ENEMIES
A reading of a one-act play written by Neith Boyce and Hutchins Hapgood
With clever dialogue, "Enemies" explores a “modern,” nontraditional, non-monogamous marriage.
Directed by James Rana
Starring Veronique Hurley and Mat Labotka (picture above)
This presentation was filmed in a Manhattan apartment - not Zoomed - and is available on ELTC's YouTube Channel
https://www.tinyurl.com/ELTCYouTube. Click here for the direct link to ENEMIES.
It can be viewed directly on a flat screen tv, but if viewing it on a computer,
ELTC recommends connecting the computer to the tv with an HDMI cable so the play is seen on a larger screen
with better sound. Closed Caption is available on YouTube.
Premiere is Thursday, March 4 at 8:00 PM and will be available anytime
through 11:59 PM on Sunday, March 7.
Free, but donations are appreciated. Click Here
It was on the veranda of Hapgood and Boyce's rented cottage in Provincetown, MA on July 15, 1915, that the Provincetown Players began by presenting its first evening of innovative one-acts. Under another husband-and-wife team, George Cram Cook and Susan Glaspell, the Players moved the plays of Eugene O’Neill, Glaspell and others to New York City from 1916 – 1922. “Enemies” was originally performed by Boyce and Hapgood for the Players, and are pictured here in the production.
BIOS
Veronique Hurley (She) was in ELTC's The Rainmaker, Sherlock Holmes Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, Silent Sky and Biography. Off Broadway Theatre Credits include: The Tempest, As You Like it, Twelfth Night, Hunting and Gathering (The Glass Eye), Women are crazy because men are Assholes (Cherry Lane Theatre); Regional Credits Include: Noises Off, To Kill A Mockingbird, Christmas Carol, (The Hartford Stage Company) The Straight Marriage Plays, Moon Over Buffalo (Cape May Stage), Around the World in 80 Days (won best ensemble, Broadwayworld.com), Bunnicula and Charlotte's Web (Playhouse on Park). Member AEA.
Mat Labotka (He) was in ELTC's The Rainmaker and Sherlock Holmes Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle. An alum of Chicago’s Second City Conservatory and Marquette University, Mat is both classically trained and freshly comedic. New York credits include Henry in The King’s Face, Albert in Relativity of Love (Break A Leg), Victor in The Star and The Fire (90 Square Arts). Chicago credits include Metropolis Theatre, Circle Theatre, Second City, iO Chicago, Underground Lounge. Mat also performs in commercials, improv and stand-up comedy. matlabotka.com Member AEA.
James Rana East Lynne credits include: Nothing Matters, A Year in the Trenches (playwright), Dracula, Strictly Dishonorable, Huckleberry Finn (playwright), Zorro! (playwright/performer), The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (playwright), The Poe Mysteries (playwright/performer), and Sherlock Holmes’ Adventure of the Norwood Builder. Ensemble Studio Theatre, Pan Asian Rep, Luna Stage, The Shakespeare Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Co. (UK), Classical Theatre of Harlem, Actors Shakespeare Co., Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Coney Island USA, Comedysportz, Worth Street Theatre, Shakespeare & Co., Princeton Rep, Globe Neuss and Bonn Biennale (Germany). Film/Television: Swim Little Fish Swim, The War Within, A Girl Like You With A Boy Like Me, The Assassin, Law & Order: SVU, Chicago Fire, Third Watch, One Life To Live, As the World Turns, Conan O’Brien. Radio: Poe: A Celebration (wrote and narrated) for NPR. Stage Adaptations: From The Earth To The Moon (workshop: Tri-State Actors Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Actors Shakespeare Co.). In 2017, he performed in Off-Broadway's The Government Inspector starring Michael Urie. In the fall of 2017, he began rehearsals for Broadway’s The Band's Visit, and performed several times in the role of the Band's Leader, originally performed by Tony Shalhoub, and other roles. When this Tony Award winning show closed on Broadway in April 2019, he began performing in The National Tour. James received his MFA from Trinity Rep and is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, SAG-AFTRA, and the Dramatists Guild..
THE PLAYWRIGHTS: NEITH BOYCE AND HUTCHINS HAPGOOD
Born in Franklin, Indiana, Neith Boyce (1872-1951) was one of five children born to Henry Harrison, who had been a Union captain in the Civil War, and Mary Boyce. They named her after an ancient warlike Egyptian goddess who created and governed the universe. After the diphtheria epidemic of 1880 took the lives of her siblings, Neith and her parents moved to Los Angeles, where Mary was one of the founders of the Flower Festival, forerunner of the Tournament of Roses parade, and Henry co-founded “The Los Angeles Times.” This paper published her articles while she was still a teenager.
After Henry sold his interest in the newspaper, he went into real estate, which proved unsuccessful, and he was forced into bankruptcy. The Boyces moved to Boston in 1891, where Mary became an associate editor for “The Cycle,” a publication dedicated to women’s rights issues. “The Cycle” also published Neith’s editorials and poetry. In 1896, the Boyces moved to New York City and Neith’s writings were now published in “Vogue.” A few years later, Neith, with two other women, shared an apartment in Greenwich Village. All three were receiving regular salaries from various New York City newspapers. Her first book, “The Chap-Book,” was published in 1896.
Hutchins Harry Hapgood (1869 – 1944) was the son of Charles, a successful manufacturer in Alton, Illinois, and Fanny Louise Hapgood, and the younger brother of journalist and diplomat Norman Hapgood. Hutchins transferred to Harvard University after a year at the University of Michigan, where he earned a B.A. in 1892 and his Masters in 1897. In between, he spent two years studying sociology and philosophy at the universities of Berlin and Freiburg, Germany. He taught English composition at Harvard and the University of Chicago, before moving to New York and writing for “The New York Commercial Advertiser.” Neith worked for the “Advertiser,” too, and that’s where the two met. In 1899, they were married. In 1904, when the “Advertiser” turned into “The New York Globe,” he returned to Chicago, becoming the drama critic for “The Chicago Evening Post.” When he returned to New York, he wrote editorials for “The New York Evening Post,”, “The Press,” and “The Globe.”
Because Hutchins liked to spend summers in Provincetown, Massachusetts, Neith became involved with the town’s women playwrights, and was one of the founding members of the Provincetown Players. All four of her plays were first presented by the Players, and she also directed, performed, and hosted productions in her home.
“Enemies,” co-written with Hutchins, was performed by both of them for the company in Provincetown and New York. It is about a “modern marriage,” in which both partners are equal and not bound sexually to each other, which is exactly the sort of marriage the couple had themselves. When they began having children, however, Neith focused on being a mother, while Hutchins still “played around.” Their eldest son, Harry, was working on a ranch in New Mexico in 1918 when he died of the Spanish Flu. To help deal with the depression, Neith wrote the autobiographical “Harry: A Portrait” that was published in 1923. About that time, Hutchins, being an anarchist, was disillusioned over what he called “the decadence of the postwar world” and retired as a journalist. He continued, however, to write, and his autobiography “A Victorian in the Modern World” was published in 1939. It was reissued by the University of Washington Press in 1972.
After Henry sold his interest in the newspaper, he went into real estate, which proved unsuccessful, and he was forced into bankruptcy. The Boyces moved to Boston in 1891, where Mary became an associate editor for “The Cycle,” a publication dedicated to women’s rights issues. “The Cycle” also published Neith’s editorials and poetry. In 1896, the Boyces moved to New York City and Neith’s writings were now published in “Vogue.” A few years later, Neith, with two other women, shared an apartment in Greenwich Village. All three were receiving regular salaries from various New York City newspapers. Her first book, “The Chap-Book,” was published in 1896.
Hutchins Harry Hapgood (1869 – 1944) was the son of Charles, a successful manufacturer in Alton, Illinois, and Fanny Louise Hapgood, and the younger brother of journalist and diplomat Norman Hapgood. Hutchins transferred to Harvard University after a year at the University of Michigan, where he earned a B.A. in 1892 and his Masters in 1897. In between, he spent two years studying sociology and philosophy at the universities of Berlin and Freiburg, Germany. He taught English composition at Harvard and the University of Chicago, before moving to New York and writing for “The New York Commercial Advertiser.” Neith worked for the “Advertiser,” too, and that’s where the two met. In 1899, they were married. In 1904, when the “Advertiser” turned into “The New York Globe,” he returned to Chicago, becoming the drama critic for “The Chicago Evening Post.” When he returned to New York, he wrote editorials for “The New York Evening Post,”, “The Press,” and “The Globe.”
Because Hutchins liked to spend summers in Provincetown, Massachusetts, Neith became involved with the town’s women playwrights, and was one of the founding members of the Provincetown Players. All four of her plays were first presented by the Players, and she also directed, performed, and hosted productions in her home.
“Enemies,” co-written with Hutchins, was performed by both of them for the company in Provincetown and New York. It is about a “modern marriage,” in which both partners are equal and not bound sexually to each other, which is exactly the sort of marriage the couple had themselves. When they began having children, however, Neith focused on being a mother, while Hutchins still “played around.” Their eldest son, Harry, was working on a ranch in New Mexico in 1918 when he died of the Spanish Flu. To help deal with the depression, Neith wrote the autobiographical “Harry: A Portrait” that was published in 1923. About that time, Hutchins, being an anarchist, was disillusioned over what he called “the decadence of the postwar world” and retired as a journalist. He continued, however, to write, and his autobiography “A Victorian in the Modern World” was published in 1939. It was reissued by the University of Washington Press in 1972.
