Synopsis:
The action of the play takes place in the butler’s pantry of Fay Leland’s lavish seafront estate on Long Island. Parker, the flamboyant son of Fay’s friend and neighbor, Craig (whose wife ran off with Fay’s husband), has inveigled a job for his cash-poor friend, Wilson, as Fay’s cook and butler – which is part of Parker’s scheme to convince the pill-popping Fay that Craig is secretly in love with her, Craig is planning to sell his property and business and retire to Switzerland, and Parker’s thought is that if he can send Fay off with him he will inherit her mansion and, at last, be able to establish himself as a “celebrity” in his own right. But problems crop up when it develops that Wilson can’t cook; the Polish maid, Maya, goes “on strike”; and Parker alienates his father’s black mistress by showing up at the second act costume party (where everything comes to a riotous conclusion) masquerading as Josephine Baker.
Production History:
ANTEROOM was presented at Playwrights Horizons in New York City (Andre Bishop, Artistic Director; Paul S. Daniels, Executive Director; James F. Priebe, Managing Director) on November 20, 1985. The production was directed by Garland Wright; the set design was by Adrianne Lobel; the costume design was by Rita Ryack; the lighting design was by James F. Ingalls; the sound design was by Scott Lehrer; the production stage manager was Robin Rumpf; the press representative was Bob Ullman; and the production manager was Carl Mulert. The cast, in order of appearance, was as follows:
Parker: Albert Macklin
Wilson: Mitchell Lichtenstein
Fay: Elizabeth Wilson
Maya: Susan Cash
Craig: Colin Fox
Joy: Janet Hubert
Barbara: Crystal Field
Reviews:
New York Times review by Frank Rich, November 22, 1985
Published:
Dramatists Play Service, 1983.
Self Torture and Strenuous Exercise: The Selected Plays of Harry Kondoleon, Theater Communications Group, 1991.
Excerpt:
Click here.
Production Photos:
Elizabeth Wilson, Mitchell Lichtenstein, and Susan Cash
Albert Macklin, Colin Fox, and Janet Hubert
Albert Macklin, Elizabeth Wilson, and Mitchell Lichtenstein
If you’ve ever seen or worked on this show and would like to share your experience, please comment below.
I was thrilled to learn of this website.
The first day of rehearsal for ANTEROOM remains one of the many high points of my career at Playwrights Horizons. On a personal level, I was beginning my first season as an official staff member. I had been the literary resident the season before and was now on staff as “Head Reader.” Garland Wright had directed one of our earliest hits–VANITIES, believe it or not–and this was to be one of his last shows in New York before he took over the Guthrie Theater in 1986. We began rehearsals in one of the rehearsal rooms above the Judith Anderson on Theater Row. There was a buzz in the room because the great Elizabeth Wilson was in the cast. When it came time for Garland’s opening remarks, I was spellbound. His vision of the play was so profoundly multi-layered. The anteroom between the kitchen and the house proper was a spiritual and materialist and a social netherworld. You maybe needed to see Adrianne Lobel’s ceiling height, glassed cabinetry, luminously lit by Jim Ingalls to know exactly what he meant. It remains still as one of the most beautiful designs from all of our work. In performance, the hapless struggles of Parker and Wilson to break into the realm of the anointed class fully represented Kondoleon’s aesthetic, which he described to NYU students that I asked him to speak to as “A ltittle funny, a little scary, a little sad.” It was also the occasion of my first tizzy fit over a Frank Rich review. OK, sure, one could glean the specter of Orton in Harry’s work, but also Kafka and Chekhov. Obviously, Garland said none of that. My own wheels started spinning about Harry’s work from this moment on and I became a little obsessed with him, even though we never produced him again. I was sorry Zero Positive had some troubles coming to life. And I was glad that I eventually got to see the mesmerizing Play Yourself, in Craig Lucas’s wonderful production. I keep debating with myself which of Harry’s shows should serve as the occasion of a great rediscovery of his genius. Should it be Anteroom? Or maybe Christmas on Mars? What do you think?
Oh, and I also learned something else from Harry: consult the writer about marketing! Whatever our agency at the time came up with for the Showbill cover did not suit Harry’s fancy and he pulled out a paper and promptly drew the simple and scary and perfect dinner plate as face that became the show’s image. Genius. Don’t be afraid to ask. The writers know more about their work than anyone else.