Jig Saw (play)
It was staged by Philip Moeller, had sets by Lee Simonson, and starred Ernest Truex and Spring Byington, with Cora Witherspoon, Gertrude Flynn, and Eliot Cabot in support.
It had a tryout in Washington, D.C., just four weeks after the Theatre Guild decided to mount the play and began pulling the production together.
After Gore Vidal and Tim Page aroused interest in Dawn Powell's writings in the late 1980s, an off-Broadway production was mounted in 2001.
Lead Supporting Featured Off Stage Act I (Living room of Claire's penthouse at Hotel Harwich in NYC, a late spring afternoon.)
Oblivious to his unwanted status, he grabs a cocktail and explains that his collaborator is writing the second act of a new play.
Claire is upset with Del's presence, but reminds Nathan of their plans to visit Harlem that evening.
The play ends as the bridge players come back to the terrace, with Claire leaning on Del's shoulder as he fits a piece into the jigsaw puzzle.
[7] The Guild had a commitment with the Shuberts for the Ethel Barrymore Theatre from late April 1934, so the production of Jig Saw had to be thrown together quickly.
They selected Spring Byington for the lead female,[8] though she was a decade older than Powell's description of the character.
[6] They also chose Elliot Cabot[fn 1] who had been away from the stage for several years,[9] and whose first tryout performance showed it.
[12] Within two days Ernest Truex was signed for the male lead, and the Broadway premiere announced for the end of the month.
[13] Elliot Cabot was signed next, and the tryout opening announced for April 23, 1934 in Washington, D.C.[14] Principal casting was completed with Cora Witherspoon and Gertrude Flynn announced on April 11, 1934,[15] while Lee Simonson was reported to be designing the sets.
[10] Coming less than five weeks after the work was added to the Guild's schedule, it was understandable that reviewers would take note of the production's "rough edges".
[11] Author Dawn Powell accompanied the production to Washington, and told one interviewer that she was trying to add "five new laughs" to the second act.
[17] Burns Mantle said Jig Saw was "a light piece" that Dawn Powell had "spattered with snappy lines.
He complimented Ernest Truex, Spring Byington, Cora Witherspoon, and Gertrude Flynn, but thought Charles Richman had "no great enthusiasm for the job".
He also took exception with Elliot Cabot who he said "proceeds with a pardonable uncertainty to play the young man desired of many women without being able to demonstrate any convincing reason as to why he should".
[23] He was joined by Brooks Atkinson, who said "Miss Powell has a flair for breezy patter and topsy-turvey sophistication... She knows when to be daring, when to be perverse, what foibles are the most risible, and how to twist lines into laughs".
[24] Two weeks after the premiere, a review from The Brooklyn Citizen said the Nathan Gifford character must have been "concieved in a fit of despair", and "As a matter of fact, Miss Powell, in her two dramatic efforts to date, hasn't been able to present a single character worth turning around to meet".
[26] According to Sexton and Page, the run might have continued beyond 49 performances but for a financial dispute between the Theatre Guild and the Shuberts.
[6] An Off-Broadway revival of Jig Saw was performed by The Peccadillo Theater Company at the Bank Street Theatre in Greenwich Village during March 2001.
