About the Play:

Tea and Sympathy has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female/Female Scenes, Female/Male Scenes, and Male/Male Scenes.

Tea and Sympathy is a full-length drama by Robert Anderson. A ground-breaking drama that explores a sensitive young man's coming of age amid the taunts and suspicions of his classmates and teachers at a private boys' academy. Only a sympathetic act of compassion by the wife of the headmaster gives him the courage to grow into a man. A hit both onstage and as a major motion picture, Tea and Sympathy is a poignant, moving and timeless classic that will keep audiences enthralled from start to finish.

Tea and Sympathy is about Tom Lee, a lonely, misunderstood 17-year-old boy in a prestigious New England boarding school for boys. His refusal to involve himself in the roughhousing enjoyed by his peers causes him to be mercilessly ridiculed by both cruel classmates and callous instructors for his sensitive, artistic nature. Tom is not, as they all suspect, gay, but their constant insinuations send him down a destructive path. He is befriended by Laura, the headmaster's wife, who realizes her marriage has taken a very wrong turn. Drawn together, the two discover the personal cost of trying to fit in as they dance around illicit emotions and head toward a relationship that is much more than an offering of "tea and sympathy." As she undresses, she delivers the memorable curtain line, "Years from now when you talk about this – and you will – be kind." One of the most famous and popular plays of the 1950's, Tea and Sympathy is even more relevant in today's electronic world where bullying has burgeoned to new levels. It challenges our social mores and highlights the fact that humanity sometimes is more important than convention.

Tea and Sympathy premiered in 1953 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, ran for nearly two years on Broadway. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and has remained a staple of community theatre for years.

Cast: 2 female, 9 male

What people say:

"...one of the first plays to tackle the then-taboo topic of sexual orientation and related prejudice." — Houston Chronicle

"...restores our theatre to an art again with a fine play put on the stage with great skill and beauty." — New York Times

"Has audience appeal of high order." — New York Post

"A triumph." — New York World Telegram & Sun

About the Playwright:

Robert Woodruff Anderson (1917-2009) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and theatre producer. Born in New York City, he received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Harvard University, where he began writing for the stage. He was among the theatre's most visible, serious playwrights of the 1950s and 1960s with six plays on Broadway between 1953 and 1971. He was also a superb screenwriter, twice nominated for an Oscar, but it was his stage work that brought him the most fame. His plays have been produced professionally and in community and college theatres all over the world.