by Tina Howe
Directed by Tony Vezner

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The cast and crew of Pride's Crossing (Click for a larger view)

Cast  in order of appearance Mabel Tidings Bigelow, age 90 - Karen Holbert Mabel Tidings, age 10 - Corine Samaras Mabel Tidings, age 15 - Elyse Hultgren Mabel Tidings, age 20 - Laura Leonardo-Ownby Mabel Tidings Bigelow, ages 35 and 60 - Kathleen Kusper Chandler Coffin,Mabel’s life-long friend, age 97 - Don Strueber Chandler Coffin, age 27 - James Hannigan Vita Bright, Mabel’s housekeeper - Sandy Squillo West Bright, Vita’s son - Peter Terlep Maud Tidings, Mabel’s mother - Ann Marie Hultgren Gus Tidings, Mabel’s father - Bill Wilson Phinneas Tidings, Mabel’s brother - Kevin Slattery Frazier Tidings, Mabel’s brother - Brian Centers Julia Renoir, Mabel’s granddaughter - Carol Hudson Minty Renoir, Julia’s daughter - Kelly Kabialis Mary O’Neil, the Tidings’ cook - Jennifer Jindrich Pru O’Neil, Mary’s daughter, age 18 (selected performances) - Brittany Barrett Pru O’Neil, Mary’s daughter, age 18 (selected performances) - Lindsey Nicole Arquilla Pru O’Neil, age 60 Martha Niles - Anton Gurevitch, Boston Symphony conductor - Rob Pold  Porter Bigelow, Mabel’s husband - Mike Janke Voice of Emma Bigelow, Mabel’s daughter - Corine Samaras Dr. Peabody, Unitarian minister - Bill Wilson Kitty Lowell, a friend of Mabel’s -  Dorothy Attermeyer Pinky Wheelock,, a friend of Mabel’s - Arlene Page Wheels Wheelock, Pinky’s husband - Jim Dutton David Bloom, a doctor and swimmer - Rob Pold Dramaturg Notes  An Inspired Creation by Karen Holbert In 1926, there was a young woman who swam the English Channel in record-breaking time. She was a 20-year-old New Yorker named Gertrude Ederle. She is not the inspiration for the central character of Pride’s Crossing. Instead, Mabel Tidings Bigelow is derived from memories of the playwright’s relatives, ideas of womanhood throughout the twentieth century, and Tina Howe’s personal history.  Pride’s Crossing is dedicated to Tina Howe’s beloved aunt, Madeline B. Post. At the time of the play’s premiere, Ms. Post was ninety years old, in failing health, and living in a nursing home in the Bronx. Tina Howe was very close to her aunt. They spent many happy days together during the playwright’s childhood at another aunt’s summer home in Pride’s Crossing, Massachusetts. Watching her Aunt Maddy in her later years, Tina Howe remarked, “I know in her heart there’s a roar…(and with Pride’s Crossing) I wanted to give it to her.” Unlike the character she inspired, Howe’s Aunt Maddy was a woman who never left home, never married, and never swam a stroke. Like Mabel, however, she became an outspoken woman full of rage and tenderness. In her introduction to the published text of the play, Howe writes, “For some time now I’ve wanted to write about the passion of old ladies…. As time passes, the membranes between what we should do and what we want to do get thinner and thinner. There’s no rage like old lady rage just as there’s no tenderness like old lady tenderness.”  Ms. Howe has said that “The joy of writing plays comes in scrambling the truths.” In this way, Pride’s Crossing is the “replay” for her Aunt, granting her an imaginary success that she couldn’t achieve during a time when she was restrained by the Brahmin straightjacket into which she was born.  In fact, Ms. Howe was “eager to give voice to (all of) the women of my mother’s place and generation who grew up in turn-of-the-century, privileged New England households, who really never had the chance to flower and assess themselves and find out who they were.” Thus, Pride’s Crossing serves as an overview of women’s roles throughout the century. Mabel’s early decisions reflect not just her own character, but the expectations of most women in earlier eras. Nonetheless, in many regards, Mabel’s story is also an autobiographical one for its author. Tina Howe was originally named Mabel, and like her fictional protagonist, she grew up in a privileged, New England household and rebelled against the “strictures imposed by a very proper Bostonian mother.” She fought “tooth and nail with her mother against being a debutante and marrying a stockbroker.” Her career as a playwright and marriage to Norman Levy, a Jewish writer, did not meet her mother’s expectations nor with her approval. In marrying “her David Bloom,” Howe has said she “did one better than Mabel Bigelow.” Interestingly, this rebellion was applauded by Aunt Maddy. As the twentieth century edged to a close, Howe wanted to write a play that celebrated the life of a woman who lived through most of it. She created Mabel Tidings Bigelow, a channel swimmer, in order to defy both family and the elements, to make “her own crossing to new and distant shores.” In her final days, Mabel finds the strength she lacked in her youth, to “stay her course” and live according to her own rules.     About the Play  The world premiere of Pride’s Crossing was presented by the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California in January of 1997. The play featured an ensemble of eight actors with most of them playing multiple characters of varying ages and gender. Broadway veteran Cherry Jones assumed the role of Mabel Tidings Bigelow at every age. The New York premiere of the play was presented at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre at the Lincoln Center in December of 1997. Both productions were directed by Jack O’Brien. The play was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and awarded the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play.

Production Credits Director - Tony Vezner Stage Manager - Marilyn Wilson Assistant Stage Manager - Amy Coons Children’s Acting Coach - Carol Dapogny Costume Designers - Marilyn Darnall, Virginia Swinnen Costume Crew - Peggy Carlson, Mary Ellen Druyan, Marcia Grohne, Martha Hogenboom, Susan Kosiarek, Carolyn Redding, Susan Remy, Carol Suda  Dramaturg - Karen Holbert Lighting Designer - Cal Turner Lighting Crew - Angelee Johns, Tom Palumbo, Mary Ellen Schutt Makeup Designer - Bridget Kellens Bittman Makeup Crew - Karen Arnold, Archie Benfield, Lori D’Asta, Mary Ellen Druyan, Terry Harrold, Julie Knoch, Martha Niles, Diane Oppenheim, Roxanne Tayler, Merrilyn Tomchaney, Paulette Sarussi  Properties Designers - Tim Feeney, Mary Pavia Properties Crew - Stephanie Abromowicz, Bill FitzGerald Set Designer - Bill Rotz Set Construction Chair - Harry Hultgren Set Construction Crew - Bill Rotz, Jon Mills, John Otto, Bob Oliver, Mike Huth, Julie Suarez, Sue Turner, George Dempsey Set Painting Chair - Susan Remy Set Painting Crew - Trisha Boren, Carol Clarke, Mark Cunningham, Tim Feeney, Tom Frohnapfel, Diane Oppenheim, Sandy Squillo Sound Designers - Jeffrey P. Arena, Stephanie Williams  Original Music - Jeffrey P. Arena Sound Crew - Jon Genson, Joel Nikoleit, Stephanie Rychlowski Production Box Office Chair - Mary Ellen Schutt Production Box Office Crew - Susan Cardamone, Carol Dapogny, Terry Fanning, Terry Kozlowski, Lori B. Proksa, Patti Roeder, Don Strueber Production House Manager Crew - Carol Dapogny, Joe Delaloye, Harry Hultgren, Roland Imes, Terry Locke, Mike Mallon, Jon Mills, Bill Rotz, Tom Schutt, Denny Wise Production Lobby Photo Display - Marjorie Mason Heffernan, Jane Stacy Production Posters - Kathleen Kusper Production Program Chair - Joe Nikoleit Production Program Design - John Vilhauer Production Publicity Chair - Bridget Kellens Bittman Production Technical Director - Scott Pillsbury Director’s Note When I was an undergraduate I took a science course. (It was required.) We were presented with the then-new theory put forth by nuclear physicists that the direction electrons spun as they made their way around the nucleus was influenced by whether or not the atom was being observed. In other words, the act of a scientist observing an electron actually changed its behavior. As a director it makes perfect sense to me to transfer this theory to the human level. People who are conscious of being observed can’t help but act differently. I used to teach a college speech course that was videotaped. The amount of twitching, blushing, giggles, voice irregularities, and other oddities caused by nerves was amazing (and often quite amusing). People frequently did odd things while being observed in class without being conscious that they were doing them. The same is true of actors. It’s a constant miracle to me that actors have the ability to produce behavior that audiences view as relaxed. Observing people naturally changes the quality or energy of the person living that life. I can’t even imagine how people on Survivor and other “reality-based” shows (a wonderful phrase if ever there was one) can live a life that is constantly observed.  Yet, it may not just be a person’s present life that changes when observed, but also their past. The phrase “hindsight is always twenty-twenty” may be a falsehood. We may think that we can look into our pasts and pluck out the key moments where a different decision would have made a monumental positive change in our lives (“If only I had gone to the right school, bought that stock, married another person, continued those clarinet lessons, etc.”). But are we completely sure that we see our pasts clearly and discern all the implications of each different choice or alternate path? Perhaps by observing we alter our view of past events without even realizing it. If this is true, then we can’t see the past in a clear, objective way (not even with the help of a therapist). It may be more accurate to say that our memories shape events and their importance in ways that help us construct a story out of our pasts and help us accept ourselves.  In other words, I may think I have a clear idea of what influences and decisions brought me to where I am in life right now. But my past, being observed, may have changed its directional rotation and shown me something other than the truth. Pride’s Crossing comes from a long line of memory plays in which the main character looks back to try to find the crossroads where his or her life was altered. Oedipus needed to see what caused the curse on Thebes, Willy Loman needed to see where his American dream ran aground, and Scrooge had to see his past and future to embrace Christmas. The goal of most characters in a memory play seems to be inherently the same—resolution and peace—peace with the memory, peace with others, peace with themselves. And so it is with this play. We hope you enjoy our journey into Mabel’s past. As we embarked on it we found love, hope, and joy mixed with moments of regret, and finally, peace.  Acknowledgments: Originally produced by the Old Globe Theatre in 1997, San Diego, California. Produced by Lincoln Center Theatre in 1997-1998, New York City. Special Thanks: The tuxedos for this production have been provided by Gingiss Formalwear, 525 South La Grange Road, La Grange, Illinois Music recording facility and guidance graciously provided by Brian Callahan.