STAGED READINGS OF “WHY MARRY?” AND BUILDINGS IN NYC - From Artistic Director Gayle Stahlhuth
“There can be no real marriage - save on a basis of political, social, and economic equality.” - Jesse Lynch Williams
If it hadn’t been for a staged reading at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) on January 3, 1917, “Why Marry?” may never have made it to Broadway. Playwright Jesse Lynch Williams had been trying to get Broadway producers interested in it, but they shied away, thinking the subject matter was too provocative. When the AADA students presented this comedy at their annual graduation, several Broadway producers were in the audience. “Why Marry?” not only made it to Broadway, but received the first Pulitzer Prize ever given to a play.
In May 2013, ELTC’s 2007 cast of “Why Marry?” reunited for a staged-reading performance at The Players Club in NYC – the first time the play had appeared in NYC since 1918.
So, what about the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and the Players Club?
By 1880 in this country, there were many associated with theater who wanted to show that Americans should not only respect American actors and directors, but should also have the ability to train them. At this time, the only place to properly be trained was in England, or to be born into an acting family whose roots were planted in a long tradition of theater, like the Booth family.
On October 3, 1884, the first American acting school, AADA, opened at the original Lyceum Theatre, located between 23rd and 24th Streets on what was then called Fourth Avenue, before the name was changed to Park Avenue South. It was torn down to make way for The Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower. In 1963, the school moved to its present location, 120 Madison Avenue (pictured above), across from where Lee and I live when in NYC. Designed by Stanford White, it was built between 1904 -1908 by and for the Colony Club, the first women-only club in Manhattan. Many a Suffrage rally was held in front of the Colony Club and our apartment building! (I’m smiling while writing this.)
White never saw the building completed because he was killed by Harry K. Thaw at Madison Square Garden, located a few blocks down on 26th Street. This murder was THE scandal of the Gilded Age, and the trial dubbed “The Trial of the Century.” And to think, the Century had just begun!
In May 1888, Edwin Booth paid $75,000 for a townhouse that was built in 1847 at 16 Gramercy Park South, between 20th and 21st Streets, right off of Park Avenue South. It officially opened as The Players Club on December 31, 1888. Originally a men’s only establishment, on April 23, 1989 on Shakespeare's birthday, women were finally permitted to become “Players.” The very first was Helen Hayes.
Which takes me back to the Jesse Lynch Williams’ quote above.
To learn more about Williams, “Why Marry?” and the Pulitzer Prize, Click Here .
“There can be no real marriage - save on a basis of political, social, and economic equality.” - Jesse Lynch Williams
If it hadn’t been for a staged reading at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) on January 3, 1917, “Why Marry?” may never have made it to Broadway. Playwright Jesse Lynch Williams had been trying to get Broadway producers interested in it, but they shied away, thinking the subject matter was too provocative. When the AADA students presented this comedy at their annual graduation, several Broadway producers were in the audience. “Why Marry?” not only made it to Broadway, but received the first Pulitzer Prize ever given to a play.
In May 2013, ELTC’s 2007 cast of “Why Marry?” reunited for a staged-reading performance at The Players Club in NYC – the first time the play had appeared in NYC since 1918.
So, what about the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and the Players Club?
By 1880 in this country, there were many associated with theater who wanted to show that Americans should not only respect American actors and directors, but should also have the ability to train them. At this time, the only place to properly be trained was in England, or to be born into an acting family whose roots were planted in a long tradition of theater, like the Booth family.
On October 3, 1884, the first American acting school, AADA, opened at the original Lyceum Theatre, located between 23rd and 24th Streets on what was then called Fourth Avenue, before the name was changed to Park Avenue South. It was torn down to make way for The Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower. In 1963, the school moved to its present location, 120 Madison Avenue (pictured above), across from where Lee and I live when in NYC. Designed by Stanford White, it was built between 1904 -1908 by and for the Colony Club, the first women-only club in Manhattan. Many a Suffrage rally was held in front of the Colony Club and our apartment building! (I’m smiling while writing this.)
White never saw the building completed because he was killed by Harry K. Thaw at Madison Square Garden, located a few blocks down on 26th Street. This murder was THE scandal of the Gilded Age, and the trial dubbed “The Trial of the Century.” And to think, the Century had just begun!
In May 1888, Edwin Booth paid $75,000 for a townhouse that was built in 1847 at 16 Gramercy Park South, between 20th and 21st Streets, right off of Park Avenue South. It officially opened as The Players Club on December 31, 1888. Originally a men’s only establishment, on April 23, 1989 on Shakespeare's birthday, women were finally permitted to become “Players.” The very first was Helen Hayes.
Which takes me back to the Jesse Lynch Williams’ quote above.
To learn more about Williams, “Why Marry?” and the Pulitzer Prize, Click Here .
