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Winterset
Winterset
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Author: Maxwell Anderson Publisher: Dramatists Play Service (cover may change) Format: Softcover # of Pages: 90 Pub. Date: 1990 Edition: Acting ISBN-10: 0822212668 ISBN-13: 9780822212669 Cast Size: 3 female, 19 male
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About
the Play:
Winterset has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Male Monologues and Male/Male Scenes.
Winterset is a full-length drama by Maxwell
Anderson. Inspired by the scandalous murder case of the 1920s
when a pair of working-class Italian immigrants and leftist
ideologues, Nicola Sacco-Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were arrested,
convicted and electrocuted despite the insubstantial evidence against
them. This acclaimed verse drama follows a young man's quest to prove
his father's innocence years after he was executed for a murder he
may not have committed. Especially
recommended for school and contest use.
Winterset is a love story about star-crossed lovers, a
family story about a father protecting his son, and a crime story
with gangsters and murderers. Mio Romagna, believing that his father
was innocent of the crime for which he was executed, pursues his long
search for proof to clear the name of his father. Following new
evidence, his path crosses that of Miriamne, a woman who lives with
her family in a tenement under a towering bridge. The young people
are drawn together through the tragedy of Mio's father, and the boy's
bitterness prevents each from giving themself wholly to the other.
Mio must first recover his self respect and the right to love. His
problem is complicated when it is learnt that Miriamne's brother,
Garth, might have testified at the trial and cleared the accused man,
but feared to do so because his own life would have been endangered.
In the midst of Mio's efforts, there appears the figure of the
unbalanced Judge Gaunt, who sentenced the victim, in search of new
evidence to convince him that his decision was just. Miriamne, loyal
to her family and in spite of her love for Mio, helps Garth conceal a
murder the discovery of which would have saved Mio's faith, even life
itself. From this tense situation, the young lovers step out into the
night, to live what little is left of their short lives together.
Winterset premiered in 1935 at the Martin Beck Theatre,
where it ran for 179 performances in its original run. Following a
national tour, the production returned to Broadway for a 16
performance encore engagement. It won the first New York Drama
Critics' Circle Award for Best Play. This often-studied American theatre classic has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and is considered one of the most important
verse dramas, or plays written largely in poetry, in the twentieth
century. Particularly suitable for
schools and play contests.
Cast: 3 female, 19 male
About the Playwright:
Maxwell Anderson (1888-1956) was an award-winning American
playwright and screenwriter. Best known for his Hollywood screen
adaptations of his own plays including Key Largo, and Mary
of Scotland, he was the most successful playwright of his time
and most of his plays, including Mary of Scotland, enjoyed
long runs on Broadway. Both Your Houses won the Pulitzer Prize
and Winterset and Mary of Scotland won coveted Drama
League Awards.
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