Staged Readings

Playwright: Romulus Linney

Director: Herbert Berghof

Cast: Mason Adams, Lily Lodge, Richard Duschinsky, William Prince, Inga Swenson, Ben Piazza, George Grizzard, Leigh Burch, Hurd Hatfield, Uta Hagen, Fritz Weaver, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Tony Weaver

Designer: Jennifer Tipton Production Manager: Marlene Mancini Lighting Assistant: Antonio Canal House Manager: Ann Dallwitz Poster Designer: Ann Raychel Production Assistant: James Hurley and John Santaromite

Democracy and Esther was performed December of the year 1969.

Synopsis: 

Democracy is an adaptation of two Henry Adams novels, Democracy and Esther and the diaries of General Ulysses S. Grant.  The play premiered in 1974 at the Virginia Museum Theatre in Richmond, Virginia.  Theatre scholar James Seymour commented “Esther’s story focuses mainly on religion, while Madeline’s dilemma centers on the responsibilities of the state.  The common denominator is the remarkable independence and spirit of these two strong women.”  While the play focuses on the two women and their journeys, Linney wrote that “this play is about the childhood of democracy: it’s about youth; it looks at what was wrong with democracy when it was young.”

Playwright: Eric Bentley

Director: Eric Bentley

Cast: Jean Baker, Edward Horton, Herbert Berghof, Will Lee, James Broderick, Stephen Levi, James Cahill, Patrick McVey, Frederick Corke, Edward Morehouse, Howard Dewitt, Jess Osuna, Richard Frey, William Packard, Edward Garrabrandt, Rik Pierce, Franc Geraci and Brandwell Teuscher

Lighting: Patrika Brown Production Manager: Marlene Mancini Music Selected and Played by: Jon Cole Production Assistants: Fred Bauer, Antonio Canal, Pennie duPont, Richard Frey, Yvette McNally and Andre Sedriks

The Good Catholic was performed September 20th – 22nd of the year 1968.

Synopsis:

Playwright: Louis Auchincloss

Cast: Jess Osuna, Sydney Sloane, Tony Weaver, Robin Noland, Ethel Colt, Patrick McVey, Stephen Levi, Kenneth Bridges, Alice Spivak, Martin Wolfson, Virginia Gilmore, Romulus Linney, Nan Martin, William Daniels, Richard Frey

 Lighting Designer: Anthony Quintavalla Lighting Technician: Howard Goldstein Assistant to Howard Berghoff: Marlene Mancini

Playwright: Charles Nelson Reilly

Director: Charles Nelson Reilly

Cast: David Berk, Tanya Fredricks, Alice Borden, Carol Gelfand, Katherine Bruce, Richard Glynn, Margot Carpenter, Susanne Grayson, Alva Celauro, Ernie Kemm, Cynthia Crane, Tom Shields, Elinor Ellsworth, Ethel Smith, Joek Frederick, Michael Stoddard

Musical Director: Edward Strauss Lighting: Tony Quintavalla

An Experiment on the American was performed June 25th – 30th

Playwright: William Packard

Director: William Packard

Cast: Al Amateau, Roberta Bennett, Leigh Burch, Michael Higgins, Howard Johnson, Marlene Mancini and Andre Sedriks

Lighting Design: Andy M. Rasbury Lighting Technician: Richard Frey Production Manager: Marlene Mancini Assistants to Mr. Packard: Roberta Bennett, Leigh Burch, Marlene Mancini Poster Designer: Murray Sherman

The Poetry of William Packard was performed May 31st – June 2nd of the year 1968.

Synopsis:

Playwright: William Packard

Director: William Packard, Roberta Bennett, Leigh Burch, Penny duPont, Carol Lanyi, William Packard and Margaret Sherman

Cast: Walt Whitman, Robert Lowell, May Swenson, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Allen Ginsberg, Stanley Kunitz, Henry David Thoureau, Robert Creeley, Richard Wilbur, W.H. Auden, Kenneth Patchen and Miroslav Holub

Lighting: Patrika Brown Production Manager: Marlene Mancini Assistants to Ms. Packard: Roberta Bennett and Margaret Sherman Program: Carol Bedger

An Evening of Spoken Poetry was performed Feb. 24 – 25th of the year 1968.

Synopsis:

Thirteen poems are presented in an Evening of Spoken Poetry by twelve different poets in an evening. These are performed in HB Studio in 1968 all starting at the time of nine in the evening.

Playwright: Walter Corwin

Playwrights: Saul Bellow and Mary Otis

Director: Herbert Berghof

Cast: Charles Nelson Reilly, Walt Witcover, Alexander Scourby, David Hurst, Carol Pearce, George Mathews, Lou Gilbert, Brooks Rodgers, Ling Chang, Jeremy Stevens, Tom Johnston, Oliver Berg, Marlene Mancini, Don Berry, Elizabeth Dillon, Michael Corder, Shirley Bodtke, Kathryn Scott, William Hickey and Uta Hagen

Lighting Designer: Tony Quintacalla Production Manager: Henri Caubisens Assistants to Herbert Berghof: Marlene Mancini and Edith Emmet House Manager: John Matthiessen

Seize the Day was performed in February of the years 1967-1968.

Synopsis:

This is a play about a man with a corrupt life of balancing the difficulties of money and women trouble. He seeks advice from his father which leads to disappointment being that he wanted to hear advice different from what he was just hearing. He’s in a tough predicament which results in unhappiness and drug use.

Playwright: Ingeborg Bachmann

Director: Herbert Berghof and Uta Hagen

Cast: George Welbes, William Hansen, F. Murray Abraham, Ezra Shoshani, Herbert Berghof, Susan Batson, Pennie DuPont, Carol Pearce, Marlene Mancini, Olga Bellin, James Patterson, Katharine Sergava, Rex O’Malley, Suzanne Smith, John Fink, Michael Corder, Walt Witcover, William Hickey, Ed Yastion, Tom McCready, Stephen Strimpell and Jeremy Stevens

Lighting Designer: Tom Skelton Assistant to Mr. Skelton: Jennifer Tipton Chief Electrician: Tony Quintavalla Electrician: Steve Cohen and George Peck Assistant to Herbert Berghof: Marlene Mancini Stage Manager: Jesse I. Feiler Assistant Stage Manager: Erin Fleming House Manager: Margaret Ritchie and Norman Kline Hospitality: Maryann Rocca, Madelyn Rosen, Janice Rosen, Judy Blaisdell and Gretchen Evans

The Good God of Manhattan was performed June 2nd – 4th of the year 1966.

Synopsis:

A character in the play, Good God of Manhattan, is on trial for plotting the murder of two lovers. Jan and Jennifer, and for having killed Jennifer in a bomb attack on their love-nest. During the trial the story unfolds, through flashbacks, that love has no place in the social order. The meeting of Jan and Jennifer at first appears banal, but their love intensifies and becomes all-consuming. The drama examines the relationship between men and women, and if ideals make sense in a “practical” world.