Meet Mint Theater Company (Click image below to play video)

meet-the-mint

Our Mission (Click image below to play video)

our-mission

MINT THEATER COMPANY finds and produces worthwhile plays from the past that have been lost or forgotten. We create new life for these plays and their authors through research, dramaturgy, production, readings, and a variety of enrichment programs. We extend that life by preserving our work—through publication, our online archives, and with broadcast quality video recordings.

Our History

In the words of New York Times’ critic Ben Brantley, Mint Theater is the “resurrectionist extraordinaire of forgotten plays.” We scour the dramaturgical dustbin for worthwhile plays from the past that have been lost or neglected—and we create new life for them through production, publication, and educational initiatives.

“RESURRECTIONIST EXTRAORDINAIRE OF FORGOTTEN PLAYS.”

Ben Brantley, The New York Times

We do more than blow the dust off neglected plays; we make vital connections between the past and present. As the Times’ Jason Zinoman wrote in his review of our 2010 production of Jules Romains’ prescient 1923 farce DR. KNOCK, “If there’s anything you learn by going regularly to the Mint, it’s that the world has changed less than you think.”

The Mint was founded in 1992. Jonathan Bank became artistic director in 1995 and began to shape the company’s mission, focusing on lost plays. Our first major success came in 1999 with the American premiere of THE VOYSEY INHERITANCE, written by Harley Granville-Barker in 1905. “A playwright, and a company, couldn’t do much better,” wrote the New York Times.

Since then, we’ve produced close to 50 neglected plays—terrific works by talented playwrights that might otherwise have been lost forever. A.A. Milne was remembered primarily as a children’s author until the Mint presented incandescent productions of MR. PIM PASSES BY in 1997 and again in 2003—in rotating rep with his drama THE TRUTH ABOUT BLADYS. D.H. Lawrence’s plays were unknown in America until the Mint produced acclaimed productions of THE DAUGHTER-IN-LAW in 2003 and THE WIDOWING OF MRS. HOLROYD in 2009. Ernest Hemingway’s only play—the impassioned Spanish Civil War drama THE FIFTH COLUMN—languished on library shelves for seventy years until we presented its American premiere in 2008.

Many of the plays we’ve produced have been by women, from Zona Gale, whose MISS LULU BETT we presented in 1999 to Githa Sowerby, whose RUTHERFORD AND SON we produced in 2001 and 2012. In 2006, we re-introduced New York audiences to Rachel Crothers—once the toast of Broadway—with our highly praised production of SUSAN AND GOD, followed by our equally acclaimed production of Crothers’ A LITTLE JOURNEY in 2011. Teresa Deevy had all but slipped from memory, even in her native Ireland—until the Mint came to her rescue with a four-production, two-publication effort to resurrect her work and reputation, starting with WIFE TO JAMES WHELAN in 2010, continuing with TEMPORAL POWERS in 2011, KATIE ROCHE in 2012 and THE SUITCASE UNDER THE BED in 2018.

Thank heaven for the unwavering commitment of Jonathan Bank, the theatrical archaeologist
whose Mint Theater Company unearths long-forgotten plays and imbues them with new life.

The New York Times, 2018

Our work has been recognized with an Obie Grant (2001), a special Drama Desk Award (2002), and the Theater History Museum’s Theatre Preservation Award (2010) along with a host of Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Award nominations. In fulfilling our mission, we’ve created some the most compelling theater in New York. As Gwen Orel wrote in the Irish Examiner “We are lucky in New York to have the Mint here. If all they did was find and stage these plays, it would be enough, but what they do is reincarnate them into striking works of art.”

  • Administrative Office

    412 West 42nd St
    New York, NY 10036

    Contact

    Administrative: 212-315-9434 (messages only)

    Office Hours

    We now work remotely. If you call, please leave a message or feel free to send an email. Either way, we’ll get back to you promptly.

  • Staff

    ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
    Jonathan Bank

    jbank at minttheater.org

    PRODUCING DIRECTOR
    Matthew McVey-Lee

    matthew at minttheater.org

    FINANCIAL  MANAGEMENT SERVICES
    Arts FMS

    PRESS AGENT
    David Gersten & Associates

  • Board of Trustees

    Gretchen Adkins

    Jonathan Bank

    Mary Crawford

    John P. Harrington

    Kathryn Swintek

    John Yarmick

    In Memoriam
    Ciro Gamboni

Theater Row, 410 W 42nd St between 9th and 10th Aves.

Accessibility

 

Building for the Arts and Theatre Row are firmly committed to providing equality of opportunity and an environment that fosters respect for all staff and patrons regardless of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, citizenship, sex, age, marital status, sexual orientation, disability or military status. Building for the Arts and Theatre Row are committed to full and positive compliance with applicable laws and their implementing regulations.

All six of our theatres, our lobby, and our lounge are accessible for audience members. There are elevators available to all floors.

Accessible restrooms are available on the 2nd Floor and the Lower Level. Restrooms with changing tables are available on 2nd floor. All patrons are encouraged to use the restroom that best represents their gender identity.

Assisted listening devices are available at the Box Office for Theatres One, Two, Three, Four, and Five.

For additional accessibility information and content warnings regarding specific productions, please visit the show’s ticketing page, which can be found here.

Please contact boxoffice@theatrerow.org with any specific questions or requests.