TEA FOR THREE: LADY BIRD, PAT AND BETTY, starring Elaine Bromka in a widely praised portrayal of three First Ladies, comes to New York for a limited engagement at The Theatre at 30th Street, 259 West 30th Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues, from May 30-June 29. Tickets are available at: www.smarttix.com or by calling (212) 868-4444.
TEA FOR THREE, a gallery of deeply touching, often funny portraits of three dynamic women, is the third CTC production to transfer Off Broadway in five years, (following The Bully Pulpit and The Dishwashers) and fifth transfer in six years (Last Train to Nibroc to Peterborough Players and Pride@Prejudice to Capital Repertory Company).
CTC Artistic Director Byam Stevens directed the original CTC production and will remount it in New York. According to Stevens, “The audience comes upon each of these remarkable ladies at a threshold moment in their lives, when years of sacrifice have come to an end and they have to face new challenges. At this pivotal life moment, they share with us not only their triumphs and tragedies, but also surprising, sometimes very funny, revelations about their personal lives.”
TEA FOR THREE was born when comedian/impressionist Rich Little chose Ms. Bromka to play eight First Ladies opposite him for the PBS production of The Presidents. She became fascinated with three of them, Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon and Betty Ford, and approached Drama Desk Award nominated playwright Eric H. Weinberger to collaborate on a one-woman show about the great adventure that Pat Nixon called “the hardest unpaid job in the world.”
TEA FOR THREE is grounded in a longstanding White House tradition – each First Lady prepares a tea for her successor. Weinberger used this tradition as a springboard to uncover a unique perspective – the one held by the wife and partner of the Most Powerful Man in the World.
Jeffrey Borak of The Berkshire Eagle reviewing the CTC production wrote “Elaine Bromka’s portrait of Pat Nixon is expertly crafted, wrenching, sad, and haunting.” The Republican greeted the CTC transfer to City Stage in Springfield with: “This play is polished, effective, precise, amusing and touching.”
Ms. Bromka has appeared on Broadway in The Rose Tattoo, I’m Not Rappaport and Macbeth,and off-Broadway in Cloud 9, Inadmissible Evidence with Nicol Williamson, the world premiere of Michael Weller’s Split and Candide with the National Theatre of the Deaf. Her regional credits include: Long Wharf, Hartford Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, ACT/Seattle, and Shakespeare and Company. On television she has appeared in E.R., The Sopranos, Providence, L.A. Law, Law and Order, and Law and Order: Special Victims’ Unit.
Eric H Weinberger’s one-woman play Class Mothers ’68 was produced Off Broadway, garnering a Drama Desk nomination for its star, Priscilla Lopez. Wanda’s World, produced by Amas Musical Theatre Off Broadway, garnered a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Book of a Musical and a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Musical.
Byam Stevens’ Off Broadway credits include: The Dishwashers by Morris Panych; The Bully Pulpit, starring Michael O. Smith; the World Premiere of Carbondale Dreams by Steven Sater; and the American Premiere of Beef by David Pownall. For CTC, the World Premieres of: The Darlings, Home Fires Burning, The Plains of Ilion and John and Teddy. Other CTC productions include: Wittenberg, Last Train to Nibroc, Love Song, Two Rooms, An Almost Holy Picture, Valley Song, The Interrogation of Nathan Hale, Shirley Valentine (starring Elaine Bromka).
