THE AMERICAN CENTURY THEATER Presents by George Axelrod
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THE AMERICAN CENTURY THEATER presents by George Axelrod THE AMERICAN CENTURY THEATER The American Centurypresents Theater presents About The American Century Theater The American Century Theater was founded in 1994. We are a professional nonprofit theater company dedicated to presenting great, important, and worthy American plays of the twentieth century—what Henry Luce called “the American Century.” The company’s mission is one of rediscovery, enlightenment, and perspective, not nostalgia or preservation. Americans must not lose the extraordinary vision and wisdom of past playwrights, nor can we afford to surrender the by Georgeby George Axelrod Axelrod moorings to our shared cultural heritage. Our mission is also driven by a conviction that communities need theater, September 20–October 11, 2014 and theater needs audiences. To those ends, this company is committed to producing plays that challenge and move all Americans, of all ages, origins, Gunston Theatre Two and points of view. In particular, we strive to create theatrical experiences 2700 South Lang Street, Arlington that entire families can watch, enjoy, and discuss long afterward. Production Manager Director Stage Manager Ed Moser Rip Claassen Lindsey E. Moore Board of Directors Lighting Design Set Design Sound Design Chair Louis George Marianne Meadows USA Trena M. Weiss Ed Moser Vice-Chair Wes MacAdam Costume Design Properties Design Treasurer Wendy Kenney Rip Claassen Hannah Schneider Board Gabe Goldberg, Madi Green, Vivian Kallen, Jack Marshall, Kevin McIntyre Staff The action takes place in the apartment of the Richard Shermans, in the Gramercy Park section of New York City. Jack Marshall Artistic Director Act One Rip Claassen Tom Fuller Emily Morrison Brian Crane Rhonda Hill Ed Moser Scene 1 About eight o’clock on a summer evening Ellen Dempsey Steven Scott Mazzola Joli Provost Scene 2 Immediately following Kate Dorrell Lindsey E. Moore Ginny Tarris Act Two Scene 1 Evening, the following day Scene 2 Two hours later This program is supported in part by Arlington County through Act Three the Arlington Commission for the Arts and Arlington Cultural Affairs, a division The following morning of Arlington Economic Development; the Virginia Commission for the Arts; the National Endowment for the Arts; and many generous donors. There will be one fifteen-minute and one ten-minute intermission. Please—Silence and stow all electronic devices. The video and/or audio recording of this performance by any means whatsoever is strictly prohibited. The Seven Year Itch is produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service. Cast Richard Sherman .................................Bruce Alan Rauscher The Girl .............................................Carolyn Kashner * The Seven Year Itch, by George Axelrod (1952) Helen Sherman ....................................... Emily Morrison When we thought about a 20th century stage comedy that would Dr. Brubaker ............................................ Steve Lebens aptly and nobly represent that genre as The American Century Theater Tom MacKenzie ......................................... Ric Andersen completes its two-decade journey in this, its final season, the first and best Miss Morris ............................................Rachel Murray play that leapt to mind was George Axelrod’s The Seven Year Itch. Elaine ................................................ Rachel M. Loose Marie Whatever-Her-Name-Was .............. Chanukah Jane Lilburne Axelrod (1922–2003), a versatile playwright, screenwriter, and director Pat ...................................................Eileen A. Farrell (who was also represented here at TACT by his Hollywood satire, Will Ricky Sherman .............................. Ethan Ocasio, Xavier Wolf Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, which launched the career of Jayne Mansfield) is the archetypal TACT playwright. He was as celebrated in his day as * Equity Membership Candidate Terrence McNally or Neil Simon, but as his works were superseded by more recent Broadway hits, and their familiarity faded with new generations of Production staff producers and playgoers, he went “out of fashion.” In cases like Axelrod’s, Director .................................................Rip Claassen that simply means, “We’ve forgotten how good this guy was, and we’ll Production Manager ........................................Ed Moser suffer for it.” Associate Production Manager ...................... Lindsey E. Moore Stage Manager ..................................... Lindsey E. Moore The Seven Year Itch also exemplifies a large category of neglected Set Design and Construction ...........................Trena M. Weiss masterpieces that TACT has profitably revived: Plays That Became Such Carpenters .............................Robert Teague, Michael Salmi Famous Movies That Everybody Forgot They Were Plays First. The film of Lighting Design. Marianne Meadows USA The Seven Year Itch, of course, was turned into a vehicle for Marilyn Monroe, Sound Design ..............................................Ed Moser and not just any vehicle, but the one that provided the image that made Costume Design .........................................Rip Claassen her a deathless icon: MM standing over a New York City subway grate, Costume Design Apprentice/Wardrobe .............. Catherine Casino trying to suppress her enthusiastic white dress as it billows up around her. Properties Design ..................................Hannah Schneider Despite director and script adapter Billy Wilder’s brilliant cinematic Assistant Stage Manager/Board Operator ................ Chris Beatley flourishes, the film isn’t as good as Axelrod’s version. For one thing, ASM/Deck Manager ....................................... Rachel Lau Hollywood censors made Wilder change the ending to a cop-out. Publicist .............................................. Emily Morrison Nonetheless, in the wake of the film’s fame, the reaction of potential Production Photography ............................Johannes Markus theatrical producers when considering The Seven Year Itch became, “Oh, Preproduction Photography ........................ Angelisa Gillyard everybody’s seen that!” (but they hadn’t) and, “You have to have Marilyn Program Design ....................................Michael Sherman Monroe,” which is ridiculous. The play never had Marilyn Monroe, and House Manager ..........................................Joli Provost the character, just called “The Girl,” is not especially like Marilyn. Marilyn USA = Member, United Scenic Artists Monroe just played her that way, and you can hardly blame her. What really distinguishes The Seven Year Itch, however, among 20th Special thanks to— century comedies, is that it’s as funny now as it ever was. We discovered, Don Barton Clementine Morrison sometimes to our horror and sadness, that even the best comedies Ellie Cain Eddy Parker, frequently do not age well and lose laughs and relevance with each Liz and Lynn Crane-Wexler Little Theatre of Alexandria passing year. Sometimes the reason is that a play was a comic trailblazer, Rachel Erichsen, Scott Schneider and Miriam Struck and what was once a gut-busting shock was imitated and exceeded by the Olney Theatre Center Silver Spring Stage genre it inspired, making once-hilarious gags seem warmed-over clichés. Mister Roberts, which launched the “behind the lines” military spoof, suffered this fate. Other older plays found laughs in conduct that we no Who is Richard Sherman? Who are any of us? Is a person his reality, his longer find funny, like elder abuse and mental illness The( Effect of Gamma memories, or his dreams? In this play we meet Richard Sherman and Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds), alcoholism (many), and parental explore these aspects of who he is. What do our dreams tell us about neglect (A Thousand Clowns). ourselves? How do our memories effect/affect our actions? Is our The whole genre of sophisticated “smart set” comedies—American Noel physical “reality” all there is to us? These questions are what Richard Coward–style plays—mastered by Broadway-conquering playwrights like should ask himself, if not Dr. Brubaker. We could all use asking ourselves S.N. Behrman and Philip Barry now seems like science fiction. These kinds the same questions. of urbane, elegant, witty people simply don’t exist anymore, and it’s hard —Rip Claassen for modern audiences to believe they ever did. There are the archaic “feel Director, The Seven Year Itch good” comedies, driven by character and plot rather than jokes, which appealed to a slower-paced world where a happy ending and some smiles Cast along the way were reward enough for three hours in a theater. Most Ric Andersen (Tom MacKenzie) previously appeared at The American common of all the lapsed comedies are those that derive their humor from Century Theater in Bang the Drum Slowly and Abe Lincoln in Illinois jokes, characters, references, and situations based upon events and well- (staged reading). Other area roles include Ian Brown in the world known personalities of the times. No matter how well-crafted such plays premiere of Another Day on Willow Street, Bob Ewell in To Kill a were, or how much they pleased contemporary audiences, their virtues Mockingbird, and Montague in Romeo and Juliet (all, Compass Rose become undetectable as times and tastes change, as they inevitably must. Theater), the Vicomte de Jodelet in The Affected Young Ladies (Capital For The Seven Year Itch, however, George Axelrod chose an eternally Fringe Festival),