Two for the Seesaw

Two for the Seesaw is a three-act, two-person play written William Gibson. The play opened on Broadway on January 16, 1958, at the Booth Theatre in New York and ran for 750 performances, closing on October 31, 1959. With the opening cast of Henry Fonda (Jerry Ryan) and Anne Bancroft (Gittel Mosca), the play was directed by Arthur Penn and produced by Fred Coe. A surprise hit, Two for the Seesaw earned Anne Bancroft, making her Broadway debut, her first Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. The play was adapted into a film of the same name in 1962, directed by Robert Wise and starring Robert Mitchum and Shirley MacLaine, and was later adapted into the musical Seesaw in 1973. The play marked the Broadway debut of writer William Gibson, who would later collaborate with Penn and Coe on the play and film adaptations of The Miracle Worker, which also featured Bancroft in the lead role. Published in 1959, a year after Two for the Seesaw opened on Broadway, The Seesaw Log, Gibson's production notes on the development of Two for the Seesaw from his point of view as its author, provides a detailed history of the play from its formation to its opening night and subsequent reception. Plot summary Act I