Fifth Column extends by two weeks.

The Mint Theater Company has announced that The Fifth Column will extend its run by two weeks, and will now play through to 18 May 2008.

The world premiere production of The Fifth Column by Ernest Hemingway 'not the dramatization of a novel or story,' but a drama written for the stage by one of America�s most celebrated authors, opened at the Mint Theatre on 11 Mar 2008, following previews from 26 Feb and was originally scheduled to close on 4 May 2008.

Hemingway wrote The Fifth Column in 1937 when he was in Madrid working as a correspondent during the Spanish Civil War. �While I was writing the play the Hotel Florida, where we lived and worked, was struck by more than thirty high explosive shells,� Hemingway recounted in his introduction to the play when it was published the following year. �If it is a good play, perhaps those thirty shells helped write it.�

The play revolves around the personal and political passions of Philip Rawlings, a counter-espionage agent living in the Hotel Florida and working for the Loyalist cause. �It has the defects of having been written in war time,� Hemingway conceded, �But if being written under fire makes for defects, it may also give a certain vitality.�

Directed by Jonathan Bank, The Fifth Column will feature James Andreassi, Heidi Armbruster, Kelly AuCoin, Ryan Duncan, Ronald Guttman, John Hayden, Joe Hickey, Carlos Lopez, Ned Noyes, Maria Parra, Joe Rayome, Nicole Shalhoub and Teresa Yenque.

The creative team comprises Vicki R. Davis (sets), Clint Ramos (costumes), Jeff Nellis (lighting) and Jane Shaw (sound).