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Up Next!
The Understudy by Theresa Rebeck
March 24th - April 8th
Tickets available at brownpapertickets.com after March 13th!
Thanks to all who attended our special event-
We The People: A Tribute to Thurgood Marshall 2.12.23
January 15th 2023, 3pm -
The Playwright's Group: readings of new work.
February 12th, 3pm -
A Tribute to Thurgood Marshall
(with interviews, video, and delicious food to follow!)
March 24th - April 8th
The Understudy by Theresa Rebeck
Details soon!
New Date!
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Playwright John Barrow and Artistic Director Susanna Frazer of The Morningside Players at the Annual Columbia Community Service Grantees Reception 7/13/22. All our thanks to CCS!
Carol Carter, TMP actor and playwright, had a very successful reading of her new play
Mr. Harold Brown on Sunday May 15th, '22 with a lively and extremely helpful discussion after. Much thanks to all!
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We are saddened to hear of the passing of dear Arthur French
Wonderful Actor, Director, and Teacher
Arthur French teaching at The Herbert Berghof (HB) Studios
Besides his lauded Broadway, film, and TV
career, Arthur performed in many shows with The Morningside Players over the years, notably his leading role as Dr. Sloper in The Heiress.
Arthur French in The Heiress, with Tess Frazer
Photo credit: Patrick Mahaney
His directing credits at TMP included our AUDELCO Award-winning production of
Fences and A Raisin in the Sun (AUDELCO nominated).
We will miss his kindness, wisdom, and good humor very much, and we honor his tremendous contribution to the theater in all forms.
For April 2021, to honor Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who died on April 12th, 1945,
The Morningside Players present,
FDR Returns...and Just In Time
Please click on the title to watch
Roosevelt and Writer: Mark Hofmaier
Director: Luke Hofmaier
Women's History Month 2021
For Women's History Month, we honor the women health care workers fighting the COVID pandemic.
We tell the stories of a few key pioneers in the medical field from the past two centuries. Women who overcame prejudice and hardship while making significant advances for humankind.
Here's a brief glimpse into the lives of some of these trailblazers.
We owe a debt to them and to the women who are fighting for us today.
The Morningside Players present Women's History Month: The Healers
Please click on the title to watch
Conceived and Written by Cecelia Riddett
Edited and Produced by Luke Hofmaier
Featuring (in order of appearance):
Cecelia Riddett
Susanna Frazer
Bridget Leicester
Carol Carter
Jill Melanie Wirth
Donnah Welby
Black History Month 2021
Thurgood Marshall served as Associate Justice and later, Associate Chief Justice
of the United States Supreme Court from 1967 to 1991.
Justice Marshall and his wife were early residents of Morningside Gardens.
On July 4, 1992, Justice Marshall received the Constitution Centers, Liberty Medal.
The Morningside Players commemorate Black History Month with a reading of Marshall’s Liberty Medal
acceptance remarks. Though spoken nearly 30 years ago, his words still resonate today,
providing us inspiration, purpose, and hope.
Thurgood Marshall Liberty Medal Reading
Please click on the title to watch
Listen to fellow Morningside Player
Luke Hofmaier's audio play
A Saturn Return from April 1-4th here
TMP Playwrights Group has continued to meet using the Zoom conference utility. Our writers are producing interesting and exciting new pieces. Recently, The Morningside Players presented a YouTube Monologue and Scene Workshop.
The program consists of three monologues, a poem, and one scene.
On Saturday, January 16, 2021, The Morningside Players hosted a virtual Zoom Memorial to pay tribute to our dear friend and colleague Lydia LaFleur.
Lydia is remembered fondly as a cherished and integral part of The Morningside Players and the Morningside Gardens community.
Hail & Brava!
COVID-19 and Off-Off-Broadway Theater
The Morningside Players Participate in Theater Industry Discussion
In August 2020, Splash Magazine posed questions to a distinguished group of independent and off-off-Broadway artistic directors and managers representing eight NYC theaters including The Morningside Players artistic director, Susanna Frazer. Panelists addressed the overarching question, Can Indie Theater Survive a Pandemic?.
Live, off-off-Broadway theater with its affordable ticket prices contributes to the cultural and artistic landscape of the city of New York and serves as an economic driver for neighborhood restaurants and businesses. But the ecosystem of off-off-Broadway/indie theaters is fragile at best. “Most companies live by the skin of their teeth through the best of times,” writes Splash staff writer and playwright, Tony Sportiello, “and these are not the best of times.”
Theaters anticipate compliance challenges with social distancing guidelines, but noting the versatility of TMP performance space, Morningside Gardens own Susanna Frazer commented, “We have enough space that we can easily move seats far apart… and windows that can open.”
Some theaters have utilized Zoom as a virtual performance platform and communication tool, but Heather E. Cunningham from Retro Productions expressed what many feel about virtual presentations, “… if it isn’t live in the same space as I am, then it’s not theater.”
Ultimately, the consensus with caveats, was that off-off-Broadway will survive. “We are 100% confident that theater will recover in New York City,” stated Erin Cronican from The Seeing Place Theater. “It will be different, but a new normal will soon be created that will make it better than ever.”
On why theater as an art form is essential, Ms. Frazer commented, “We crave the shared experience and humanity – plus the fun and excitement of it.”
The online story also featured production images of two Morningside Players productions. For the entire story, please visit: https://splashmags.com/index.php/2020/08/31/can-indie-theater-survive-a-pandemic/#gsc.tab=0
Artistic Director Susanna Frazer visiting the TDF Costume Collection Rental Program
Wall Street Journal, August 17, 2020
Photo by Dorothy Hong
Please note we have postponed our production of Miss Ellen Terry.
Do check in soon for an alternate date.
Miss Ellen Terry - A Very Private Talk
"A great and scandalous English actress tells all."
Adapted from the writing of Terry, G.B. Shaw,
C. Dickens, Carroll, and O. Wilde.
Cast
Susanna Frazer*, Mark Hofmaier*, Tom Miller*
*Member of Actors' Equity Association
Directed by Bridget Leicester
Performance Dates TBA
On June 27th, 2020,
The Morningside Players
reprised, on Zoom, our highly touted production
of
HAVING OUR SAY,
THE DELANY SISTERS’ FIRST 100 YEARS
for
The New York Society for Ethical Culture,
Having Our Say was compiled by Emily Mann
The production featured Carol Carter and Edythe Jason
and was directed by Susanna Frazer.
THE STORY: Having Our Say opens as 103-year-old Sadie Delany and 101-year-old Bessie Delany welcome us into their Mount Vernon, New York, home.
As they prepare a celebratory dinner in remembrance of their father’s birthday, they take us on a remarkable journey through the last hundred years of our nation’s history, recounting
a fascinating series of events and anecdotes drawn from their rich family history and careers
as pioneering African-American professionals.
Their story is not simply African-American history or women’s history. It is our history, told through the eyes of two unforgettable women as they look not only into the past, but also ahead into the twenty-first century.
The daughters of a minister born in slavery and a brilliant woman
of mixed ancestry, the story of the Delany sisters begins in Reconstruction and progresses through the rise of Jim Crow, two world wars, the triumphs of black culture during the Harlem Renaissance, the civil and women’s rights movements, up to the present…
THANKS to all who attended
TMP Black History Month's 3 ICONS performance in February 2020
&
TMP annual New Play Readings in September 2019
In June 2019,
The Morningside Players took to the road with WITTENBERG
Our neighbor and supporter,
Columbia University invited The Morningside Players to
Alfred Lerner Hall.
Partnered with Columbia's West Harlem Development Corporation In-Kind Program,
we presented a staged reading of Wittenberg by David Davalos.
The production featured Liz Colarte, Sam Krivda, Tom Miller,
and Craig Myers and was directed by Susanna Frazer.
Actors, Playwrights, and Directors News of Note
Tim Kelley's play, Three On A Date, was selected by the Lakeshore Players Theater in White Bear Lake, Minnesota for its annual 10-minute play festival. The video quality and performances are excellent. This play was first presented last September by The Morningside Players in a fine reading featuring MG residents Donnah Welby, Luke Hofmeier and TC Niemann, directed by MG resident Tom Miller. Three On A Date is available online until Sept. 30. To watch, please visit: https://www.lakeshoreplayers.org/10mpf
Luke Hofmaier was nominated for best actor at the Berkshire Theater Awards for Now, Circa Then at Chester Theater Co. and played Col. Brandon in Sense and Sensibility with Hudson Warehouse.
Susanna Frazer appeared in Metropolitan Playhouse's Thunder Rock, Jan 16- Feb 9, '20. She can also be seen in the opening episode of Showtimes' City On A Hill in a scene opposite Kevin Bacon.
Mark Speyer has released his play Bathsheba, Or The State, a thoughtful examination of the impact of power on governance, set during the reign of King David of Israel. The play is available as an eBook from Amazon Kindle, Apple iBook and Barnes & Noble Nook.
John Barrow was invited to present scenes from his prize-winning play Lillian Paula Carson at the 8th Women and Girls in Georgia Conference at the University of Georgia on October 29, 2019. Richard Nixon's Neighbors, a one-act comedy, was produced by Seat of Our Pants Theater, Pelham, NY, in February, 2020.
Luke Hofmaier and Tess Frazer appeared in Metropolitan Playhouse's The Poor of New York, April 19th - May 19th 2019. Tess also appeared in MTC's The Perplexed by Richard Greenberg.
Cecelia Riddett was nominated as Best Actress by the Connecticut Critics Circle for The Revisionist by Jesse Eisenberg.
Kelly Taylor's one person play Rescuers was chosen by the 2018 Solo Theatre Festival at Signature Theater. Rescuers had a well-received staged reading with TMP in 2016!
Marie Louise Guinier was featured in Scissoring by Christina Quintana at INTAR Theatre.