Gemini (play)
Encyclopedia
Albert Innaurato
Albert Innaurato is an American playwright, theatre director, and writer.Innaurato was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1947. After graduating from California Institute of the Arts, Innaurato attended the Yale School of Drama...
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Plot
Set in the backyard of a blue collar South PhiladelphiaSouth Philadelphia
South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south, and the Schuylkill River to the west.-History:...
neighborhood early in the summer of 1973, the comedy-drama
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...
focuses on the 21st birthday celebration of Harvard student Francis Geminiani. In attendance are his divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
d blue collar
Blue collar
Blue collar can refer to:*Blue-collar worker, a traditional designation of the working class*Blue-collar crime, the types of crimes typically associated with the working class*A census designation...
father Fran and Fran's widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...
ed girlfriend Lucille, next-door neighbor Bunny Weinberger and her overweight son Herschel, and Francis' classmates, the wealthy WASP
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...
Hastings sibling
Sibling
Siblings are people who share at least one parent. A male sibling is called a brother; and a female sibling is called a sister. In most societies throughout the world, siblings usually grow up together and spend a good deal of their childhood socializing with one another...
s; Judith (who seeks romance with Francis) and Randy (the object of Francis' unexpressed affection), who have arrived unexpectedly, much to their friend's dismay. All are dysfunctional to varying degrees, and the interactions among them provide the play with its comic and dramatic moments.
Production history
Playwrights HorizonsPlaywrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....
first staged the play in December 1976 with a cast that included Jonathan Hadary
Jonathan Hadary
Jonathan Hadary is an American actor.Born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Bethesda, Maryland, Hadary arrived at Tufts University already an accomplished actor. He was promptly cast by every director at Tufts, both student and faculty. During his sophomore year, he became an understudy for the...
, Jon Polito
Jon Polito
Jon Polito is an American actor and voice artist, who is known for working with the Coen Brothers, most notably in the major supporting role of Italian gangster Johnny Caspar in Miller's Crossing. He also appeared in the first two seasons of Homicide: Life on the Street and on the first season of...
, and Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver is an American actress. She is best known for her critically acclaimed role of Ellen Ripley in the four Alien films: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, for which she has received worldwide recognition .Other notable roles include Dana...
. The following March it was mounted by the Circle Repertory Company
Circle Repertory Company
The Circle Repertory Company, originally named the Circle Theater Company, was a theatre company in New York City that ran from 1969 to 1996. It was founded on July 14, 1969, in Manhattan, in a second floor loft at Broadway and 83rd Street by director Marshall W...
with Hadary (Herschel Weinberger), Danny Aiello
Danny Aiello
Daniel Louis "Danny" Aiello, Jr. is an American actor who has appeared in numerous motion pictures, including Once Upon a Time in America, Ruby, The Godfather: Part II, Hudson Hawk, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Moonstruck, Léon, Two Days in the Valley, and Dinner Rush...
(Fran), Carol Potter
Carol Potter (actress)
Carol Potter is an American actress best known for playing Cindy Walsh on Beverly Hills, 90210. She was a regular on the show from 1990 to 1995...
(Judith Hastings), and Robert Picardo
Robert Picardo
Robert Picardo is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayals of Dr. Dick Richards on ABC's China Beach, the Emergency Medical Hologram , also known as The Doctor, on UPN's Star Trek: Voyager, The Cowboy in Innerspace, Coach Cutlip on The Wonder Years , Ben Wheeler in Wagons East, and as...
(Francis Geminiani). Critical response encouraged the producers to transfer the play to Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
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The Broadway production, with the same cast directed by Peter Mark Schifter and supervised by Marshall W. Mason
Marshall W. Mason
Marshall W. Mason is an American theater director, the founder and for eighteen years, artistic director of the Circle Repertory Company in New York City....
, opened on May 21, 1977 at the Little Theatre
Helen Hayes Theatre
Helen Hayes Theatre with 597 seats is the smallest Broadway theatre and is located at 240 West 44th Street in midtown-Manhattan....
and closed on September 6, 1981 after 1,819 performances.
A 1980 screen adaptation, written and directed by Richard Benner, was entitled Happy Birthday, Gemini. The cast included Madeline Kahn
Madeline Kahn
Madeline Kahn was an American actress. Kahn was known primarily for her comedic roles in films such as Paper Moon, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, What's Up, Doc?, and Clue.-Early life:...
, Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno is a Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress. She is the only Hispanic and one of the few performers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony, and was the second Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award....
, Alan Rosenberg
Alan Rosenberg
Alan Rosenberg is an American actor of both stage and screen. From 2005 to 2009, he was president of the Screen Actors Guild, the principal motion picture industry on-screen performers' union.-Early life:...
, David Marshall Grant
David Marshall Grant
David Marshall Grant is an American actor and playwright.-Life and career:Grant was born in Westport, Connecticut, to physician parents...
, and Sarah Holcomb
Sarah Holcomb
Sarah Holcomb is a former American actress. She first appeared in National Lampoon's Animal House and in three other films, ending with Caddyshack...
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A 1999 off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
Second Stage Theatre revival closed after 14 performances.
Awards and nominations
1977 Off-Broadway- Obie AwardObie AwardThe Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
- Anne DiSalvo - performance - winner
- Danny Aiello- performance - winner
- Albert Innaurato - playwrighting - winner
1977 Broadway
Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for Outstanding New American Play - nomination