THE INDEPENDENTS

Show Schedule

Playing through January 5, 2020

Sunday’s at 5:15pm

The Theater Center
1627 Broadway
New York, NY 10019

About

Sparks fly when the young American artist Mary Cassatt meets the great French master Edgar Degas. Few could tolerate the difficult and elitist Degas, but he met his match with the strong willed American. Their stormy relationship produced paintings and sculptures that stunned the art world. Through her work with Degas, Mary Cassatt found success as an artist. Could she also find love?


History of the play:

Playwright, Chis Ward, wrote The Independents after seeing the Degas-Cassatt exhibit at the National Gallery in 2014. He spent a year researching and writing the play. Although a work of fiction, no one knows what went on between them behind closed doors, the play is historically accurate and does contain a certain amount of authentic dialogue. In 2017, The Independents was produced in Stamford, Connecticut, by Curtain Call.


Quick Art history:

Edgar Degas and Mary Cassatt stand today as two giants of the art world. A century after their deaths their work continues to sell. In fact, Degas' ballerina sculpture sold for 46 million dollars at an auction at Sotheby's in 2009. Cassatt's mother and child series are among the most revered paintings ever done by any American artist. Their work can be seen at museums and galleries all over the United States and Europe.