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Monday, December 11, 2017 - 7 pm Play Reading
Join Ten Chimneys Foundation as we welcome the Milwaukee Repertory Theater's Emerging Professional Residents for a book-in-hand reading of Design for Living written by Noël Coward.
CONTRACT WITH THEATRE GUILD UP IN JUNE <STOP>WE SHALL BE FREE<STOP>WHAT ABOUT IT?
So read the telegram sent to Noël Coward by Lynn and Alfred in 1932. For years, he had encouraged the Lunts to break with the Theatre Guild. The message reached Noël while he was the lone passenger on a small freighter sailing from Panama to Los Angeles. Having long promised to write a play in which the three of them could perform, he immediately set pen to paper and completed Design for Living only ten days later.
Design for Living is a comedy and involves a trio of artistic characters, Gilda, Otto and Leo, and their complicated three-way relationship. Audiences and critics alike erupted with enthusiasm. “Theatrical history in the making.” The New York critics found the script “decadent” and the play was sold out months in advance.
Design for Living catapulted the Lunts, already stars, to the summit of American theatre and quieted those who expected failure when they left the organizational might of the Theatre Guild. The production also expanded Coward’s reputation from that of a skilled playwright to that of immensely talented actor-writer. The three remained life-long friends.
$20
Reservations: (262) 968-4110
About Play Readings at Ten Chimneys
Mentoring the next generation of artists was a role the Lunts valued, and continues to be a cornerstone of the programs Ten Chimneys Foundation nurtures, including our longstanding collaboration with the Milwaukee Repertory Theater's Artistic Internship Program as we present Play Readings at Ten Chimneys. We invite guests to join us in our beautiful Lunt-Fontanne Program Center as these contemporary protégés offer book-in-hand readings of the celebrated plays from the Lunts' era.