THE CITY BETWEEN THEM
AI assited photo
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
11/7/2026
FIRST FLIGHT THEATRE COMPANY TO PERFORM A STAGED READING OF
“THE CITY BETWEEN THEM”
A NEW PLAY ABOUT PLAYWRIGHT MAXWELL ANDERSON AND
H. P. LOVECRAFT AT THE TANK STUDIO IN NYC ON 12/15/26
There will be a Benefit for the First Flight Theatre Company and a 138th Birthday Celebration for 20th century playwright Maxwell Anderson on Tuesday, December 15, 2026 at 7pm at the Tank Studio, 6th Floor, 312 W 36th St, New York, NY, 10018. The benefit includes a Staged Reading of The City Between Them, a play by Frank Farrell about several imagined meetings between Maxwell Anderson and H. P. Lovecraft in the 1920s in New York City. Lovecraft lived in Brooklyn, NY from 1922 – 1926. Anderson wrote his second Lovecraft-like play Sea-Wife in 1924. Did H. P. Lovecraft cross paths with playwright Maxwell Anderson at a coffee shop one night in NYC? What if?
AI assisted photo
Tickets/Suggested Donations are $20 at the door or purchased in advance at https://cur8.com/17854/project/142675
Written and Directed by Frank Farrell, The City Between Them features Noni Alley, Danny Crawford*, Victoria Devany*, Karen Eterovich*, Frank Farrell*, Alejandro H. Flores, Vic Gitre, Jennifer Kim, Clinton Powell*, and Eike Ross.
MARGARET HASKETT ANDERSON
SONIA HAFT GREENE LOVECRAFT
Broadway World Notice
H. P. Lovecraft was an American writer of weird, horror, fantasy, and science fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos, but his legacy is also apparent in terms like "Lovecraftian horror" and an enduring fandom. He lived in Providence, Rhode Island for all of his 47 years except for four years, 1922 through 1926, when he married Sonia Greene and lived in Brooklyn, NY. He was known as a “walker” and traveled often by foot throughout the five New York City boroughs.
Maxwell Anderson wrote 55 plays 31 of which opened on Broadway. He was living in New York City between 1922 and 1926. During those years he wrote 6 plays. In 1924 he wrote his second play Sea-Wife. It was never produced or published. The inspiration for the play was the “The Forsaken Merman,” an 1849 lyric poem by Matthew Arnold about a merman whose human wife, Margaret, abandons him and their children to return to the world of humans, leaving the merman grieving as he calls his children away from the shore. Anderson was living in New York City during the four years Lovecraft also lived there. Sea-Wife is a very Lovecraft-like play. It is highly unusual in comparison to his many other plays.
FIRST FLIGHT THEATRE COMPANY is a not-for-profit founded by Frank Farrell in 2018 devoted to presenting the plays of 20th century American playwright Maxwell Anderson as well as other playwrights who instill poetry in their writing. In August the company presented Declaration, a new musical based on the Declaration of Independence at the Hermitage Mansion in New Jersey. 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, Saturday’s Children and What Price Glory?. During the pandemic First Flight presented play readings on Zoom for the public. Post pandemic the company presented at The Hermitage in New Jersey outdoor productions of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Maxwell Anderson’s Valley Forge. For 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. That same year it presented the double bill Shakespeare’s Ladies at Tea and Shakespeare’s Deaths as part of FRIGID’s Little Shakespeare Festival in New York City. In October of that year, it presented the one-woman show Mina based on Dracula at the Hermitage and at the UNDER St. Mark’s Theater in New Tork City. In 2024 & 2025 at the Hermitage FFTC presented Little Women, Poe: An Evening of Mystery and the Macabre, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Night of the Living Dead, and Dickens Presents A Christmas Carol (both years). In addition, the company and the Instant Shakespeare Company joined forces presenting play readings at New York City’s various public libraries of Anderson’s White Desert, Sea-Wife and his 1924 play What Price Glory?. First Flight recently re-published Maxwell Anderson’s plays What Price Glory?, First Flight, The Buccaneer, Outside Looking In, Gods of the Lightning and Sea-Wife which are all available at Amazon.com.
FRANK FARRELL* (Director, Adaptor, Voice of Dagon Story & Artistic Director of the First Flight Theatre Company) in October he directed Toxic, two one act plays by Chris Wedney and Joyce Carol Oates and in April Rachel Carson Speaks for the Environmental Justice Players in Ridgewood, NJ. This past August Frank’s musical Declaration based on the Declaration of Independence was presented at the Hermitage in New Jersey. 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 eight 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 re-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.
BENJAMIN MASTERTON (Composer & Sound) has composed and arranged music for dozens of productions in Chicago, Florida, New York, and of course, Idaho. With Frank Farrell Productions, Ben has composed music and designed sound in New Jersey for A Christmas Carol: The Musical, Night of the Living Dead, and musicalized an evening of the writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Frank and Ben also produced the Songs of the Pogo franchise, including the Songs of the Pogo Podcast, the film, and the theatrical stage show in New York City. Ben is currently composing music for the short film “Callahan’s Hour”.Ben has written over a hundred and ninety songs and currently resides in Gainesville, Florida.
Photos below of the cast: Noni Alley, Danny Crawford*, Victoria Devany*, Karen Eterovich*, Frank Farrell*, Alejandro H. Flores, Vic Gitre, Jennifer Kim, Clinton Powell*, and Eike Ross. *Denotes member of the Actors’ Equity Association.
NONI ALLEY (Dagon Pantomime & the Merman King)
DANNY CRAWFORD* (Maxwell Anderson & Dan)
VICTORIA DEVANY* (Waiter, Mate, Margaret Haskett Anderson & Corey) is delighted to be back with First Flight Theatre Co. Pro. performer since adolescence. Vicky also works as an acting/vocal coach, dramaturg/playwright, and assistant director, with post-graduate work in Shakespearean studies. She has performed at City Center, Symphony Space, Carnegie Hall, Wolf Trap, Paper Mill Playhouse, and many others, plus tours in New England, the Midwest -- with performances in CA, NYS, England and Japan. Loves working in person, with children and adults. Her solo cabaret show has been performed in Chiba Prefecture, and NYC, with duo work in NYC/NYS. Favorite roles: Viola in Twelfth Night, Carrie in Carousel. Member: AEA/DGA. Contact: vickyd_us@yahoo.com
KAREN ETEROVICH* (Sonia Haft Greene Lovecraft & Voice of Cool Air)
ALEJANDRO H. FLORES (Flagg, The Horror of Red Hook Pantomime, Cool Air Pantomime & Ireton)
VIC GITRE (Moore, The Horror of Red Hook Pantomime & Dr. Fallon) is a Brooklyn based actor and artist. They received a BA in theater and visual arts from Albion College and completed Atlantic Acting School's Full Time Conservatory program. They are a founding member of indie theatre collective The Clementine Players, and currently serve as ensemble chair. Recent work includes Stella in Woman of God, Antipholus of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors, and Viola in Twelfth Night.
JENNIFER KIM (Margaret from Sea-Wife) is a NYC-based actress. She is thrilled to be a part of this First Flight benefit. Her recent roles include Gremio in Smallboat Production's Taming of the Shrew, Dromio of Ephesus in Shakespeare Sports' Comedy of Errors; Olivia in Clementine Players’ Twelfth Night; Gus in Morningside Players' It's Only A Play; and Emily Delacey in Citygate Productions' Frankenstein.
CLINTON POWELL* (H. P. Lovecraft & Voice of The Horror of Red Hook) is an Equity actor. Training: Alfred University (BA in Theatre and English). Clinton studied Viewpoints with Synaesthetic Theatre: The Trial of K (Kafka) and Icon (Narcissus). Previous favorites include: Fools and Kings Project’s Richard the Third (Clarence), South Dakota Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale (Antigonus/3rd Gentleman) and Medicine Show Theatre’s Don Juan In Hell (The Statue). Clinton has played Friar Laurence in Romeo and Juliet twice, with Barefoot Shakespeare Company and York College. He can also be seen in the film The Rabbit Hole (Barry/Pan).
EIKE ROSS (Aldrich, The Horror of Red Hook Pantomime, Cool Air Pantomime & Douglas) is from Chistochina, Alaska. They have a BA from University of Alaska, Fairbanks, completed Atlantic Acting School's full time conservatory program, and are a founding member and the current artistic director of The Clementine Players. Recent work: Harriet in Woman of God, Buckingham in The Woke Tragedy of Richard III, and The Sheriff in Brokeneck Girls: The Murder Ballad Musical.
Little Women at the Hermitage
Jennifer Kim, Stella Berrettini, Lynn Manuell, Alexa Elmy, and Reilly Hacker as they appeared in First Flight Theatre Company’s first of two outdoor productions of
Louisa May Alcott's Little Women in 2023.
Valley Forge at the Hermitage
Richard Width*, Zander Kirby and Karen Eterovich* as they appeared in the First Flight
Theatre Company’s outdoor production of Maxwell Anderson’s play Valley Forge in 2022
FIRST FLIGHT’S 2026 DONORS: Pamela Coombe, Frank Farrell, Marilyn Green, Ben Masterton, Circus-Szalewski, Marla Weeg, and Jack Zerbe.
Support First Flight's Mission to Save Maxwell Anderson's Plays
Donate to our fundraising campaign via our website above or at https://gofund.me/55b7cfac7
Press Contact: Artistic Director Frank Farrell at 773-307-4586 (not for public release).
Comments