Katie Roche

The Mint Theater Company presents

The Mint Theater explores the work of Teresa Deevy, with a production of Deevy’s most celebrated drama, Katie Roche. This expressionist play’s mercurial heroine is a servant girl whose romantic ambitions reach for the heavens. “Katie Roche is the third Deevy work to be produced by the Mint in as many years. It may be the best one yet,” wrote David Barbour in Lighting and Sound America.

Katie Roche made its Abbey Theater premiere in 1936. The play was greeted with such enthusiasm that it was included in the Gollancz Anthology of “Famous Plays of 1936” along with Clifford Odets’ Awake and Sing. The Abbey revived the play in 1949, 1975, and 1994—each time to critical acclaim.

The Mint Theater Company’s presentation of Katie Roche marked the play’s first appearance in New York since 1937. A “glowing, evocative production,” hailed the New Yorker.

“A GLOWING, EVOCATIVE PRODUCTION… DEEVY’S DIALOGUE IS PRACTICALLY MINIMALIST, BUT IN VERY FEW WORDS AN ENTIRE CULTURE IS REVEALED, AND THE MYSTERIES OF THE HUMAN HEART EXPLORED.” – The New Yorker

Teresa Deevy was born in 1894 as the youngest of thirteen children in Waterford, Ireland. Though she intended to teach, Teresa contracted Meniere’s disease while at University College Dublin and lost her hearing. She went to London to study lip-reading and the theater provided her an opportunity to practice—there she discovered her calling.

Despite obvious obstacles and years of rejection, Teresa eventually became a celebrated playwright. She had six plays produced at Ireland’s National Theater, the Abbey, between the years 1930 and 1936.

It was KATIE ROCHE that solidified her place as Ireland’s most important female dramatist since Lady Gregory. Deevy’s remarkable heroine introduced a study of feminine power with unprecedented subtlety and depth.

Mint Theater Company’s Silver Lining Streaming Series is offering Free, On Demand Streaming of six productions from the Mint Archives over six months. To receive the password, click this link and complete the form.