Tuesday, April 23, 2024
The world knows Betty Smith as the woman who wrote the coming-of-age novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, a minor (or arguable a major) American classic. The irony is that she considered herself a playwright rather than a novelist. “Becomes a Woman” has never before been produced, despite winning the Avery Hopwood Award in 1931 at the University of Michigan – along with the princely sum (for the Depression) of $1,000. The Mint Theater Company has seen fit to stage it. I am very glad they did. Emma Pfitzer Price plays the lead role of Francie Nolan (the same name as
Tag: Mint Theatre
Mint Theater’s Revival of ‘Days to Come’ by Lillian Hellman at The Beckett
When it opened on Broadway in 1936, Days to Come lasted seven performances. Perhaps audiences expected something more salacious from Lillian Hellman. Her debut play The Children's Hour had plenty, and her second about an Ohio strike had none. While Days to Come is no masterpiece, the Mint Theater's excellent production at The Beckett reveals a play mired in its past and present but anticipates the future. The Rodman siblings Andrew (Larry Bull) and Cora (Mary Bacon) are heirs to a brush factory. Though the factory has remained operational during the Great Depression, the dwindling family fortune leads Andrew and lawyer Henry Ellicott (Ted