Free Streaming: Becomes A Woman

Free Streaming of Mint Theater Company's World Premiere production of BECOMES A WOMAN, by Betty Smith. Recorded live in 2023.

Becomes A Woman

Betty Smith burst onto the literary scene in 1943 with her debut novel, A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN. The New York Times called it “the best first novel I have seen in many a moon…here is a book worth getting excited about and an author worth cheering.”

Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn endures through generations as one of the biggest bestsellers of the twentieth century. Yet, while Smith found her greatest fame as a novelist, she was most passionate about her work as the playwright of over 70 one-act and full-length dramas, commenting in 1937: “I write plays because I’d rather do that than anything else in the world.” Smith’s plays share with her novels a focus upon working-class women persevering through poverty to craft their own narratives of self-determination, often fueled by their engagement with reading and books.

The Rat Trap

From November 1 through December 10, 2022, at New York City Center Stage II, Mint presented the American Premiere of The Rat Trap by Noel Coward, written when he was 18. The New Yorker hailed the play as “astounding”:

Noël Coward (1899-1973) captivated audiences on both sides of the Atlantic over the course of five decades, as a playwright, actor, singer, and songwriter. Coward success as a playwright includes more than 50 plays, including Hay Fever, Private Lives, Design for Living, Present Laughter, and Blithe Spirit, all of which are still regularly performed to this day.

The Mountains Look Different

The Mountains Look Different is the story of Bairbre’s return home to Ireland, after a dozen hard years in London working the streets. Three days ago, she married Tom, who knows nothing of her past. Together they hope to settle with Tom’s father on his farm, and live a simple life far from the temptations and torments of the sinful city. But soon they will learn that it’s not easy for anyone to escape their past, even among the rocks and ruins of the mountainside.

Micheál mac Liammóir was a legendary figure, his death in 1978 was front-page news in the Irish Times for three days running. His obituary described him as “the dominant figure in the Irish theatrical world for almost half a century” . “Hundreds Mourn MacLiammóir” was the headline describing the scene in the church the day of his funeral. Ireland’s President Dr. Hillery, “joined actors, artists, writers, Irish language enthusiasts and hundreds of people who had simply enjoyed his performances in mourning.”

The Price of Thomas Scott

Mr. Scott and his wife, son and daughter have long hoped to sell the declining family business so they can pursue dreams now out of reach. When a buyer finally appears and makes a rich offer—Scott hesitates—he doesn’t approve of his buyers plans for the building.

Elizabeth Baker

The Suitcase Under the Bed

The Suitcase Under the Bed, so named for the place where all of Teresa Deevy’s writing was stored for decades, prior to the launch of Mint Theater Company’s “Deevy Project”, featured four short plays, three of which were World Premieres. Deevy, thanks in part to the Mint, is now recognized as “One of Ireland’s best and most neglected dramatists.” (Irish Times)

STRANGE BIRTH (World Premiere)
Sara Meade works at a small rooming house where she observes with determined detachment the heartache of each resident; a caution against falling in love herself. Suddenly the day’s post brings a letter that challenges her resolve.

TERESA DEEVY
(1894-1963)

The Lucky One

THE LUCKY ONE followed MR. PIM PASSES BY and THE TRUTH ABOUT BLAYDS as Mint’s third production by A.A. Milne—best remembered today as the creator of Winnie the Pooh. The play tells the timeless story of antagonism between two brothers: Gerald, who stands in the sun and Bob, who stands in Gerald’s shadow. When Bob finds himself in serious legal trouble, he turns to Gerald for rescue. When Gerald fails to come through, years of simmering resentment boil over in a confrontation that is as stirring as it is surprising.

At once ironic and fanciful, the work of A.A. Milne spanned novels, light verse, essays, and children’s literature. Yet beyond his beloved Winnie-the-Pooh books, Milne wrote over two dozen plays marked by “enchanting ingenuity” (E.V. Lucas), skillful craftsmanship, and subtle wit. Peering beneath the polite surfaces and semblances of English life, Milne concealed a serious and penetrating eye under a charmingly light touch.

Women Without Men

“There’s a major rediscovery at the Mint Theater Company and what else is new?”¹ wrote Peter Filichia of our production of Hazel Ellis’ WOMEN WITHOUT MEN. A workplace drama laced with biting humor, WOMEN WITHOUT MEN is set in the teacher’s lounge of a private girls’ boarding school in Ireland in the 1930s. The play explores the clash of conflicting natures and petty competitions that erupt amongst the school’s cloistered teaching staff.

By Maya Cantu

The Fatal Weakness

THE FATAL WEAKNESS, George Kelly’s last produced play, tells the story of Ollie Espenshade—an incurable romantic who discovers, after 28 years of marriage, that her husband is a lying cheat.  It opened in New York on November 19, 1946 in a production starring Ina Claire.  Although Claire’s triumphant return to Broadway after a five year absence garnered much of the press attention, Kelly’s play turned more than a few critics’ heads.

Admired for his character-driven satires and gimlet-eyed plays of modern manners, George Kelly (1887-1974) led a distinguished career in the New York theatre from the 1910s through the 1940s.

Katie Roche

Mint Theater continued its exhaustive exploration into the work of Teresa Deevy—which began with WIFE TO JAMES WHELAN in 2010 and TEMPORAL POWERS in 2011—with a production of Deevy’s compelling drama, Katie Roche. The play’s mercurial heroine is a servant girl whose romantic ambitions reach for the heavens. “Katie Roche is the third Deevy work to be produced by the Mint in as many years. It may be the best one yet,” ¹ wrote David Barbour in Lighting and Sound America.

Teresa Deevy was born in 1894 as the youngest of thirteen children in Waterford, Ireland. Though she intended to teach, Teresa contracted Meniere’s disease while at University College Dublin and lost her hearing. She went to London to study lip-reading and the theater provided her an opportunity to practice—there she discovered her calling.

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