Read
the nytheatre.com
review of Worthy But Neglected:
Worthy
But Neglected
isn't just the title of the Mint Theater Company's first play anthology;
it's also their mission in its pithiest form. This off-off-Broadway
company has dedicated its artistic resources to resurrecting plays-English
and American-that have lain buried for almost a century. The playwrights
that the Mint produces once rubbed elbows with legendary producers,
worked with the greatest actors of their time, earned glowing reviews
in The New York Herald and The Times of London .
Now, their scripts are found gathering dust on the back shelves
of the New York Public Library's stacks or hiding in out-of-print
anthologies bought for a few bucks in used bookstores.
In
a sense, the Mint engages in the non-profit equivalent of the academic
pastime of canon revision. In fact, five of the seven plays are
by women, two of whom won Pulitzers for their contributions and
were then quietly forgotten. But as an artistic director, Jonathan
Bank has to produce plays that fit more than just a thesis. His
selections must be stageworthy: fully dramatic engagements between
both characters and ideas. Happily, most of the plays in Worthy
But Neglected are worth the read. |
