TACT/The Actors Company Theatre (Scott Alan Evans, Cynthia Harris and Simon Jones, Co-Artistic Directors), the critically-acclaimed company "dedicated to presenting neglected or rarely produced plays of literary merit," opens its 17th Anniversary season with The Late Christopher Bean, a sly 1930's comedy by Pulitzer Prize-winner Sidney Howard based upon "Prenez Garde a la Peinture," by Rene Fauchois. Directed by TACT Company Member Jenn Thompson, performances began at Theatre Row's Beckett Theatre (410 West 42nd Street - between 9th & 10th Avenues) on Sunday, November 1st, 2009 at 3pm. Opening night was celebrated Wednesday, November 11th at 7:30pm. Performances will continue through Saturday, December 5th.
The cast of The Late Christopher Bean includes TACT Company Members: Mary Bacon,Cynthia Darlow, Greg McFadden, James Murtaugh, James Prendergast and guest artists Bob Ari, Hunter Canning, Jessiee Datino, and Kate Middleton.
The creative team is comprised of Charlie Corcoran (sets), Martha Hally (costumes), Ben Stanton (lights), Stephen Kunken (sound), Mark Berman (original music) and Taline Alexander (properties). Meredith Dixon is Production Stage Manager and Jane Clausen is Assistant Stage Manager.
First published in 1932 under the title "Muse of All Work," The Late Christopher Bean had its world premiere at the Ford's Opera House in Baltimore on October 24, 1932, and opened in New York a week later at the Henry Miller Theatre on Broadway with a cast that included Walter Connolly and Beulah Bondi. Playwright Sidney Howard won the 1925 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for They Knew What They Wanted, his play about a middle-aged Italian vineyard owner and his mail order bride (later adapted into the Broadway musical The Most Happy Fella). Having died at the age of 48 in a farming accident, Howard was awarded a posthumous Academy Award for his adapted screenplay of Gone with the Wind.
The Late Christopher Bean will have the following performance schedule: Monday, Wednesday - Friday at 7:30pm; Saturday at 2pm & 8pm; Sunday at 3pm. There will be an additional performance on Tuesday, November 24th at 7:30pm. There will be no performance on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 26th. Tickets are $27.50 - $55.00 and are available 24/7 through Ticket Central www.ticketcentral.com or from 12noon - 8pm daily at 212-279-4200. They may also be obtained at the Theatre Row box office (410 West 42nd Street (between 9th & 10th Avenues) between 12pm and 8pm daily.
TACT/THE ACTORS COMPANY THEATRE's celebrated company of actors was drawn together in 1992 by a love of the literature of the theatre. Since that time, they have grown to become a true ensemble: a group that has developed a common vocabulary and a technique based on their specific artistic vision and collective body of work. TACT company members, whose cumulative experience includes scores of significant roles on and off Broadway, in the country's finest regional theatres and in many films and television shows, have received Emmy, Obie, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards, in addition to several Tony nominations.
Photos by Peter James Zielinski
Simon Jones and Jim Dale
Cynthia Harris, Tandy Cronin, Isabel Keating
Cynthia Harris, Anne Kaufman, Isabel Keating
Ron Freilich and Anne Kaufman - Anne is the daughter of playwright George S. Kaufman
Simon Jones, Cynthia Harris, Scott Alan Evans
Simon Jones, Cynthia Harris, Jenn Thompson and Scott Alan Evans
Stephen Kunken and Jenn Thompson
Cynthia Darlow, James Murtaugh, Mary Bacon
Hunter Canning and Jessiee Datino
Greg McFadden, Bob Ari, James Prendergast
Mary Bacon, Cynthia Darlow, Kate Middleton, Jessiee Datino
James Murtaugh and Jerry Stiller
James Murtaugh and Jerry Stiller
Sidney Howard Urquhart, Rachel Urquhart, Maggie Howard - daughters and granddaughter of playwright
Greg McFadden, Scott Alan Evans and Mary Louise Geiger
Videos