The Algonquin Hotel‘s infamous Round Tablehas been re-established! So it is only appropriate it include something for the New Yorker. Or in this case for Ask A New Yorker, as Ask A New Yorker Founder Kennedy Moore was invited to join the Round Table on a recent Saturday.
Why was the Round Table reformed? The Algonquin wanted to host once again the intellectual and theatrical mix for which it became famous–at the very same time that it was reintroducing its traditional high tea service.
Who made it happen? New Round Table founders Pat Addiss, Catherine Gropper and Laura Stuart had actually approached the Algonquin as a possible home for their fledging salon that had likewise been founded to meet over high tea.
Bringing a growing circle of their producer and playwright pals to the hotel, they now meet weekly at the original table where Miss Parker and her circle had met daily. This group has been squeezing 10 to the table, as on the day Moore squeezed his lanky frame in with the others, though it is bound to overflow soon.
The discussion covers “everything you wanted to know about the theatre but were afraid to ask.”
“I am just kidding there,” says Gropper, “but we do share wonderful and
amusing stories and personal tales and make new friendships from guests who now joining as ‘regulars’. They all have something to say about their theatrical experience. The humor is great.”
Notes Addiss, “It is exciting as we talk theatre for two hours nonstop, and we have a goal of putting forth original ideas that might be developed at our table.”
Indeed the real value may accrue from the personal and professional bond of producers and playwrights coming together on a regular basis.
“A producer is only as good as his or her show, which ultimately comes down to the writing,” adds Stuart, “and a playwright is nowhere without a production.”
Already there has been synergy between playwright and producer. The new Round Table is planning a monthly series of readings of new works from its writers. And working with the Algonquin, it is producing a series of plays and performances based on the original Round Table characters, including Dorothy Parker, Edna Ferber, and George Kaufman. Addiss, Gropper and Stuart are excited about coproducing readings and presentations with the Algonquin Hotel.
Sharing smoked salmon and caviar sandwiches with Moore were the producer Victoria Lang, writer Frank Evans and director Edward Einhorn, among others. Others who have likewise partaken of the cream tea and petits fours
are the playwright and journalist Jonathan Leaf, theater critic Peter Filichia, producers Eric Krebs and Jane Bergere, and actors Janet Carroll and Tim Jerome.
The Algonquin at 59 West 44th Street is warm and has enjoyed a literary
atmosphere for decades. It is all delicious fun, and as the room fills up
with sparkling conversation, theatre thoughts are shared with good company
over our New Roundtable discussions. And anyone can grab a table for similar
high tea hijinks!
