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The ReGroup Theatre Company presents
1931-
A Great Depression-Era Drama by Claire and Paul Sifton
THE GROUP THEATRE’S MOST DARING PLAY GETS RARE REVIVAL
October 4 – 21, 2012
Wednesday-Saturday at 8pm / Sunday at 5pm
The Living Theatre
21 Clinton Street (bet. East Houston & Stanton)
New York, NY 10002
Tickets are $18 and can be purchased at
https://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=A193
or by calling 212-868-4444
Runtime: Approx. 2 Hours with no intermission
1931play.com
New York, NY (August 28, 2012) – After an 80-year absence from the stage,
The ReGroup Theatre Company presents 1931-, Claire & Paul Sifton’s
gritty tale of the Great Depression era. Allie Mulholland directs
a cast of fourteen ReGroup members, including George Bartenieff (Film:
Julia & Julia, The Dictator; TV: 30 Rock, Law & Order), Carly J.
Bauer, Nic Davies, Stephen Dexter, Matt Giroveanu, Daniel Hainsworth, Avé
M. Lindon, Pete McElligott (Backstage magazine’s 10 Memorable performances
of 2011 for Johnny Johnson directed by Estelle Parsons), Kelsey Moore,
Mateo Prendergast, Kofi Boakye, Shelley Valfer, and Shawn Verrier. 1931-
will run for fourteen performances from October 4-21, 2012 at The Living
Theatre, 21 Clinton Street (bet. East Houston & Stanton) in New York
City.
1931- is the story of Adam, who is fired from his warehouse job. Proud
and determined, Adam sets out to find another job, only to discover hundreds
of other men in the same situation. Without a paycheck, Adam soon
realizes how much he has to lose: health, dignity, hope, and possibly even
the young shop girl he loves. 1931- it is the story of all the men and
women, young and old in Adam's situation. They sleep in the parks, beg
for coins and even turn to crime when there seems to be no other option.
When their story comes to a head, there seems only one way left to turn:
revolution.
1931- was the second play produced by The Group Theatre, the most famous
American theatre company, which existed from 1931-1940, featuring the talents
of Lee Strasberg, Clifford Odets, Stella Adler, & Sanford Meisner.
The original production lasted 12 performances, though the stories
of the amazed reaction of the “balcony crowd,” whose story was being
depicted onstage, are legendary. The upper-class orchestra-set rejected
the play for its alleged sensationalism.
The ReGroup Theatre Company presented 1931- as a staged reading in 2010
and was struck by the overwhelming response the play stirred in the audience.
Many questioned whether the play had been updated to reflect our
modern times, specifically the Occupy Wall Street movement, but not a word
has been updated.
Out-of-print for 75+ years, ReGroup Artistic Director Allie Mulholland
copied 1931- word by word from the Labor Library Collection. After obtaining
permission from the Sifton family, The ReGroup published the play in 2011
in The “Lost” Group Theatre Plays: Volume 1.
Tickets are $18 and can be purchased at https://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=A193
or by calling SmartTix at 212-868-4444. For more information, visit http://www.1931play.com.
1931- is presented by The ReGroup Theatre Company. Director: Allie
Mulholland; Lighting Designer: Sarah Riffle; Sound Designer: Paul Testagrossa;
Stage Manager: Sarah Weeks; Publicist: Paul Siebold.
Allie Mulholland (Director) is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the
Arts and has trained under Lauri Peters, Larry Moss, Anne Jackson &
Austin Pendleton. He originated the lead role in the 50th Anniversary
stage production of Rebel Without a Cause off-Broadway. After 2 years
of intense research and study, including reading over 1,000 plays, he formed
the ReGroup Theatre Company. ReGroup credits include playing David Charleston
in Thunder Rock, Solomon Ginsberg in Success Story, Dr. Gordon in Men in
White, Ed Bonney in Big Night, Elliott Snowden in Gentlewoman, Capt Valentine
in Johnny Johnson and directing Paradise Lost and The House of Connelly.
He produced the Group Theatre's 80th Anniversary Tribute at Symphony
Space which featured performances of scenes from all 23 Group Theatre plays.
Besides directing several scenes, he appeared in the title role in Golden
Boy. He appeared on all 4 soaps that filmed in NY and can currently
be seen showing his ‘versatility’ on the Investigation Discover channel
in Scorned: Love Kills.
Claire and Paul F. Sifton (playwrights) wrote several plays including The
Belt (produced by The Theatre Guild in 1927), 1931- (produced in London
under the title The Age of Plenty in 1933), Fame and Fortune, The Doctors,
In the Meantime, The Pift and Blood on the Moon. When the latter was performed
in London in 1933, the production was halted by Lord Chamberlain because
it was deemed to be an unfriendly act toward Germany. Their 1930
play, Midnight became a film featuring Humphrey Bogart. Mr. Sifton
voluntarily enlisted for service in World War I in 1917 and served as a
Private, first class, in the American Expeditionary Forces. The following
year, he was on the front lines when the Germans launched their last ditch
assault, and he was incapacitated during a gas attack. He contracted tuberculosis
and, as a result, had to have part of a lung removed. He became a political
writer for the National Farmers Union after World War II and met Walter
Reuther, then U.A.W. vice president, during the1945 strike at General Motors.
Mr. Sifton became the Washington representative for Democratic Action.
He joined forces with Mr. Reuther and such liberals as former Senator Paul
H. Douglas, Joseph L. Raub, and Clarence P. Mitchell of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People to outline strategies for civil rights
and welfare bills. He combined writing skill and political acumen to argue
for progressive economic and civil rights policies for more than 30 years.
Mrs. Sifton (born Claire Ginsburg in Rio de Janiero) was the daughter of
missionaries and attended schools in Brazil before coming to the States
to enroll at Stephens College. Claire and Paul were married in 1922 after
meeting at the University of Missouri, where Claire received a graduate
degree and became the first female instructor in journalism. Claire was
also a specialist on children's education and was the author of The Perfect
Baby, a book about childcare. She belonged to the Daughters of the
American Revolution but withdrew from the group in the dispute over Marian
Anderson, the black concert singer, in 1939. During the1940's and
50's, Mrs. Sifton was associated with the United States Children's Bureau
in Washington.
The Regroup Theatre Company was created in 2010 with the mission to produce
"great plays" as defined by the Group Theatre as plays which
are "propaganda for a better life." The ReGroup believes that
entertaining the audience is not enough; the audience must also have an
experience. By focusing on theatre's unique gifts - heightened dialogue,
creative movement, controlled speech, stylized visuals and communion with
a live audience - they hope to blow the years of dust off these plays and
make them "awake and sing" once again. In turn, they hope
to inspire new playwrights to write material in this surging larger-than-life
nature that will have social impact and relevance. The ReGroup also aims
to create an alternative production system, one that was proposed by the
Group Theatre. Under the current commercial paradigm of American
Theatre, if plays are not an immediate financial success, their message
is not afforded the time to be seen and heard. By structuring ourselves
as an organization more akin to the ballet or even the opera, mainly supported
by sponsorship and donors, we can offer a public service that reaps success
in terms of overall effectiveness, with monetary success a lesser consideration.
Until the United States has a National Theatre, we hope to help fill
the void. Members of the company’s Board of Advisers include Angelica
Page, Estelle Parsons, Austin Pendleton, Molly Regan, Susan Rowland, José
Angel Santana, Lois Smith, Wendy Smith and Frances Sternhagen, among others.
TICKET AND SCHEDULE INFORMATION:
$18
https://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=A193
or call 212-868-4444
October 4 – 21, 2012
Wednesday-Saturday at 8pm / Sunday at 5pm
The Living Theatre
21 Clinton Street (bet. East Houston & Stanton)
New York, NY 10002