The Torch-Bearers is a 1922 stage play by George Kelly about a housewife who becomes an actress (the original actress became a widow and withdrew) while her husband is away on business, with Act I being the rehearsal at their home, Act II is the show, and Act III is afterwards. The play is in the style of, as is the play within the play, of the Little Theatre Movement.[1]
Production history
It premiered originally in New Jersey at the Savoy Theatre in Asbury Park, directed by Kelly, starring Arthur Shaw (Frederick Ritter), Douglas Garden (Huxley Hossefrosse), Edward Reese (Mr. Spindler), Booth Howard (Ralph Twiller), William Castle (Teddy Spearing), J.A. Curtis (Stage Manager), Mary Boland (Paula Ritter), Alison Skipworth (J. Duro Pampinelli), Helen Lowell (Nelly Fell), Rose Mary King (Florence McCrickett), Daisy Atherton (Clara Sheppard), and Mary Gildea (Jenny). The show would before transferring to Broadway and opening on August 29, 1922 at the 48th Street Theatre.[2] According to the play and The Independent, it was staged at the Vanderbilt Theatre.[1]
The show was revived in 2000 at the Greenwich House, directed by Dylan Baker, set design Michael Vaughn Sims, costumes design Jonathan Bixby and Gregory Gale, lighting design Mark Stanley, sound design Robert Murphy, hair design Darlene Dannenfelser, production supervision by Entolo, production stage manager John Handy[3] and assistant stage manager Casey Bozeman.[4] The show starred David Garrison (Frederick Ritter), Faith Prince (Paula Ritter), Marian Seldes (J. Duro Pampinelli), Judith Blazer (Florence McCrickett), Joan Copeland (Nelly Fell), Paul Mullins (Ralph Twiller), Don Mayo (Huxley Hossefrosse), Ralph Cole Jr. (Teddy Sperling),[5] Susan Mansur (Jenny), Claire Beckman (Clara Sheppard),[5] and Albert Macklin (Mr. Spindler).[6]
^ abBacon, Leonard; Thompson, Joseph Parrish; Storrs, Richard Salter; Beecher, Henry Ward; Leavitt, Joshua; Bowen, Henry Chandler; Tilton, Theodore; Ward, William Hayes; Holt, Hamilton; Franklin, Fabian; Fuller, Harold de Wolf; Herter, Christian Archibald (1922). "The Independent".