Pride's Crossing
Encyclopedia
Tina Howe
Tina Howe is an American playwright. She is the daughter of journalist Quincy Howe and was raised in a literary family...
. It received the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play and was a finalist for the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than the calendar year...
.
The play focuses on 90-year-old Mabel Tidings Bigelow, who as a young woman was the first female to swim the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
from England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. In her introduction to the play, Howe wrote, "For some time now I've wanted to write about the passion of old ladies."
Production history
Pride's Crossing was first produced at the Old Globe TheatreOld Globe Theatre
The Old Globe is a professional theatre company located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It produces about 15 plays and musicals annually in summer and winter seasons...
in San Diego in January 1997. Directed by Jack O'Brien
Jack O'Brien (director)
Jack O'Brien is an American director, producer, writer and lyricist. He served as the Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California from 1981 through the end of 2007....
, it starred Cherry Jones
Cherry Jones
Cherry Jones is an American actress and recipient of the 2009 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series and the 2005 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play.-Career:...
as Mabel.
O'Brien and Jones reunited for the Lincoln Center Theatre production, which opened at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre on December 7, 1997 and closed on April 5, 1998 after 137 performances. The cast included Dylan Baker
Dylan Baker
Dylan Baker is an American actor, known for playing supporting roles in both major studio and independent films.-Early life:...
, Julia McIlvaine, David Lansbury, and Casey Biggs
Casey Biggs
Casey Patrick Biggs is an American actor, best known throughout the Star Trek community for his recurring role as the Cardassian Damar, on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.-Biography:...
.
Ben Brantley
Ben Brantley
Benjamin D. "Ben" Brantley is an American journalist and the chief theater critic of The New York Times.-Life and career:...
of the New York Times said the play can "seem as garrulous and repetitive as a conversation-starved alumna at a 50-year college reunion. The affection that animates the play is evident . . . so is the dramatist's ear for the music in everyday conversation. But while Pride's Crossing is infused with Ms. Howe's lyrical sense of mortality and of the traps of sexual and social identity, this latest work from the author of Coastal Disturbances
Coastal Disturbances
Coastal Disturbances is a play by Tina Howe, which premiered Off-Broadway in 1986 and transferred to Broadway. It received a Tony Award nomination as Best Play.-Production history:...
can also be like something its no-nonsense heroine might start to read and throw out as romantic hokum . . . Ms. Howe has said her works tend to alienate men because of her expressly feminine perspective. But the special flavor of her writing has more to do with a kind of whimsy that translates theatrical absurdism into costume-party cuteness."
The play was revived at the off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
T. Schreiber Studio from March 25 - April 18, 2004. Glenn Krutoff directed Tatjana Vujosevic as Mabel Tidings Bigelow.
Awards and nominations
Tina Howe won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play and was a finalist for 1997 Pulitzer Prize for DramaPulitzer Prize for Drama
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than the calendar year...
.
Cherry Jones won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play
The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play was first awarded at the 1974–1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since...
, the Outer Critics Circle Award
Outer Critics Circle Award
The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway and were begun during the 1949-1950 theater season. The awards are decided upon by theater critics who review for out-of-town newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets...
for Outstanding Actress in a Play, and the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Actress. Kenneth Posner won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lighting Design.