"Mabel Tidings Bigelow has been fighting to make life do what she wants it to all her life," according to production notes. "Pride's Crossing gives us the life of this indomitable nonagenarian, who in her youth was the first woman to swim the English Channel from England to France. As the play opens, the 90-year old Mabel is about to give a Fourth of July croquet party reminiscent of her parents' elegant and famous Independence Day celebrations 'in the old days.' As she plans the party, memories keep welling up in Mabel's mind: her oldest brother's heroic diving feats that, from the time she was a girl of 10, both overshadowed and inspired her, and eventually led to his death; her temperamental middle brother who at the age of 31 took his own life; and her mother's emotional neglect and impervious trivializing of her ambitions. And how, then, at 20, she emerged a beautiful and formidable young woman to captivate an array of men..."
Tina Howe's plays include The Art of Dining, Painting Churches and Coastal Disturbances. Pride's Crossing (the title refers to Mabel's home in Massachusetts) was first presented at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in 1997, and later opened later at Lincoln Center Theater in New York. Howe wrote the play, which received The New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play in 1998, as a tribute to her Aunt Maddy whose passion and fortitude the play both comments on and embellishes.
Glenn Krutoff directs a company that includes Laura Martin, Jessica Milspaw, Andrea Marshall-Money, Scott Roberts, Sean Souza, Jason Weiss and — as Mabel Tidings Bigelow — Tatjana Vujosevic.
Performances continue to April 18 at The T.Schreiber Studio, 151 W. 26th Street, seventh floor, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. Shows play Thursday-Saturday at 8 PM, with Sunday matinees and two additional Saturday matinees on April 10 and 17, at 3 PM.
A benefit event for the Studio, Club Member Night, will be held on Saturday, April 3 and be followed by a post performance talk-back and reception with the cast and creative team. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and $8 for students; Club Member Night tickets are $40. For reservations visit www.t-s-s.org call (212) 352-3101.
