On June 25, The Resident Acting Company (www.racnyc.org), a new troupe drawn from the performing ensemble of The Pearl Theatre Company, will present a staged reading of “The Big Night” (1928) by humorist Dawn Powell, a harsh, biting comedy about a woman whose husband has been fired from an advertising agency. The play was the author’s masterpiece but failed on Broadway in a production of The Group Theatre. The version to be offered is a restoration by Michael Sexton from the author’s original notes and drafts. It retains some of the Group Theatre’s “improvements” but includes the author’s original ending. The reading will be at 7:00 PM at The Players Club, 16 Gramercy Park South, directed by Bradford Cover, Artistic Director of the troupe.

Originally titled “The Party,” this play was written in 1928 in response to Ms. Powell’s husband being fired from his job as an advertising executive. It was eventually picked up by The Group Theatre and went through a great deal of rehearsal and revision. Powell was never happy with the version they ended up with. The production ran for nine performances and was badly received. The restored version, edited by Michael Sexton, assembles the comedy into something that is closer to what Powell originally intended. It is set in 1932 in Myra and Ed Bonney’s apartment in recently built Tudor City. Prohibition is in effect and they are throwing a party for a potential client who also happens to be an old “acquaintance” of Myra’s. The ensuing shenanigans are bitingly funny and dark.