Tea for Three reveals intimate portraits of three remarkable, radically different First Ladies: Claudia (“Lady Bird”) Taylor Johnson, Patricia Ryan Nixon and Elizabeth Bloomer Ford. This one-woman show is touching and funny, a thought-provoking exploration of this demanding, unusual job. Starring Emmy Award-winning actress Elaine Bromka.


Show Biographies:

ELAINE BROMKA (The First Ladies, Co-author) has been a professional actress for over thirty years. Film: Cindy, the mom in Uncle Buck; Without a Trace. T.V.: E.R., The Sopranos, Providence, Dharma & Greg, Sisters, L.A. Law, Law and Order, Law and Order: Special Victims’ Unit, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Stella Lombard on Days of Our Lives, the Emmy Award–winning Playing for Time with Vanessa Redgrave and Catch a Rainbow, for which Ms. Bromka herself won an Emmy. She has appeared on Broadway (The Rose Tattoo, I’m Not Rappaport, Macbeth) and off-Broadway (Cloud 9 at the Lucille Lortel, Roundabout’s Inadmissible Evidence with Nicol Williamson, the world premiere of Michael Weller’s Split at E.S.T. and Candide with the National Theatre of the Deaf.) She has played leads at regional theaters across the country, including Long Wharf, Hartford Stage, Center Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, ACT/Seattle, O’Neill Playwrights Conference, Shakespeare and Company, McCarter Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theater, George Street Playhouse, and the Folger Theatre Group, in roles ranging from Much Ado About Nothing's Beatrice to Shirley Valentine, cited as the outstanding solo performance in New Jersey in 1997 by the Star Ledger. Starring opposite Rich Little in The Presidents for P.B.S., she impersonated the last eight First Ladies. A member of the Actors Studio and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Smith College, she returned to Smith in 2003 as a faculty member to teach “Acting for the Media”. As a guest artist, Ms. Bromka has taught her one-day workshop, “Acting for the Camera”, at more than thirty colleges and prep schools across the country. She loved collaborating with Eric. Click here for full resume and here for theatrical demo reel.

ERIC H. WEINBERGER (Playwright) Eric’s one-woman play Class Mothers ‘68, produced Off Broadway, garnered a 2003 Drama Desk nomination for its star, Priscilla Lopez. In 1999, the play was named best new comedy in New Jersey by the Star Ledger. He is currently writing the screenplay with Ms. Lopez. His one-act The Nightwatchman was produced at Yale and at the Luna Stage Company along with his Six Hands. A staged reading of his play Strangers in the Night starring Ed Asner and Kelly Bishop was done in Los Angeles. He has had three children’s plays produced at Andy’s Summer Playhouse in New Hampshire. He collaborated with composer/lyricist Beth Falcone on the ‘tweens musical Wanda’s World, which premiered in Toronto under the direction of Queer as Folk star, Dean Armstrong. It went on to be part of the “Emerging Musicals Series” at the 45th Street Theatre in NYC. Eric is most grateful to Lenny Bart and Byam Stevens for their support and input on this project. He thanks Elaine for this deeply rewarding collaboration. Thanks and love to Steve always. Eric dedicates his work in this play to Audrey and Dave Sagman with much affection.

BYAM STEVENS (Director) is the Artistic Director of both the Chester Theatre Company, a summer theatre in the Berkshires , and Synapsis Co., a New York based company that promotes the development of new scripts. His directing credits include: the World Premieres of Carbondale Dreams, The Plains Of Ilion, The Darlings, Ohn and Teddy, Home Fires Burning, Rosaline, The Pearl Of The Orient, and Holdouts (co-authored with Gregory Mortensen). American Premieres: Sixteen Words For Water, Beef. Other credits include: An Almost Holy Picture, Valley Song, The Interrogation Of Nathan Hale, Eleemosynary, The Underlings, Shirley Valentine and numerous collaborations with the kids of The 52nd Street Project and The Greylock Project at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. He has taught at HB Studio, American Ballet Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Adelphi University and Bucknell University, and is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. With Susan Jaffe, he is co-founder of DanceText, an acting curriculum created specifically for dancers.


Review:

“Three First Ladies at BIG ARTS”
      The Islander, Sanibel, Florida, March 18, 2005

      Now there was an evening of theatre that will be long remembered. Elaine Bromka in Tea for Three earned one of the most resounding standing ovations I have ever seen. And she did, indeed, earn it. Bromka brought to life Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon
and a giddy, lively Betty Ford. The whole evening should be a model for young actresses. With subtle changes of speech and dialect, clever turns of her body, and, of course, a pocket full of wigs to pull it off, we all re-lived pages of powerful, American history.
     
 If you were there, you surely must have sat as entranced and enthralled as I was. And if you weren’t present during that one-
night stand, you have my deepest sympathy. You missed a lot. Bromka brought 30 years of experience in Broadway, Off-Broadway, television and film to the BIG ARTS stage. She gave a seamless invitation to get inside each of the three ladies.
     
 The play was written by Eric H. Weinberger. He clearly deserves some of the accolades, because the lines were superb. One example from Lady Bird: “Ms. Kennedy said I would crawl up Pennsylvania Avenue on my knees across shards of glass for Lyndon. Well, I would say to her, ‘depends on how big those shards were.’”  Let’s invite Elaine Bromka back again. She played opposite Rich Little in The Presidents for PBS. So, she has a few other ladies up her sleeve. I could sit many nights watching her work to unravel the personalities. I can still hear her saying, with the fiercest fire, Pat Nixon’s words about what the first lady job meant: “I loathed it, I loathed it, I loathed it.” I truly am sorry if you missed Tea for Three on March 10th. These one-night stands are rare and I know there are other adventures abounding on this island. But, if Elaine comes back, you will want to be there.


For more information about Tea for Three, visit the website at: http://www.teaforthreetheplay.com/