Artistic Bios

Teresa Deevy

(1894-1963)

Teresa Deevy was born on January 21, 1894 at “Landscape,” her family’s home in Waterford. She was the youngest of thirteen children. Her father died when she just three. As a result, Tessa, as she was known, formed an unusually strong bond with her mother who sensed a creative spark and fostered the girl’s fledging imagination — encouraging her to make up stories about everyday objects in their home.

Cheerful and inquisitive, Teresa excelled in the classroom and on the playing field. She wrote for the school literary magazine, sang in the choir, earned honors in piano, and never lost a match as a left half-back on the hockey team.

After graduation, Deevy enrolled in the University College, Dublin, where she planned to earn an arts teaching degree. After about a year she began to feel ill; her ears rang and she suffered frequent bouts of vertigo. She was diagnosed with Meniere’s disease, an incurable condition caused by fluid imbalance in the inner ear. Within a few years, Teresa had completely lost her hearing.

Apparently undaunted by herdisability, Deevy moved to London to study lip reading. In London she discovered theatre. She studied the scripts beforehand and sat in the front row night after night, entranced by what she saw. She was particularly impressed by Shaw and Chekhov, and decided to become a playwright.

It was an unusual ambition— and Teresa was far from typical. She had a quiet genius for understanding the intricacies of the human heart. Her plays would show not only a distinct gift for dialogue, but an uncanny appreciation for meaning hidden between the lines. Her nephew Jack spoke feelingly about her striking ability to read people’s thoughts—perhaps compensation for the loss of her hearing.

These bios are from our recent production WIFE TO JAMES WHELAN. Bios for the cast and company of WHAT THE PUBLIC WANTS coming soon!

ROSIE BENTON (Kate Moran) Broadway: Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Roundabout Theatre), Accent on Youth (MTC). Off-Broadway: Saturn Returns (Lincoln Center Theatre), Howard Katz (Roundabout). Regional: Dissonance (Bay Street Theatre), Stick Fly (Arena Stage, Huntington Theatre), Spike Heels (Syracuse Stage), The Night Season (Bay Street Theatre), Betrayal (Hangar Theatre). B.F.A. from Syracuse University, M.F.A. from NYU Graduate Acting.

JANIE BROOKSHIRE (Nan Bowers) Mint Debut. Broadway: The Philanthropist (dir. David Grindley). Other New York Theatre Credits include: Gilgamesh’s Game at Workshop New Georges (dir. Davis McCallum), Drums in the Night at Columbia U. School of the Arts, and Every Other Inch a Liar at the Samuel French Festival. At PlayMakers Repertory Company: Romeo and Juliet (Juliet, dir. Davis McCallum), Amadeus (Constanze, dir. Joe Haj), Doubt (Sister James, dir. Drew Barr), Crimes of the Heart (Meg, dir. John Feltch), The Front Page (dir. Gene Saks). Film: Filmic Achievement. TV: “The Good Wife”, “Dawson’s Creek”, “Law & Order”. MFA from the Professional Actor Training Program, UNC Chapel Hill.

SHAWN FAGAN (James Whelan) is thrilled to be working with the Mint for the first time. Other New York credits include Peninsula (Soho Rep); Dearest Eugenia Haggis, Freakshow (Clubbed Thumb); Milk ‘n’ Honey, Ajax: 100% Fun (LightBox); Apparition (understudy, Connelly Theatre); and Cats Talk Back (FringeNYC). Regional credits include Christy in The Playboy of the Western World (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival); Hugh in The Voysey Inheritance (Denver Center); Acaste in The Misanthrope (Dallas Theatre Center); Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet in Wittenberg (Arden Theatre Company); Marchbanks in Candida, Edgar in King Lear (Utah Shakespearean Festival); Intimations for Saxophone (Arena Stage, dir. Anne Bogart); The War of the Worlds/Radio Play (SITI Company, U.S. Tour); and two seasons with American Players Theatre. For RAB.

JON FLETCHER (Apollo Moran) is thrilled to be working with the Mint theater company. Off-Broadway: Child’s Christmas in Wales (Irish rep), NYC: Lance Horne’s The Strip, Broadways Rising Stars (Dir. Emily Skinner). Regional: The Who’s Tommy (w/Julia Murney). Various UK Regional productions Including Funny thing happened…Forum, West Side Story, Stags and Hens, Tales from Ovid, Romeo and Juliet, Grimm Tales. Would like to thank Kasey, Greg, Lori, and his family for their continual support.

JEREMY S. HOLM (Bill McGafferty) is delighted to be working at The Mint. Most recently he played the title role in Oedipus the King at the Clarence Brown Theatre where he also played Vronsky in Anna Karenina. His Regional credits also include: Biff in Death Of A Salesman at Arena Stage, John Proctor in The Crucible at The Capital Repertory; Slim in Of Mice and Men at The Cleveland Playhouse; Anna Christie at The Milwaukee Repertory Theatre; Owen Musser in The Foreigner at The Pioneer Theatre Company; Milo in Sleuth at The Hangar Theatre; and, Jason in Medea at The Chamber Theatre; Marc Antony at The Colorado Shakespeare Festival. He also created the role Joe Don in the world premier of Jane Martins’ Somebody/Nobody. His television credits include “Law and Order”, “As The World Turns” (CBS), “Guiding Light”, “All My Children”, “What Would You Do?” (ABC), and “Dateline NBC”. He and his Wife Dawn Wagner are expecting a daughter in November!

THOMAS MATTHEW KELLEY (Jack McClinsey) Off-Broadway: Dust (Westside Theatre), Phenomenon (HERE Arts Center), Dog Sees God (The Red Door Theatre). Regional: Cardenio, Julius Caesar, and Donnie Darko (American Repertory Theatre); Pride and Prejudice, As You Like It, and Christmas Carol (Actors Theatre of Louisville). Film: The Strangest Bullet in my Skull (AlphaSixty Productions). MFA: A.R.T./MXAT Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University.

AIDAN REDMOND (Tom Carey) is delighted to be making his Mint debut. Previous New York engagements include – Sive, The Yeats Project (Irish Repertory Theatre), Blood Guilty (The Bronx Co./Whole In The Wall), Anna Christie (Boomerang), Dirty Works, The Pitchfork Disney (Stiff Upper Lip), IRELAND - Hamlet (Praxis), Julius Caesar (Rattlebag), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Public Shakespeare) Film - I Sell The Dead, Daylight. Upcoming - Palominas, ’79 Parts, The Hard Ride. Training - Lee Strasberg Theater Institute (New York), Central School of Speech and Drama (London), Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College Dublin.

LIV ROOTH (Nora Keane) Broadway: Is He Dead? Off-Broadway: Jane Eyre and Love, Shakespeare (The Acting Company); Women Beware Women (Red Bull Theater): A Doll’s House (Studio Tisch); Chuck Mee’s A Perfect Wedding (NY Premiere, NYU Grad Acting); The Obstruction Plays (Slant Theater Project); Still Life (Abingdon). Regional: Boeing-Boeing (The Old Globe); Noises Off (Hartford Stage); Surf Report (La Jolla Playhouse); Pride and Prejudice (Geva Theater); Much Ado About Nothing (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival). TV/Film: “The Good Wife”; “The Wrong Girl”; ichannel. MFA, NYU Graduate Acting (Marcia Gay Harden Scholarship). BA, Dartmouth College.

JONATHAN BANK (Director / Artistic Director) has been the artistic director of the Mint since 1996 where he has unearthed and produced dozens of lost or neglected plays, many of which he has also directed. Most recently for the Mint, Bank directed Maurine Dallas Watkins’ So Help Me God! at the Lucille Lortel. Also, Lennox Robinson’s Is Life Worth Living?, Ernest Hemingway’s The Fifth Column in its premiere production, Return of the Prodigal by St. John Hankin (2008 Drama Desk nom., Outstanding Revival of a Play) and before that, Susan and God by Rachel Crothers. Bank both adapted and directed Arthur Schnitzler’s Far and Wide and The Lonely Way which he also co-translated (with Margaret Schaefer). These two plays were published in a volume entitled Arthur Schnitzler Reclaimed which Bank edited. He is also the editor of two additional volumes in the “Reclaimed” series (Harley Granville Barker and St. John Hankin) as well as Worthy But Neglected: Plays of the Mint Theater Company which includes his adaptations of Thomas Wolfe’s Welcome to Our City and Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, both of which he directed, along with five other Mint rediscoveries. Other directing credits include critically acclaimed productions of Ivanov and Othello for the National Asian American Theater Company, John Brown’s Body, The Double Bass and Three Days of Rain for the Miniature Theater of Chester and The Heiress, Hobson’s Choice, Candida and Mr. Pim Passes By for the Peterborough Players. He earned his M.F.A. from Case Western Reserve University in his hometown of Cleveland, OH.

VICKI R. DAVIS (Set Design) Previous productions at the Mint include The Fifth Column, The Skin Game, The Lonely Way, Echoes of the War, Far and Wide, Rutherford & Son, The Voysey Inheritance, Miss Lulu Bett, Welcome to our City, August Snow & Night Dance, The House of Mirth, and The Time of Your Life. She most recently designed the set and costumes for Winter Wonderettes at Laguna Playhouse and scenery for Burning Coal’s double bill, Gee’s Bend and South Eastern Center for Contemporary Art.Off Broadway: Shpiel, Shpiel, Shpiel, Pirates of Penzance, A Novel Romance, Songs of Paradise, An American Family, Yoshke Muzicant(Folksbiene), Meanwhile, On...Mount Vesuvius(Adobe), Caucasian Chalk Circle(LaMaMa), ‘Til The Rapture Comes(WPA), The Occupation, Slasher, Out To Lunch and Relative Values. Regional theater and opera: Arena Stage, The Alliance, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Dallas Theater Center, Starlight Kansas City, Madison Rep., The Barter, Capital Rep., Passages, Georgia Shakespeare, Utah Shakespearean Festival, Utah Opera, Kansas City Opera, Omaha Opera, Theater of the Stars, Boston Lyric Opera, Lake George Opera Festival, Miniature Theater of Chester, and Music Theater North. Ms. Davis received a TCG/NEA Design Fellowship and is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829. In addition to her freelance work she teaches Scenic and Costume design at The University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

MARTHA HALLY (Costume Design) The Mint: Is Life Worth Living?, The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd. Off-Broadway: Secret Order (59E59); The Late Christopher Bean, Bedroom Farce (TACT); Treason (Perry Street Theater); Sive, Gaslight, Defender of the Faith, The Field (Irish Repertory Theater). Regional: Milwaukee Repertory Theater, CenterStage, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Repertory Theater of St. Louis, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Dallas Theater Center, Alley Theatre, Portland Stage, Merrimack Repertory Theater, Williamstown Theater Festival. Opera: Chicago Opera Theater, Virginia Opera, Little Orchestra Society of Lincoln Center, Center For Contemporary Opera, Manhattan School of Music.

NICOLE PEARCE (Lighting Design) Selected NY credits include: The American Dream & The Sandbox directed by Edward Albee, The Lady with All the Answers & Housebreaking (The Cherry Lane); Beebo Brinker Chronicles directed by Leigh Silverman (37Arts); US Drag directed by Trip Cullman; Little Doc,Lady, & The Amish Project (Rattlestick); SPIN, & Vengeance (Stagefarm); Savage Love directed by Pam MacKinnon (The Juilliard School) Penalties & Interests (LABrynth Theatre Company); Expats, Strangers Knocking (The New Group); Fresh Play Festival (MCC Theatre); Betrothed (Ripetime Productions); Sakhram Binder (The Play Company); Trial by Water (Ma-Yi Theatre Company); Little Willy (Rude Mechanicals); Mémoire; Wet, Mimesophobia (SPF). Regionally: Sugar Syndrome; A Nervous Smile and Blithe Spirit directed by Maria Mileaf (Williamstown Theatre Festival). Dance with choreographers Mark Morris, Doug Varone, Aszure Barton, Robert Battle, Jessica Lang, Andrea Millerr, Fabien Priovelle, Larry Keigwin, Matthew Neenan, David Partker, Adam Hougland, Nicolo Fonte, Hinton Battle, and Christopher Huggins; The Joffrey Ballet; Ballet Memphis; & Ballet Theatre of Maryland.

JANE SHAW (Sound Design) Mint productions include: Dr. Knock, Is Life Worth Living, The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd (Lortel Nomination), Susan and God, Return of the Prodigal, Lonely Way. Recently: The Blonde, The Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead (City Theatre), Subject was Roses (The Pearl), Measure for Measure (Theater for a New Audience), Wind Up Bird Chronicles (the Ohio), and The Pavilion (Dorset Theater Festival). Past favorites include Austin Pendleton’s production of Tennessee Williams’ Vieux Carré, Jonathan Bank’s Fifth Column by Hemingway (Mint), F. Murray Abraham’s Merchant of Venice, David Esbjornson’s Hamlet with Christian Camargo, and Olympia Dukakis’ The Other Side of the Island. Her designs have been heard at BAM’s Next Wave Festival, Biennale Bonn, NewYork Theater Workshop, Ripe Time, Urban Stages, an assortment of theaters in France, and the RSC. Graduate of the Yale School of Drama, Recipient of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program and Meet the Composer, and Member USA 829.

DEBORAH GAOUETTE (Properties Design) Wife To James Whelan marks Deb’s 6th production with The Mint Theater having propped their past productions of The Glass Cage, Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd, Is Life Worth Living?, So Help Me God! and Dr. Knock. Her other credits include: props coordinator for 42nd Street and Cabaret at the Trump Plaza Casino in Atlantic City, the tours of Evita, South Pacific, The Sound of Music and Crazy for You for Troika Entertainment. Off-Broadway: Sakarhem Binder for The Play Company, Going to St. Ives, String of Pearls and Sabina for Primary Stages and numerous workshops around the city. When not working on shows Deb can be found fabricating props at The Spoon Group and teaching yoga.

APRIL ANN KLINE (Production Stage Manager) is excited to work with the Mint Theater for the first time. Some NY Credits include: This Wide Night (Naked Angels); Candida, After Luke/When I Was God, Sive, Gaslight & Defender of the Faith (Irish Repertory); Pure Country staged reading (Randall Wreghitt); The Dishwashers (Shiloh Productions); An Oresteia (Classic Stage Company); Dust (Gindi Theatrical); The Bully Pulpit (South Ark Stage); Mom, Dad, I’m Living With A White Girl, Cambodia Agonistes, Kwatz: The Tibetan Project (Pan Asian Repertory); Hamlet, Duchess of Malfi (Kings County Shakespeare); The Romance of Magno Rubio, No Foreigners Beyond This Point, Salad Days and Other Stories (Ma-Yi Theatre Company.); The Cook (INTAR); An Immaculate Misconception (Primary Stages). Some regional credits include: The Romance of Magno Rubio (Long Wharf Theatre Company, CT) and The Retreat from Moscow, The Dishwasher, Skylight, Duet For One (Chester Theatre Company, MA). April is a proud member of Actor’s Equity Association. My love to Marc and my family.

LAUREN MCARTHUR (Assistant Stage Manager) is thrilled to be working with the Mint again! Previous Mint productions include: So Help Me God! and Is Life Worth Living? Other NYC credits: This Side of Paradise (Culture Project); Life in a Marital Institution (59E59 & SoHo Playhouse); American Jornalero (Working Theater); Widows (59E59/Reverie); The Kids Left, The Dog Died, Now What? (NYMF); Savage in Limbo (The Process Group); The Program (NY Fringe Festival). Film: Production Designer - ‘’Wunderkind’ (Dir: Lauren Rosen). She would like to thank her parents for their love and continued support. Proud member of AEA.

AMY STOLLER (Dialects & Dramaturgy) has been resident dialect designer/coach (and occasional dramaturge) at the Mint since 1997. Last season she did the dialect design for Is Life Worth Living? and her many other Mint credits include The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd, The Daughter-in-Law, The Madras House, Echoes of the War, Milne at the Mint, and The Voysey Inheritance. Other New York credits include Anna Deavere Smith’s Let Me Down Easy at Second Stage, and work with the Pearl, Keen, Boomerang, and Urban Stages, among many others. Regional work includes three world premieres at the Long Wharf, plus productions at A.R.T. and Peterborough Players. Television credits include coaching Justin Bartha as Austrian Jack Werner in WW II HD, Nickelodeon’s Dora the Explorer and Go, Diego, Go!, and the speaking debut of “Mr. Six” in the Six Flags commercials. Amy is Associate Editor for NYC at International Dialects of English Archive, and an officer of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association. For more information, please visit www.stollersystem.com or the Stoller System Facebook page.

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