New York Times criticBen Brantley credited Mint Theater Company as a "resurrectionist extraordinaire of forgotten plays".[12] pointing to the company as a torchbearer "devoted to overlooked plays of other times."[13]
The Mint Theater Company was founded in 1992 by Kelly Morgan.[14] The mission was further solidified when Jonathan Bank took over as artistic director in 1995, deciding to focus on lost, neglected, or forgotten plays.[15][16] This focus came from his interest in narrative driven plays that audiences didn't already know. The company's full commitment to neglected works came as audience interest in seeing recovered plays increased, eventually prompting the company to re-establish their mission and change their slogan to "Lost Plays Found Here."[17]
They have done significant work to revive the works of several playwrights who had fallen into obscurity. Their on-going Teresa Deevy Project works to rediscover, produce, and publish works of Irish playwrightTeresa Deevy,[18] who despite early success and several productions at the DublinAbbey Theatre during her lifetime has been largely neglected and her work forgotten.[19][4][20] The Mint Theater has produced four plays and published two anthologies of Deevy's work.[21]
The theater's revival ofRachel Crothers'Susan and God in 2006 was the first New York City revival since 1943.[22] Crothers' work had rarely been seen since her death in 1953.[5] The theater also revived herPulitzer Prize nominated play,A Little Journey in 2011.[5]
In addition to citations for individual productions, the company has received several awards. In 2001 they received anObie Grant.[28][29] In 2002 they were awarded aDrama Desk Special Award for "unearthing, presenting and preserving forgotten plays of merit".[30] In 2010 they were awardedThe Theatre Museum's Theatre History Preservation Award.[31]
Featuring the plays;In Search of Valor,The King of Spain's Daughter,Holiday House,Dignity,Strange Birth,Light Falling,Within a Marble City,Going Beyond Alma's Glory,In the Cellar of My Friend, andOne Look and What it Led To byTeresa Deevy.
^Milne, A.A.; Wharton, Edith; Fitch, Clyde; Glaspell, Susan; Gale, Zona; Wolfe, Thomas; Reissa, Eleanor; Sowerby, Githa; Bank, Jonathan; Mahoney, Jeni (2002).Worthy But Neglected Plays of the Mint Theater Company (1 ed.). New York: Granville Press. p. 352.ISBN978-0971826205. RetrievedFebruary 19, 2021.
^Deevy, Teresa; Bank, Jonathan; Morash, Christopher; Harrington, John P. (2011).Teresa Deevy Reclaimed Volume One (1 ed.). New York: Mint Theater Company. p. 158.ISBN978-0971826243. RetrievedFebruary 19, 2021.
^Deveey, Teresa; Bank, Jonathan; Morash, Christopher; Harrington, John P. (2017).Teresa Deevy Reclaimed Volume Two (1 ed.). New York: Mint Theater Company. p. 142.ISBN978-0971826250. RetrievedFebruary 19, 2021.
