The Fickle Mistress

Theatre Askew continues its ongoing exploration of the history of the presence of queer people in New York City with The Fickle Mistress, a biographical portrait of Victorian actress and equestrienne Adah Isaacs Menken, told in the style of Theater of the Ridiculous.

Dubbed “The Great Bare” by Mark Twain, Menken rode to fame tied to the back of a horse wearing only a tunic and tights in the melodrama Mazeppa. Equal parts Madonna, Liz Taylor, and Susan Sontag, for a brief time in the 1860s she was the richest and most famous woman in America; the toast of the New York, London, and Paris stages; and a respected colleague to the leading literary lights of her day.

And then she was forgotten.

An A-list Downtown artistic team headed by Trav S.D. (author of No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book that Made Vaudeville Famous) and Elyse Singer (artistic director of Hourglass Group), brings her fascinating story to life.

The Fickle Mistress features: OBIE winners Everett Quinton & Jan Leslie Harding, Theatre Askew’s Artistic Director Tim Cusack, Chuck Montgomery,Natalie Paul, Karl O’Brian Williams,
and Molly Pope as Adah Isaacs Menken