Picnic Tickets

About Picnic Tickets

Picnic, William Inge’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, makes its return to Broadway under the direction of Sam Gold. Cast members include Ellen Burstyn (as Helen Potts), Reed Birney (Howard Bevans), Elizabeth Marvel (Rosemary Sydney), Maggie Grace (Madge Owens), Sebastian Stan (Hal Carter), Mare Winningham (Flo Owens), Madeleine Martin (Millie Owens), and Ben Rappaport (Alan Seymour).

Its 1953 debut ran for 477 performances and featured Paul Newman, who later went on to star in such films as "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", in his first theater role. Whether in the 1950s or today, Picnic is an American classic that toys with the line between restraint and desire.

Picnic Plot Summary

A group of women prepare for the neighborhood’s Labor Day picnic. There’s the beautiful Madge Owens; her sister, shy Millie Owens; her mother, Flo Owens; Rosemary Sydney, a schoolteacher renting a room in Flo’s home; and Helen Potts, neighbor to the Owens family. Helen, ever the matchmaker, invites a handsome young drifter named Hal who happens to be a friend to Madge’s boyfriend, Alan.

Hal’s charm and bad-boy attitude causes a stir among the women as they get ready for the picnic — especially Madge. But he turns out to be more trouble than some think he’s worth, and Hal is forced to leave town. Madge is left to decide whether their brief encounter is worth risking everything. Watch the story unfold with your own Picnic tickets.