John Shea (11/79, 12/10 Sorrows of Stephen)
Sorrows of Stephen 11/20/79: John Shea | Pictures on NYPL
Sorrows of Stephen: A Comedy by Peter Parnell
Sorrows of Stephen opened on November 20, 1979, at the Theatre Cabaret/The Public Theatre. It was presented by Joseph Papp and the New York Shakespeare Festival. Direction was by Sheldon Larry, setting by Stuart Wurtzel, costumes by John Helgerson, and lighting by Dennis Parichy, with the following cast: STEPHEN HURT...................JOHN SHEA
BUM.......................JOHN DEL REGNO
LIZ.......................SHERRY STEINER
TAZI DRIVER................KATHY MCKENNA
MAN AT THE OPERA....WILLIAM DUFF-GRIFFIN
WOMAN AT THE OPERA......BARBARA WILLIAMS
WILLIAM...................RICHARD BACKUS
WAITRESS....................ANNE DESALVO
CHRISTINE....................PAMELA REED
It was previously presented in a workshop production, which opened on October 23, 1979, at the Other Stage/The Public Theatre, with the same cast, excepting: WAITRESS....................ELLEN GREENE
© Peter Parnell
Excerpt from Galveston Daily News 1/6/80: John Shea
"Sorrows of Stephen," which opened Dec. 12 at the New York Shakespeare Festival's Off Broadway Public Theater, concerns a young man who is continually falling in love and then smothering his women with the more florid passages from Goethe, Tolstoy, Flaubert and Balzac.
....
The rest of the acting, headed by Peter O'Toole look-alike John Shea as Stephen, is properly light- as-fluff.
© Galveston Daily News
Excerpt from Boca Raton News 3/18/84: John Shea
Pops swing into spring at Boca's Great Hall stage
Skip Sheffield
"Sorrows of Stephen" marked playwright Peter Parnell's New York debut. The play was first produced by Joseph Papp's Public Theatre Nov. 20, 1979, with John Shea and Pamela Reed in the lead roles.
© Boca Raton News
Excerpt from Theatre Workshop of Nantucket 12/10: John Shea
2010 Season
Sorrows of Stephen by Peter Parnell Directed by John Shea Dec. 17th Comedy
Stephen is a headstrong, impetuous, irrepressible romantic unable not to be in love. One of his models is Goethe's tragic hero Werther, but as a young, contemporary New Yorker he's adaptable. He believes there is a literary precedent for all romantic possibilities that justifies his choices. With enthusiasm bordering on fickleness, he turns from Tolstoy, to Stendhal or Balzac. And Stephen's never discouraged he can withstand rivers of rejection. His affairs, real and tentative, begin when his girl friend leaves him. He makes a romantic stab at a female cab driver, passes an assignation note to an unknown lady at the opera, flirts with an accessible waitress, and then has a tragic with comic overtones affair with his best friend's fiancée.
© Theatre Workshop of Nantucket
Excerpt from Mahon About Town 12/14/10: John Shea
PERFORMING ARTS
TWN Staged Reading: Sorrows of Stephen
Fri, Dec 17, 2010 from 7:00pm - 9:00pm @ Nantucket Atheneum
By Peter Parnell, here directed by John Shea
starring John Shea, Gabrielle Gould, David McCandless, Susan McGinnis, Cynthia Csabay, Frank Morral and Kate Splaine.
© Mahon About Town
Excerpt from A Bum's Life 10/22/11: John Shea
Trying out for the Big Leagues 24
Saturday, October 22, 2011
John Shea, the original Stephen in the show , was replaced by Don Scardino a nice enough actor but without the easy charm of John Shea.
© A Bum's Life