The Loman Family Picnic was first performed by the Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) at the City Center Stage II in the summer of 1989, starring Marcia Jean Kurtz and Larry Block and directed by Barnet Kellman. Its revival, October 1993-January 1994, is pictured within these pages. The revival took place at the New York Center Stage I. It starred Christine Baranski and Peter Friedman and garnered a nomination for the Best Revival of a Play award from 1994-95 Drama Desk Awards.
The story focuses on Doris, a Jewish housewife in Long Island. When we first meet Doris, she is shredding her wedding dress to make a Bride of Frankenstein costume. She’s not depressed over the state of her 18-year marriage to Herbie, a lighting fixture salesman. She’s too busy wrangling her sons, Stewie and Mitchell, worn to a frazzle planning Stewie’s bar mitzvah. Herbie slips practically unnoticed in and out of their Coney Island high-rise apartment. Doris speaks more with the specter of her Aunt Marsha than Herbie, conjuring up the spirit of a woman who was hardly more than a girl when she died on the wrong side of the tracks 20 years ago for late-night chats. Younger brother Mitchell is also more comfortable immersing himself in fantasy. He’s writing a musical of Death of a Salesman called Willy!. When Herbie’s volcanic frustration inevitably erupts, Willy! Is the safety valve that contains the disaster.
- Title: The Loman Family Picnic
- Playwright: Donald Margulies
- Publisher: The Fireside Theatre
- Place: Garden City, New York
- Year: 1994
- Photos by Martha Swope; Design by Maria Chiarino; Illustration by Cathy Christy O’Connor; Jacket design by Dena Mortell
- Length: 103pp
- Dimensions: 5.75” x 8.5”
- Condition: Hardcover. The dustjacket has very little wear. The boards are in perfect condition. Gilt particulars on the spine. The pages are clean—no folds, tears, or extraneous marks.