HIPPODROME STATE THEATRE: The Mineola Twins

THE MINEOLA TWINS By Paula Vogel September 5-28, 1997

Myrna and Myra Richards are twin sisters — two very different peas trapped in the tiny pod of Mineola, New York. And while they may share similar faces, they couldn’t be more different on the inside.

First there’s Myrna, the saccharine sweet, docile conformist whose only ambition is to raise 2.5 children and take dictation for her pipe-smoking, young executive husband. Fate has cursed her with a twin sister named

Myra, a promiscuous, streetwise delinquent who dirties her sister’s room and reputation while dreamimg of James Dean and carefree nights in Greenwich Village.

The Mineola Twins, a wickedly witty comic book come to life, begins during the “I Like Ike” era 1950s and finds Myrna working at a small town diner while Myra is working her way through the second string of the high school football team.

The play flashes forward to 1969 — Nixon is in the White House, protesters are in the streets, and the relationship between Myrna and Myra is no better. Myrna’s dreams of a utopian home life have been shattered by a failing marriage, a round of electro-shock therapy and a son whose politics are dangerously similar to his aunt’s. Meanwhile, Myra is on the lam following a botched bank robbery attempt.

By the time the twins reach the Reagan-Bush era ’80s, Myrna has become the nation’s most influential, conservative talk show host while Myra works for women’s reproductive rights.

The Mineola Twins, written by Obie Award-winning playwright Paula Vogel, is a brisk, biting comedy that is as poignant as it is absurdist. It is not so much a play about two warring individuals as it is an examination of conflicting viewpoints in the good old USA. The Mineola Twins will have you laughing throughout and thinking long after the house lights have come up.

Warning ... The sophisticated humor of The Mineola Twins is intended for mature audiences only.

CAST (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE)

Myra/Myrna

Lisa Kay Powers*

Nell Page Sexton*

Jim/Sarah

Kenny/Ben

Timothy Altmeyer*

Daniel J. DeVito

FBI Agent/Psychiatric Aide

Gillian Martin

*Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

ARTISTIC STAFF
Director	Mary Hausch
James Morgan	Scenic Design
Costume Design	Marilyn Wall-Asse
Robert P. Robins	Lighting Design
Sound Design	Rocky Draud
Lorelei Esser	Properties
Choreography	Ric Rose
Marguerite Price*	Stage Manager

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