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MTC mourns the tragic loss of beloved stage and screen actor Lisa Banes, who was a treasured friend and colleague to us and so many others. Lisa appeared in five MTC productions over the past nearly four decades and is one of the few performers to grace every MTC stage, starting with our original home on East 73rd St, where she appeared in Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s A CALL FROM THE EAST (John Tillinger’s directorial debut) and played Olga in THE THREE SISTERS alongside Dianne Weist, Jeff Daniels, and Sam Waterston, directed by MTC Artistic Director Lynne Meadow. She went on to star in Stephen Metcalfe’s EMILY at New York City Center Stage I, Samson Raphaelson’s ACCENT ON YOUTH at the Friedman Theatre on Broadway, and—most recently—Eleanor Burgess’s THE NICETIES at New York City Center Stage II. Lisa even appeared on our newest “stage”—our virtual space—for which she reprised her role in THE NICETIES, reimagined for a digital format.
Fans of the theatre also know Lisa from her performances on Broadway in RUMORS, HIGH SOCIETY, ARCADIA, and PRESENT LAUGHTER and off-Broadway in LOOK BACK IN ANGER (Theatre World Award), MY SISTER IN THIS HOUSE (Obie Award), ANTIGONE, ISN’T IT ROMANTIC (Drama Desk nomination), FIGHTING INTERNATIONAL FAT, TEN BY TENNESSEE, THE ALICE COMPLEX, and GO BACK TO WHERE YOU ARE, as well as in a number of acclaimed films and television shows.
We were honored to be such a consistent part of Lisa’s life and career, including with THE NICETIES, which she filmed just a few months before her passing. We know how deeply Lisa loved this play and working on it with such a close-knit group. We believe that she would want to continue to share their work with other artists and theatre-lovers alike, and we are proud to showcase her magnificent talent, which meant so much to so many of her friends and fans.
We urge anyone with information about the tragic hit-and-run that took her life to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.
Photo Credit: Larry Busacca/Getty Images
THE NICETIES
BY ELEANOR BURGESS
DIRECTED BY KIMBERLY SENIOR
STREAMING MAY 27 – JUNE 27
PRESENTED BY MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE HUNTINGTON
FREE. RSVP REQUIRED.
Manhattan Theatre Club in association with The Huntington presents the virtual premiere of The Niceties, written by Eleanor Burgess and directed by Kimberly Senior. The presentation reunites the original stars Lisa Banes and Jordan Boatman, updated for the virtual stage since its original production in MTC’s 2018-2019 Season at The Studio at Stage II.
An ambitious young Black college student and her esteemed white professor meet over Skype to discuss a paper the college junior is writing about the American Revolution. Unfortunately, they find it hard to agree about the facts of the past – or the present. Discussions of grammar and Google turn to race and reputation, and soon they’re in dangerous territory neither of them had foreseen – and facing stunning implications that can’t be undone.
The New York Times hails it as “a bristling, provocative debate play about race and privilege in the United States.”
The Niceties is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com
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Closed captioning option available.
ABOUT THE WRITER
ELEANOR BURGESS (Playwright). Eleanor Burgess’s work has been produced at Manhattan Theatre Club, McCarter Theatre Center, Geffen Playhouse, Huntington Theatre Company, the Alliance Theatre, Writers’ Theatre, Finborough Theatre, Milwaukee Theatre, Geva Theatre Center, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, and the Contemporary American Theatre Festival, and developed at Playwrights Horizons, The New Group, New York Theatre Workshop, Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Hermitage Artists Retreat, the Lark Play Development Center, and the Kennedy Center/NNPN MFA Playwrights Workshop. She has been a member of the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages, Page 73’s writers’ group Interstate 73, The Civilians’ R&D Group, and New York Theatre Workshop’s 2050 Fellowship. She has also written for WeCrashed on Apple TV and Perry Mason on HBO. Originally from Brookline, Massachusetts, she studied history at Yale College and Dramatic Writing at NYU/Tisch.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
KIMBERLY SENIOR (Director) Broadway: Ayad Akhtar’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Disgraced. Off Broadway: Bella Bella (starring Harvey Fierstein, Manhattan Theatre Club); The Niceties (Manhattan Theatre Club); Disgraced and The Who & the What (Lincoln Center Theater/ LCT3); Aasif Mandvi’s Sakina’s Restaurant and Dan Rather’s Stories of a Lifetime (Audible Theatre at Minetta Lane); Chris Gethard’s Career Suicide (produced by Judd Apatow); Discord (Primary Stages); and Engagements (Second Stage Theatre). Regional: Sweat, The Niceties and Our Daughters, Like Pillars (Huntington Theatre Company); Margaret Trudeau’s Certain Woman of an Age (Second City, Just for Laughs Montreal and Toronto, Audible); Byhalia, Mississippi (The Kennedy Center); The Niceties (McCarter Theatre Center and Geffen Playhouse), Disgraced (Goodman Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and Mark Taper Forum); Rapture, Blister, Burn and Support Group for Men (Goodman Theatre); Photograph 51 (South Coast Repertory); Sheltered (Alliance Theatre); Other Than Honorable (Geva Theatre Center); Buried Child, The Scene, Marjorie Prime, The Diary of Anne Frank, Hedda Gabler, and The Letters (Writers Theatre); Sex with Strangers (Geffen Playhouse); Little Gem (City Theatre); Discord, 4000 Miles, and The Whipping Man (Northlight Theatre); Timeline: Inana, My Name is Asher Lev, All My Sons, Dolly West’s Kitchen; Want and The North Plan (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); among others. Television: “Chris Gethard’s Career Suicide” (HBO). Audio: Marvel’s The Wastelanders: Old Man Starlord (Marvel, Sirius XM, Apple). Other: 2013 finalist for the SDCF Joe A. Callaway Award and the Zelda Fichandler Award; recipient of the 2016 Special Non-Equity Jeff Award, the 2016 Alan Schneider Award (TCG), and the 2018 Einhorn Award (Primary Stages); resident director of Writers Theatre, associate artist at Timeline Theatre and member of the Artistic Collective at the Goodman Theatre. Proud mother of Noah (14) and Delaney (12) and a member of SDC.
CAST
LISA BANES
Broadway: Rumors, High Society, Arcadia, Accent on Youth, Present Laughter. Off-Broadway: Look Back in Anger (Theatre World Award), A Call From the East, My Sister in this House (Obie Award), Three Sisters, Antigone, Isn’t it Romantic (Drama Desk nomination), Emily, Fighting International Fat, Ten by Tennessee, The Alice Complex, Go Back to Where You Are, The Niceties. Film: Gone Girl, A Cure for Wellness, The Hotel New Hampshire, Marie, Young Guns, Cocktail, Dragonfly, The Jackal, Pumpkin, Without Limits, Freedom Writers. Acres of television includes the series The Trials of Rosie O’Neil, Girls Club, Son of the Beach. Recurring roles include China Beach, Six Feet Under, King of Queens, Royal Pains, Masters of Sex, Nashville. Graduate of the Juilliard School and alumna of The Acting Company.
JORDAN BOATMAN
Jordan Boatman is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She played Elsbeth in Simon Stone’s Medea at The Brooklyn Academy of Music. She originated the role of Zoe in the world premiere of Eleanor Burgess’s The Niceties at Huntington Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, McCarter Theatre Center and The Geffen Playhouse. Boatman has appeared on The Good Fight for CBS All access and Hulu’s The Path. Winner of the 2019 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Actress.
The Niceties’ design team includes Cameron Anderson (Production Design Consultant), Emily Auciello (Sound Design), Rocco DiSanti (Editor), and Thomas Dieter (Stage Manager).
The world premiere of The Niceties was co-produced in the 2018-2019 season by the Huntington Theatre Company (Peter DuBois, Artistic Director Michael Maso, Managing Director), Boston, MA; Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director Barry Grove, Executive Producer), New York, NY; and McCarter Theatre Center (Emily Mann, Artistic Director/Resident Playwright Michael S. Rosenberg, Managing Director), Princeton, NJ.
Originally developed at the Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, in July 2017, under the leadership of Ed Herendeen, Producing Director, and Peggy McKowen, Associate Producing Director.
Developed in part at PORTLAND STAGE COMPANY, Anita Stewart, Executive & Artistic Director.