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The ReGroup Begins Their 2nd Summer Series with The House of Connelly
By: Gabrielle Sierra May. 09, 2011
The ReGroup will kick of their 2nd season by presenting Paul Green's The House of Connelly at 7 PM on June 6th, 2011 at The 47th St Theatre, 304 W 47th St. For the first time, they will present both endings to the play; the ending Mr. Green had intended and the very different ending The Group Theatre had him rewrite.
The Group Theatre's inaugural production, The House of Connelly debuted on Sept 28th, 1931 and was heralded by the critics as a triumph of the American Theatre and put the Group on the map. The following morning, Brooks Atkinson wrote, "In its utter simplicity of story and structure, in its flow and balance of mood, in its truth and sentience, it is more like a prose poem of the old South yielding to the new. And it is abidingly beautiful."
The House of Connelly is a tale of the crumbling Old South and the fall of the great Connelly estate. The framed photos of the once great, dead Connellys loom large over the household, and young Will Connelly cannot live up to the majesty of his ancestors. With the arrival of Patsy Tate, an ambitious daughter of a tenant farmer, the household is divided. Will is torn between a future with Patsy and the heavy pull of his mother, spinster sisters and the dark shadow of the Connelly legacy. The two alternate endings will lead to much discussion, as one is hopeful and one is bone-chilling.
Paul Green was one of the most prolific playwrights of the last century and was considered the contemporary to Eugene O'Neill. In 1927, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his play In Abraham's Bosom, presented at the Provincetown Playhouse. This play, like many of his others, was groundbreaking for its honest, fully developed portrayal of African-Americans. In 1936, Green would collaborate with The Group Theatre again, this time on their only musical, Johnny Johnson. Green wrote the book and lyrics to which Kurt Weill wrote the score. Mr. Green would go on to write the stage adaptation of Richard Wright's classic novel, Native Son, before relatively turning his back on the commercial theatre. He remained very productive in his literary output, turning out experimental plays, essays, novels and screenplays, and he spent the rest of his as an active humanitarian.
The ReGroup Theatre Company, a not-for-profit company, was born out of the void created by our lack of a National Theatre. Celebrating the richness of our American Theatrical roots, The Regroup launched their company by honoring the "lost" works of The Group Theatre. Currently with 19 members, they meet weekly to study, train and rehearse as a group. In June, they will be publishing The Lost Group Theatre Plays: Volume I with a foreword by Estelle Parsons. The book contains 3 plays that have been out of print for over 75 years : Claire & Paul Sifton's 1931- and John Howard Lawson's 2 contributions to the Group, Success Story and Gentlewoman. They will continue celebrating the Group's 80th anniversary by presenting readings of 3 more Group plays this summer. In the fall, they will put up a full production of the Siftons' 1931-.
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