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Creator
Saunders, Nicholas
Call number
*T-Mss 1992-035
Physical description
.4 linear feet (1 box)
Preferred Citation

Nicholas Saunders and Gedda Petry papers, *T-Mss 1992-035. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library.

Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Access to materials
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The Nicholas Saunders and Gedda Petry papers contain contracts, programs, correspondence, scripts, and one photograph documenting the careers of performers Nicholas Saunders and his wife, Gedda Petry.

Biographical/historical information

Actor, stage manager, director, and translator, Nicholas Saunders, was born Nikita Soussanin on June 2, 1913 (some sources give birth year as 1914) in Kiev, Ukraine. He escaped from the Soviet Union with his father and grew up in Hollywood. Saunders appeared in Broadway productions and television programs. He stage managed The Fifth Season on Broadway (1953) and the original Broadway production of Look Back in Anger (1957). Saunders translated Zoya's Apartment (1990) from Russian with Frank Dwyer. He was married to actress Gedda Petry for sixty-seven years and they had two children. Saunders died of lung cancer at age 92 at his home in Los Angeles on Aug. 16, 2006.

Gedda Petry was a performer who appeared or understudied on Broadway in productions including Lady in the Dark (1943) and The Fifth Season (1953). Petry was born Oct. 23, 1917 and was married to Nicholas Saunders. She died Oct. 12, 2007 in Los Angeles.

Scope and arrangement

The Nicholas Saunders and Gedda Petry papers contain contracts, programs, correspondence, scripts, and one photograph documenting the careers of performers Nicholas Saunders and his wife, Gedda Petry, from 1934 to 1987.

Much of the correspondence consists of letters between Nicholas Saunders (stage manager) and George Kondolf (producer) reporting on The Fifth Season (1953) and is often humorous. There are also scripts for Black-Eyed Susan (1954), and Zoya's Apartment (1990), which Saunders translated from Russian with Frank Dwyer. Of note is the stage manager's (Saunders's) production script for the original New York production of Look Back in Anger and an opening night program (1957). Also included is a program for The "Lady in the Dark" Canteen Show and Stage Door Canteen, San Francisco (June 13, 1943) in which Petry performed.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift of Nicholas Saunders, 1992

Processing information

Compiled by cdee, 2015

Using the collection

Location

Billy Rose Theatre Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

The author/creator retains copyright of materials. For information on obtaining permission to publish, contact the Theatre Division at theatre@nypl.org.