the original never-before-seen-in-NYC version of the play.

Peccadillo's Artistic Director, OBIE winner Dan Wackerman, who will direct the Equity production, said "Set in a small mid-western town in 1933, this story of a young man struggling to separate himself from his mother, both emotionally and physically, is quite timeless - and, of course, deeply Freudian. Like D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers, it describes a life passage that is at once heart-wrenching and necessary - the severing of romantic attachments to the mother or 'mother figure.' From a psychological perspective, this story of a young man's journey towards independence and its impact on the women he leaves behind, will never go out of fashion. I was determined that Peccadillo should be the company to introduce NYC audiences to Inge's original version of that journey."

Scenic & lighting design will be by Harry Feiner, with video design by Mr. Feiner and Ido Levran, costume design by Marianne Custer, sound design by Dave Thomas and wig design by Paul Huntley.

Founded in 1994, Peccadillo is devoted to the "lost classics" of the American theater - plays of obvious literary and theatrical merit which, for whatever reason, have fallen off the radar. With this production and in its 20th anniversary season, Peccadillo continues its mission of rediscovery.

Beginning with Eugene O'Neill, generally considered the starting point of modern American theater, Peccadillo concentrates on the era of the so-called well-made play, a period of sparkling wit and sophistication in comedy as well as deepening realism in the drama. It encompasses such diverse and little-known dramas as Counsellor at Law by Elmer Rice, Jane by S.N. Behrman, Morning Star by Sylvia Regan, The Shanghai Gesture by John Colton as well as the neglected plays of celebrated authors like Dorothy Parker and John O'Hara. Taken as a whole, this work represents nothing less than the American experience itself in all its contradictions and screwball energy. The mission of The Peccadillo Theater Company is to restore these buried gems to their rightful owner - the American theatergoer.

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