MAXWELL ANDERSON BIRTHDAY BENEFIT PROGRAM

presents

First Flight Theatre Company presents a 137th Birthday Celebration for Maxwell Anderson, on Monday, December 15 at 7 PM at the Tank, 312 W 36th St, NYC. This birthday celebration for one of America's greatest 20^th century playwrights is a benefit for the First Flight Theater Company, For the past 7 years FFTC has produced 20 of Anderson's 50 plays, 40 of which originated on Broadway. The two and a half-hour festivity will include a staged reading with 17 actors of Anderson's unproduced and unpublished 1924 play Sea-Wife based on Matthew Arnold's poem "The Forsaken Merman."  FFTC believes Anderson and H.P. Lovecraft crossed paths during the two years H.P. was living in NYC. It is a very Lovecraftian kind of a play. It’s about the sea but has never been seen or heard till now. 

Seating is limited. There is a suggested donation of $20. For tickets for the Maxwell Anderson Birthday Benefit visit https://cur8.com/17854/project/135751 

Or use QR Code:

or RSVP by email to firstflight2018@gmail.com 

Tickets also available at the door.

Directed by First Flight Artistic Director Frank Farrell, the Sea-Wife reading features 17 actors: Duncan Maxwell Anderson as James, Ava Boyde* as Wilcox, Danny Crawford* as Dan, Christopher Davis as MacQuarrie, Victoria Devany* as Nell, Claudia Egli* as Maisie, Karen Eterovich* Reader of Stage Directions, Frank Farrell* as Peter, Alejandro Flores as Kenneth, Robert Gengerke as Nate, Brian Hagerty as Harry, Jennifer Kim as Margaret, Jackie Margolis* as Biddy Stewart, Ireland Meacham as Douglas Ireton, Eike Ross as Mr. Corey, Hannah Simpson* as Hallie and Paul Singleton* as Dr. Fallon.

In addition to a couple of raffles, light snacks and non-alcoholic beverages, the salon-like event features four brief monologues from some of Anderson’s other early plays performed by Alexa Elmy as Mary from White Desert (1923), Denise Alessandria Hurd* as Edna from Outside Looking In (1925), Lynn Manuell as Rosalie from Gods of the Lightning (1928) and Karen Eterovich* as Mary from Valley Forge (1934).

*Denotes a member of Actors’ Equity Association the union of professional actors and stage managers.

An excerpt from the book “Maxwell Anderson”

by Alfred S. Shivers published in 1974

The play “Sea-Wife” is a singular piece written in 1924 that has neither been published nor professionally staged. A thing of “strange and peculiar beauty” is how Barrett Clark described this poetic fantasy, a copy of which the playwright had sent him along with word that it contained some poetry that Anderson liked. Because Sea-Wife is so much superior to some of the Anderson plays that did get to Broadway and because it has distinct literary merit, the work merits our attention.

   WHO’S WHO AT MAXWELL’S BIRTHDAY BASH 

on Monday, December 15 at the Tank in NYC

DUNCAN MAXWELL ANDERSON (James) 

MAXWELL ANDERSON (Playwright 1888 - 1959) His plays include White Desert (1923), What Price Glory (1924), First Flight (1925), Elizabeth the Queen (1930), Both Your Houses (1933), Mary of Scotland (1933), Valley Forge (1934), Winterset (1935), High Tor (1937), Knickerbocker Holiday (1938), Key Largo (1939); The Eve of St. Mark (1942), Truckline Café (1945), Joan of Lorraine (1946), Anne of the Thousand Days (1947), Lost in the Stars (1949), The Masque of Queens (1954), The Bad Seed (1954), Richard and Anne (1955) and The Golden Six (1961). Anderson also worked on numerous screenplays, including All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), for which he received an Academy Award nomination, Washington Merry-Go-Round (1932), Rain (1932), Death Takes a Holiday (1934), and So Red the Rose (1935). Plays of his that were turned into movies were Mary of Scotland (1936), Saturday's Children, which was filmed three times (once as Maybe It's Love), Winterset (1936), Elizabeth the Queen, which became The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), The Eve of St. Mark (1944), Knickerbocker Holiday (1944). Key Largo (1948), Joan of Lorraine, which became Joan of Arc (1948), The Bad Seed (1956), The Devil's Hornpipe, which became Never Steal Anything Small (1959), and Anne of the Thousand Days (1969). What Price Glory was made into a silent film in 1926 and was remade by John Ford in 1952. Maxwell Anderson published two books of poetry, "You Who Have Dreams" in 1925, and "Notes on a Dream," published posthumously in 1972. Anderson also published two collections of essays, "The Essence of Tragedy and Other Footnotes and Papers" (1939) and "Off Broadway Essays About the Theatre" (1947). His play Both Your Houses won the Pulitzer Prize in 1933 and Winterset and High Tor both won the Drama Critics Circle Award for 1935 & 1937.

AVA BOYDE* (Wilcox) A stage and film actor, Ava Boyde has also taught many successful performers in film, television, theater and voiceover.  A few roles include Putana in 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (Expanded Arts), Tanya in Galina Lives (Greenwich Street Theater), Molly Seagrim and Mrs. Firtzpatrick in Tom Jones, and Ursula in Much Ado About Nothing (Vita Shakespeare Festival).  Ava was also fortunate to work as Olive in the musical Crooked Broadway, book by the late George Abbott as his final project. Life has come full circle for Ava as she began her acting career playing Cunegonde to Frank Farrell's Candide in the musical Candide, and she is grateful to work again with this talented actor/director. Ava is a long-time member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA and is a SAG-AFTRA NYC Local Performers with Disabilities Committee Member

DANNY CRAWFORD* (Dan) is thrilled to have another opportunity to work with First Flight Theatre Company. His previous touring and regional theatre credits include Luke in The Lighting Thief, Brom Bones in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Angelo in Measure for Measure and Laertes in Hamlet to name a few. Film/TV credits include “Redrum,” “Scorned,” “The Perfect Murder,” and “Playbook 360” amongst others. www.DannyCrawford.com                  

CHRISTOPHER DAVIS (MacQuarrie) recently dragged his hopes, dreams, and the love of his life, Jordan (whom he met professionally Christmas caroling), from Chicago to the Big Apple. With him, he hauls heaps of murder mystery company expertise and a lengthy regional theatre resume that includes Julian Marsh in 42nd Street (Colorado), Captain von Trapp in Sound of Music (OCTC in New Jersey), Ernst in Cabaret (TATC in Indiana), Frederick in Pirates of Penzance (Navy Pier), Count Carl-Magnus in A Little Night Music, Aaron in First Date, and the Dentist in Little Shop (Williams Street Rep in Illinois.) Chris played Teague two years ago in FIRST FLIGHT'S Valley Forge, and recently joined several First Flight folks in Mystery of the Mosaic Bridge at the Players Theatre. You can visit him at www.misterchristopherjohndavis.com

VICTORIA DEVANY* (Nell) has been a professional performer since she was a teenager. She also works as an acting/vocal coach, dramaturg/playwright and assistant director. Vicky has performed in venues such as City Center, Symphony Space, Carnegie Hall, Wolf Trap, and others, including tours in New England, the Midwest, CA -- and performances in England and Japan. Her solo cabaret show has been performed in Chiba Prefecture, and in NYC. She is delighted to participate with First Flight Theatre Company and thanks everyone involved in the production. Member: AEA/DGA. Contact: vickyd_us@yahoo.com                     

CLAUDIA EGLI* (Maisie) actor and singer has performed with the Light Opera of Manhattan in several of their past productions. She has appeared in film and TV productions including all five seasons of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. For the past five years Claudia has been discovering the plays of 20th Century American playwright Maxwell Anderson performing with the First Flight Theatre Company and appearing in staged readings of his plays including Valley Forge, Elizabeth the Queen, Mary of Scotland (in the title role), The Masque of Queens, The Eve of St. Marks, The Feast of Ortolans, Second Overture, The Miracle of the Danube, White Desert and Sea-Wife. She stage-managed the company's production of Forgotten Soldiers performed at two churches in the Washington Heights area of Manhattan in 2018. This past August she appeared in the company's production of Shakespeare's Deaths as part of the Little Shakespeare Festival at the UNDER St. Marks Theater in NYC. Currently she can also be heard in the podcast Songs of the Pogo as Miz Ma'm'selle Hepzibah, a beautiful, coy French skunk frequently baking pies or preparing picnic baskets for her many admirers in Walt Kelly’s Okefenokee Swamp. Claudia also reads Shakespeare plays at the New York Public Libraries in collaboration with the Instant Shakespeare Company. She is honored and grateful to be performing at Under St Marks in First Flight's benefit reading of Maxwell Anderson's 1927 comedy Saturday's Children. 

ALEXA ELMY (Mary from White Desert (1923) is a NYC based actor, voiceover artist, and audiobook narrator. She recently performed her comedic solo show, "Alexa, Play" at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival after a successful New York premiere. Her acting credits include the TV show Shattered (Investigation Discovery), Innards (Troma Ent.), Nothing’s Plenty For Me (Theatre Row), and Ray Gun Say0nara (New Ohio Theatre). She’s narrated 100+ audiobooks in a variety of genres including fiction, young adult, fantasy, romance and non-fiction, among others. As a classically trained actor, she is a vocally versatile narrator. Her corporate and commercial voiceover work includes projects for Citizens Bank, Google, PwC, Blue Buffalo, and more. She holds a BA in Acting from Fordham University and has also trained at Stella Adler Studio of Acting, London Dramatic Academy, and Abacus Entertainment. You can find out more about her on her website, www.alexaelmy.com.

Karen Eterovich* (Stage Directions, & Mary Philipse from Valley Forge) (AEA, SAG-AFTRA, Dramatists Guild, LPTW) First Flight Acting Credits:  Valley Forge, Dickens by Candlelight: A Christmas Carol adapted by Robin Olson, Elizabeth the Queen, Masque of Queens and Eve of St. Mark.  Directing credits with First Flight: Mina adapted by Richard Width, The Witlings by Fanny Burney and A Vampire Kiss in the Plague of 1666 by Dr. James Fitzmaurice. New York City Acting Credits: Hudson Classical: Lady Catherine de Bourgh in Pride & Prejudice, Gertrude in Hamlet, Queen Anne in The Three Musketeers, Miss Prism in The Importance of Being Earnest and HC Valentine Monologue Festival.  National & international tours: as Aphra Behn in her play, Love Arm’d, including the Bedlam Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland and the Mission Theatre, Bath, UK. Karen plays Jane Austen in her solo play, Cheer from Chawton, which has toured coast to coast from Stockton, CA to NYC to the Mission Theatre in Bath and was performed in Bath at the Mission again for the 2019 Jane Austen Festival. Love Arm’d, Aphra Behn & Her Pen has been adapted to a Zoom format and is available for booking. Thank you to John Maguire, Alice, Frank Farrell, Richard Width and all our FF Ensemble. More at Lovearmd.com                      

FRANK FARRELL* (Peter, & Artistic Director of the First Flight Theatre Company) in August 2025 he directed Little Jewel at the Theatre for the New City in NYC.  In 2024 he co-produced and directed Walt Kelly’s Songs of the Pogo as part of the New York City Fringe Festival, produced Hamlet on the Run at the Tank Theater and co-produced and directed Tongs and Bones Shakespeare at the Theater for the New City, he directed Little Women, Poe: An Evening of Mystery and the Macabre and Dickens Presents A Christmas Carol for the Hermitage in New Jersey.  In 2023 Frank produced and directed Shakespeare’s Ladies at Tea and Shakespeare’s Deaths as part of the Little Shakespeare Festival in NYC. He was an actor in Chicago for 40 years receiving four Joseph Jefferson acting nominations and returned to NYC and New Jersey in 2016. While in Chicago he directed and produced plays for the Free Shakespeare Theatre Company, Temporary Theatre, Shakespeare’s Herd, Steppenwolf Theater, Raven Theatre, Equity Library Theater Chicago, the North Lakeside Players, Citadel Theater, and Theatre-Hikes. Frank has formed seven theater companies including the Free Shakespeare Theatre Company (Chicago’s first year-round Shakespeare theatre company), Theatre-Hikes, the Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company in Grand Haven, Michigan and in 2019 the First Flight Theatre Company. For FFTC he directed and produced 2022’s production of Maxwell Anderson’s play Valley Forge.  Frank has published six plays by Anderson from the 1920s: What Price Glory, First Flight, The Buccaneer, Outside Looking In, Gods of the Lightning and Sea-Wife all available at Amazon.com.

ALEJANDRO FLORES (Kenneth) is a New York-based actor who has had the pleasure of working on multiple productions, such as Gallery Players’ Romeo and Juliet and Jimmy Fallon’s Tonightmares. He has worked with Frank Farrell on various projects, such as Tongs and Bones Shakespeare and Little Jewel, as well as multiple readings with Instant Shakespeare. He is ecstatic to bring the Sea Wife to life alongside his fellow ensemble and is thankful for the opportunity. He is grateful for his peers, family, and, of course, his cat Gandules, who has served as his scene partner many a time!            

ROBERT GENGERKE (Nate) has performed on stage with award-winning improvisational groups, including ForPlay Improvised Theater and Some Assembly Required.  Most recently, he appeared as Father Hafner in Trey Rogan's A Cycle Of Violence, business tycoon Mr. Adam in My Husband Regrets Divorcing Me and an estranged father at the center of a family drama in Triplicate.  He is also a producer and director with over 35 years of experience creating educational programs, including segments produced for CNN, PBS' Nova and Inside Edition.            

BRAIN HAGERTY (Harry) has acted in numerous theatrical productions since graduating from Montclair State University in 2004 with his major in psychology and minors in theatre and anthropology. Brian has mostly performed in leading, supporting & featured roles in community theatre and off-off Broadway plays such as The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Importance of Being Earnest, Twelfth Night, & The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Musicals in community theatre include Victor Victoria, The Wizard of Oz, & Jane Eyre. Brian is the recipient of acting awards from the Park Players in New Jersey for his supporting roles in Arsenic and Old Lace & The House of Agatha Mystrie. In 2023, Brian acted in First Flight’s dual productions of Shakespeare’s Ladies at Tea & Shakespeare’s Deaths.  Brian has directed a couple of times for off-off-Broadway productions with TheaterVision. Stella Adler Studios in NYC is where Brian had mostly studied the foundations in acting, & he has been studying with Roger Hendricks Simon for many years in the Simon Studio. Brian is thrilled, flattered & grateful to be a part of another First Flight presentation. He is a lifelong resident of New Jersey & works full-time as a licensed clinical social worker.     

DENISE ALESSANDRIA HURD* (Edna from Outside Looking In (1925) is happy to be working First Flight again. Denise has worked as an actor, a teacher, a director, a fight choreographer and an intimacy director all over the country. During the height of the pandemic, she expanded into teaching acting and stage combat online and acting in online productions such as The Witlings and the award winning A Vampire’s Kiss in the Plague of 1666 with First Flight Theatre Company. She teaches in the Theatre Department at City College of New York. She has appeared in regional theatres in such shows as The Play’s the Thing, Defying Gravity, Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, King Lear, Othello, and Macbeth and has done the fight choreography for such shows as Ruined, Lear, Dorothy’s Coming Out Party, I Hate Hamlet, and Macbeth, and Intimacy Choreography for shows such as Intimate Apparel, La Gringa, Ruined, and the premiere of I Wanna F**k Like Romeo and Juliet. She wishes to thank her mother, Merlyn, for all her love and support, her sisters, Michelle and Adrienne for all their support and inspiration and to remember her father, Hugh, for his loving heart and generous soul.                

JENNIFER KIM (Margaret) is a NYC-based actress. Her recent roles include two roles in Thornton Wilder's short plays (Linda in "Love and How to Cure It" and Diana in "Cement Hands"); Neil in Maxwell Anderson's Valley Forge; Juliet in the comedy, How to Survive a Shakespeare Play; Lady Torminster in Alfred Sutro's The Open Door; Announcer #2 in a public reading of Orson Welles' War of the Worlds; Bob Cratchit, Marley, and others in a three-actor performance of A Christmas Carol; and Denaya in the NY Summerfest short play "Take the R Train."

LYNN MANUELL (Rosalie from Gods of the Lightning (1928) began her career in Park Forest Illinois at The Illinis Theatre Center. She was featured as Mama in High Button Shoes, Hedy La Rue in How to Succeed and Celia in As You Like It as well as many other productions. She trained at Steppenwolf Theatre, The Illinois Theatre Center , The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and in London with Cleo Laine's Wavendon Allmusic Program. Lynn has appeared in theatre and cabaret in Chicago, London and New York and in over a hundred shows. She was in Andrew Lloyd Webber Unplugged, Remember me from Holy Redeemer High. Don't Cry Out Loud, She was on the board and  a director and actress for FACT Theatre where she was featured in If The Pink Pump Fits (Martha) UFF'DA (Pink Hat Lady, A Red Umbrella in the Snow (Miss Lovely) Hansel and Gretel Christmas (Betty) and Treasure among others. She appeared in Ron Pallilo's The Lost Boy, and was featured in My DADDY IS THE BIGGEST STAGE MOTHER IN TEXAS as Aunt Faye. She has worked with Julia Genoveva Productions as Mother in The Twelve Chairs, Elaine in Elaine, Kitty in The Lost Virginity Tour, Lorraine in Cafeticto or Dreams and numerous short play readings. She has worked  with Quarentine Players as Ruth in Blythe Spirit, Amanda in The Glass Menagerie, Hannah in Arcadia and others. She has worked with First Flight Productions in several plays by Maxwell Anderson and as The Witch in The Scarecrow and Marme in Little Women at The Hermitage. She runs a theatre arts program at PS 811@149 and is on the board of TOUCHING HUMANITY, an organization that provides theatre classes for special needs students. Lynn Manuell is also President of International Production Management which is a consultant firm and press agency for performers. She has worked at Gatchell and Neufeld, NAMCO Booking, Tour de Force, AIS Productions, Bresner Management, Troika Entertainment. She has a background as a Company Manager, General Manager and Press Agent. She has represented numerous artists including Betty Buckley and Sarah Brightma

JACKIE MARGOLIS* (Biddy Stewart) Arrabian Nights,@HB theater, Orestia , Antigone The Crankie at TADA Jacqueline has been Catherine in Arms and the Man played Mother in "The Transparent Veil" at love creek, has played and sang in xmas plays with lovely love creekers. Hudsonware House Tamur Lenk at theater of the new city, played the nurse in Titus Andronicus, Mother in Beyond the Horizon performed in spoon river feature "The end of the Line", she plays Executive secretary, Barbara, opposite her husband Mark Margolis and John Polito. She has a small encounter with Jacqueline Bisset in "Death in Love", Prior to that she was in Vassa Zheleznova in the part of Dunya, at Horizon Rep. The Mother in Uncle Vanya, for the Off-Bank theater at Abbington square theater. Prior to that that a Romanian Tour Guide in "Unleashed" at TSI. Sang, whirled and played many parts in "the Golden Bear" at Theater for the New City. i Soaps and Commercials. Many plays at Love creek, such as a one women monologue "Hartford Circus Fires" at the Samuel French festival". Lulu"s Back in Town at Common Basis Theater. "trust Me" Pulse theater. Various versions of Lysistrata. Currently Shakespeare with The Instant Shakespeare Theater performing staged readings at NY public Libraries Readings with Midatlantic Theater, The Good Doctor. Most Loved role as the Grandmother in "Eleemosynary", and lovely roles with Love Creek. AEA, AFTRA, SAG.  jackiemargolis@mac.com

Ireland Meacham

EIKE ROSS (Mr. Corey) is an actor, director, and producer based in Brooklyn, New York. They studied Film and The Performing Arts at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and completed the Full-Time Conservatory program at Atlantic Acting School. They are a founding member and artistic director of NYC theater company The Clementine Players. Eike has been on stage recently as The Sheriff in Brokeneck Girls: The Murder Ballad Musical, Tybalt in A Man Called Paris, and Harriet in Vice and Virtue.                     

HANNAH SIMPSON (Hallie) received her BA in Theatre from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and studied Shakespeare at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in NYC and made Brooklyn her home with her cat Tybalt. She was last seen at the New York Theatre Festival playing Meredith in My Body, My Health, My Choice! The last time she died a Shakespearean death was as Lady Anne in Richard III. Other past NYC credits include Curse of the Starving Class (Emma), The Merchant of Venice (Launcelet), and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Tumnus). @han_simpson2.

PAUL SINGLETON* (Dr. Fallon) previously appeared in Henry IV Part 1, Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, Pride and Prejudice, Richard II, Henry VI, and Antony and Cleopatra with Hudson Classical Theater Company.  New York Theater includes: Shakespeare at the Greene Space ‑ Brutus in Julius Caesar (New York Public Radio); Grit in a Sensitive Instrument (one-man play, Vineyard Theater – Cable TV also); When I Grow Up (lead, Playwright’s Horizons Festival); Careless Love (by John Olive – NY premiere), The Winter’s Tale, The Blue Carbuncle (also Theatre Encino, Los Angeles).  Regional includes The Tempest, Idiot’s Delight, The Golden Age, Fallen Angels, The School for Scandal, P.S. Your Cat is Dead, Bedroom Farce.  TV includes: “Conan O’Brien,” “All My Children,” “One Life to Live” and Comedy Central.  As always, love to Nina and Paul.

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FIRST FLIGHT THEATRE COMPANY is a not-for-profit company founded by Frank Farrell and a group of actors in 2018 and is devoted to presenting the plays of 20th century American playwright Maxwell Anderson as well as other playwrights who instill poetry in their writing. The company has performed live staged readings of Anderson’s plays in New Jersey, New York City and Chicago including Valley Forge, Elizabeth the Queen, Mary of Scotland, Sea-Wife, The Masque of Queens, White Desert, The Eve of St. Mark and Saturday’s Children. During the covid pandemic, First Flight presented play readings on Zoom for the public featuring actors from all over the United States and England. Productions streamed included Maxwell Anderson’s one-act plays The Feast of Ortolans, Second Overture, The Miracle of the Danube and Letter to Jackie. Also streamed were A Vampire Kiss in the Plague of 1666 written by James Fitzmaurice, which went on to win many awards on the film festival circuit; Salvador, a play about Salvador Dalí by Richard Young, another film festival winner; and a streaming version of Anderson’s first Broadway production White Desert. Post pandemic the company presented at The Hermitage in New Jersey outdoor productions of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Maxwell Anderson’s Valley Forge and a third reprise (indoors) of Dickens by Candlelight: A Christmas Carol. On Earth Day in 2023 the First Flight Theatre Company presented streaming performances of In the Garden of Live Flowers, a play about Rachel Carson, which went on to be a winner at the Green Academy Award Film Festival. Other productions in 2023 included Little Women at The Hermitage, the double bill Shakespeare’s Ladies at Tea and Shakespeare’s Deaths as part of FRIGID’s Little Shakespeare Festival in NYC, staged readings of Anderson’s Saturday’s Children in New York City and Chicago, staged readings of Maxwell Anderson’s White Desert, What Price Glory and Sea-Wife at New York City public libraries, the one-woman play Mina based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula at the Hermitage and at the Under St. Marks Theater in NYC and in December of 2023, Dickens by Candlelight: A Christmas Carol at the Hermitage. In 2024 and 2025 at the Hermitage First Flight presented Little Women, Poe: An Evening of Mystery and the Macabre, Dickens Presents A Christmas Carol, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and Night of the Living Dead. First Flight has re-published six plays from the 1920s by Maxwell Anderson: What Price Glory, First Flight, The Buccaneer, Outside Looking In, Gods of the Lightning and Sea-Wife; all available at Amazon.com. 

Visit our website at www.firstflighttheatreco.com

Donations can be made for FFTC at this site. 

email firstflight2018@gmail.com