Archive

Identifier: PICNIC2012

Inclusive Dates: 2012 - 2013

Extent:

Production Files documenting the 2012 production of William Inge's Picnic at the American Airlines Theatre.  Directed by Sam Gold, with set design by Andrew Lieberman, costume design by David Zinn, lighting design by Jane Cox, sound design by Jill BC Du Boff, and hair and wig design by Tom Watson.

The production starred Reed Birney as Howard Bevans, Maggie Grace as Madge Owens, Elizabeth Marvel as Rosemary Sydney, Sebastian Stan as Hal Carter, Mare Winningham as Flo Owens, and Ellen Burstyn as Mrs. Helen Potts; with Madeleine Martin as Millie Owens, Chris Perfetti as Bomber Gutzel, Lizbeth Mackay as Mrs. Potts' Mother, Ben Rappaport as Alan Seymour, Maddie Corman as Irma Kronkite, and Cassie Beck as Christine Schoenwalder.  Cassie Beck and Lizbeth Mackay acted as understudies, with Peter Bradbury, Dani de Waal, and Matthew Goodrich.


 

Picnic is a 1953 play by American playwright William Inge that earned him the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It premiered on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre in 1953 under the direction of Joshua Logan who received a Tony Award for his work on the production. The play was the Broadway debut of Paul Newman, originally in the role of Alan Seymour but eventually taking over the role of Hal. A film version of the play, directed again by Joshua Logan, was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning two.

Production Files are all contained in two Hollinger boxes consisting of 27 folders, one Playbill, and a handful of marketing flyers.

Digital holdings on the Archive 1 server include the following folders:
Costume Photographs (Archive-produced photos of Hal Carter's, Madge Owens' and Mrs. Helen Potts' costumes)
Design (Folders for costume design sketches and set design plans and model) 
Education (Upstage study guide and transcript of Sam Gold's lecture)
Marketing Audience Services (pdf of on sale memo and calendar)
Media (video clips and montages, jpeg photos from HIPTIX and Wine events)
Opening Night (214 jpeg photos)
Performance Reports (pdf and Word doc file formats)
Playbill (Folder of original scans, plus 22 tif files)
Press (Archive-scanned selects and press agency compilations)
Production Photographs (captioned selects, set-ups, and 584 original jpegs)
Props Images (Folder titled "Picnic AA Backstage Bobby Dowling", with jpeg photos of scenery load in, rehearsal room photos, set dressing, backstage and prop preset)
Script
Show Art
SM Bible Contents (mp3 files of the Kansas dialect and "dance" tracks)

Contracts have been removed and housed in the Contracts cabinets; these are confidential and access is restricted.  There is also a hard copy of the poster on the Poster shelves.

Roundabout Archive has a variety of costume and prop pieces from the show; all have been photographed and documented within the catalog.

Access Restrictions: Open and available to approved researchers by appointment only. See folder details for specific restrictions.

Preferred Citation: Picnic 2012, Roundabout Theatre Company Archives