The Country Cousin (play)
| The Country Cousin | |
|---|---|
Alexandra Carlisle 1915 | |
| Written by | Booth Tarkington and Julian Street |
| Based on | The Ohio Lady by Booth Tarkington and Julian Street |
| Directed by | Robert Milton |
| Date premiered | September 3, 1917 |
| Place premiered | Gaiety Theatre |
| Original language | English |
| Subject | Family strife and a coming national crisis |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Setting | A Sitting Room in Centerville, Ohio, and a Seaside Villa on Long Island, New York, 1916 |
The Country Cousin is a 1917 play by Booth Tarkington and Julian Street, a revised version of their failed 1915 play The Ohio Lady. It is a four-act comedy that skirts melodrama, with three settings and thirteen characters. The action of the play takes place on a June 1916 morning, and during 24 hours in August 1916. The story concerns an intelligent young farmer, who saves her little cousin from being cheated while also causing a young man to realize there is a larger world that demands his participation.
The play was first produced by George C. Tyler with the backing of Klaw and Erlanger. It was staged by Robert Milton, and starred Alexandra Carlisle, with Eugene O'Brien and Marion Coakley. It had a tryout in Washington, D.C. during late August 1917, before it premiered on Broadway in September 1917. It ran through December 1917 for 129 performances, before going on tour.
The play was never revived on Broadway, but was adapted for a 1919 silent film.