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The Gate Theater Group
Northern Thailand's First English-language theater company
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The Gin Game
This winner of the 1978 Pulitzer Prize is a two-person tragicomedy in two acts that uses a card game as a metaphor for life. Weller Martin is playing solitaire on the porch of a seedy nursing home. Enter Fonsia Dorsey, a prim, self-righteous lady. They discover they both dislike the home and enjoy gin rummy, so they begin to play and to reveal intimate details of their lives. Fonsia wins every time, and their secrets become weapons used against one another. Weller longs for a victory to counter a lifetime of defeats, but it doesn’t happen. He leaves the stage a broken man, and Fonsia realizes her self-righteous rigidity has led to an embittered, lonely, old age.
D. L. Coburn conceived of the play first as a conflict between a man and a woman and strictly as a tragedy. He felt that the simplicity of two people and a card game could have more impact because of its concentrated format. The setting of the old age home was not conceived until later in the development of the story, and the comedy worked its way in unintentionally through the wit of the characters.
This winner of the 1978 Pulitzer Prize is a two-person tragicomedy in two acts that uses a card game as a metaphor for life. Weller Martin is playing solitaire on the porch of a seedy nursing home. Enter Fonsia Dorsey, a prim, self-righteous lady. They discover they both dislike the home and enjoy gin rummy, so they begin to play and to reveal intimate details of their lives. Fonsia wins every time, and their secrets become weapons used against one another. Weller longs for a victory to counter a lifetime of defeats, but it doesn’t happen. He leaves the stage a broken man, and Fonsia realizes her self-righteous rigidity has led to an embittered, lonely, old age.
D. L. Coburn conceived of the play first as a conflict between a man and a woman and strictly as a tragedy. He felt that the simplicity of two people and a card game could have more impact because of its concentrated format. The setting of the old age home was not conceived until later in the development of the story, and the comedy worked its way in unintentionally through the wit of the characters.
Second Annual Chiang Mai Fringe Festival
January 28-31, 2021
In 2019 The Gate hosted Chiang Mai's first International Fringe Festival of Performing Arts. The program was such a success we are making it an annual event. Look for it to be back in 2021.
The Chiang Mai Fringe Festival is proudly open to a wide range of performers and groups of artists working independently in traditional forms as well as outside traditional forms. All performance styles are encouraged, from the avant-garde to the family friendly. Traditional and street theater, storytelling, dance/movement, experimental music, video/film, performance art, poetry, puppetry, comedy and improv, art installations, circus and cabaret.
Performers or groups will choose their own ticket price of up to 400 baht and receive 100% of that amount paid to them. More information coming soon.
In 2019 The Gate hosted Chiang Mai's first International Fringe Festival of Performing Arts. The program was such a success we are making it an annual event. Look for it to be back in 2021.
The Chiang Mai Fringe Festival is proudly open to a wide range of performers and groups of artists working independently in traditional forms as well as outside traditional forms. All performance styles are encouraged, from the avant-garde to the family friendly. Traditional and street theater, storytelling, dance/movement, experimental music, video/film, performance art, poetry, puppetry, comedy and improv, art installations, circus and cabaret.
Performers or groups will choose their own ticket price of up to 400 baht and receive 100% of that amount paid to them. More information coming soon.
Due to the present situation concerning COVID-19 cases across Thailand, The Gate Theater has decided to postpone the 2021 Fringe Festival which was originally planned for this January. We want to thank all of our supporters and patrons for their support, open discussions and encouragement. As everyone has been reminding us, great things happen when artists and the community comes together and connects at events such as the Chiang Mai Fringe Festival. For this reason, we hope to bring the festival back in the not too distant future.
We hope this postponement will allow time for performers and Chiang Mai residents who are unable to travel at this time to participate in and enjoy the festival when a new dates are announced. For more information about the Chiang Mai Fringe Festival please contact The Gate at gatetheater@gmail.com
HAVE A LOOK AT OUR PAST 15 YEARS, AND JOIN US IN OUR NEXT 15!
