The Mint Theater Company deserves much praise for its mission to produce forgotten plays by women playwrights. But it’s not just because I applaud the effort to feature women writers who’ve been historically neglected. My appreciation has much to do with the choice of plays as well as the writers. Mint’s latest, Partnership by Elizabeth Baker, is quite a revelation, both in the quality of the writing and the eye-opening perceptions it reveals about working women more than a century ago.
It’s worth noting that when Baker burst on the scene in 1909 with her first play at the age of 33 she was compared to George Bernard Shaw and hailed by a British critic as “a new playwright of unmistakable dramatic genius.” She lived to the age of 85 and wrote 13 plays in all but stopped writing at the age of 56 when the prospects for productions dried up. I have to think if she had been a man, the work would have continued.
[Read Melissa Rose Bernardo’s ★★★☆☆ review here.]
Partnership, written in 1917, tells the story of Kate Rolling, the young proprietor of a dress shop in Brighton. Kate is an ambitious businesswoman with dreams of expanding her tiny storefront. When the property next door comes up for sale, she, along with her loyal female staff, fantasize about the possibilities.
Spoiler alert. Opportunity knocks when Kate’s rival, Mr. Pillatt, the wealthy owner of a drapery shop nearby, pays a visit. Recognizing Kate’s talents, Pillatt makes an unusual offer: He suggests a business partnership and a proposal of marriage. At first it’s the answer to Kate’s prayers—ignoring the fact that when she accepts the following day, the two can’t even get up the gumption to seal the engagement with a kiss.
At this point in the narrative, strange as it seems today, the idea of a young working woman in the early 20th century agreeing to a loveless marriage in order to pursue her professional goals makes some sense. Societal and class restrictions prevented women from realizing their true ambitions and they were mostly reliant on partnerships with men, often through marriage, to achieve any real financial success even when it meant giving up their independence.
But of course the plot thickens, and when Kate meets a young man pegged as a slacker, the story takes an intriguing turn. I’ll give away no more except that Baker shatters some assumptions about gender in working-class society back then. And the debate she poses among her characters regarding what we’ve come to know as work-life balance is quite enlightening.
The play is long, consisting of three acts and two intermissions over two and a half hours; and given our generation’s shortened attention span, the first act definitely could be trimmed. But it’s worth the investment once the plot kicks in. And if the ending seems rather contrived, don’t forget it’s billed as a comedy delving in realism.
It’s impressively directed by Jackson Grace Gay, helming an exceptionally strong production despite Mint’s limited budget. Special mention to costumer Kindall Houston Almond who came up with some terrifically stylish designs—both outlandish and sophisticated as called for.
The cast is first-rate across the board. Several of the actors have extensive Broadway credits—most notably Christiane Noll as an imperious aristocrat in what I would regard as a wonderful cameo. Other standouts include Gene Gillette as the priggish Pillatt, delivering a nifty impression of The Simpsons’ sniveling Mr. Burns; Gina Daniels, playing a worldly seamstress, does excellent work along with Olivia Gilliatt as Kate’s friend and confidante representing female pragmatism to the extreme. And Joshua Echebiri is a most convincing breath of fresh air as a young man intoxicated by nature.
But best of all in this company is the rookie Sara Haider, making her off-Broadway debut in the lead role of Kate Rolling. She is a major talent with a fabulous future ahead of her. I would wager that the show’s audiences will one day be able to say they saw her before she became a star.
The perspectives in this play could only come from a woman. And considering how rare it is to experience dramatic works from female writers during the period, the Mint is giving us quite a treat. Baker’s nuanced characters and prescient themes offer unique insights to the past as well as our present. There’s a line in the play in which a wise woman exclaims “Why aren’t women satisfied to be women!” The sad truth is that in order to succeed, they needed to be more like men. The sadder truth is that after 106 years, we still have to ask that question.
Partnership opened Oct. 19, 2023, at Theatre Row and runs through Nov. 12. Tickets and information: minttheater.org
