Alumni Callboard

Alumni Update

August 15, 2006

Your humble correspondent is pleased to announce that his short story "She Wears Red Feathers..." has won first prize in the Spring 2006 Coffee House Fiction Contest.

A picture, a bio and the story itself may be found at: coffeehousefiction.com/

And now, amazingly enough, news of shows that are still running! Here's a homegrown show with a lot of familiar names right in the midst of the NYC Fringe Festival:

The Loaves and Fish Repertory Theater Company in association with the New York International Fringe Festival presents REVENGE OF A KING

Performances from August 12-26, 2006.
DR2 Theater- 103 East 15th Street New York, NY

Opening Performance Saturday, August 12 @ 4 pm

The Loaves and Fish Repertory Theater Company is proud to present REVENGE OF
A KING as part of the tenth annual New York International Fringe Festival -
FringeNYC. REVENGE OF A KING is a multicultural hip-hop musical featuring
original music, freestyle rhymes, an MC battle, graffiti, dance and a live DJ. HAMLET, one of the most recognizable tragedies in Shakespeare's theatrical canon has been transplanted from Denmark to the gritty streets of New York. REVENGE OF A KING combines the elements of hip-hop and themes from Shakespeare to give you a brand new piece of theater.

The play, written by Herb Newsome and directed by Janus Surratt, follows the story of Hamilton L. King, an aspiring hip-hop artist, as he deals with overcoming his fathe's mysterious death while simultaneously learning to accept his mother' s untimely marriage. Confusion, doubt, and thoughts of retribution take over as new elements unfold leading him down a path of self-destruction.

Performance Dates: REVENGE OF A KING will be performed:

SAT 8/12 @ 4 PM
SUN 8/13 @ 8:45 PM
SAT 8/19 @ 3:45PM
SUN 8/20 @ 5PM
THURS 8/24 @ 3PM
SAT 8/26 @ 8PM

The Loaves and Fish Repertory Theater Company, based in State College, PA, this year celebrates its 20th year of existence by returning to its roots on the New York stage. The Company, founded by Doug Farren and Charles Dumas in 1986, has presented shows in New York, Philadelphia, State College, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, the Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland, the Grahamstown Festival in South Africa, and the Stage Door Festival in Holland.

Cast:
Bodus, Jennice Carter, Rory Clarke, Charles Dumas, Nedra Gallegos, Glenn Gordon, Osas Ighodarho, James Edward Lee, Herb Newsome, Channie Waites, Miebaka Yohannes

Creative Staff:
Herb Newsome, Playwright
Janus Surratt, Director
Charles and Josephine Dumas, Producers
Amy Scura, Production Stage Manager
Jean Marie Donnelly, Production Associate

Press reservations or interview inquiries with Herb Newsome or any cast members please call Jean Marie Donnelly at 914-522-4276.

Details:
Location: DR2 Theater, 103 East 15th street

SUBWAY:
Take the 4, 5, 6, L, N, Q, R, or W to 14th Street-Union Square

COMPANY WEBSITE: Loavesandfishrep.org

VENUE WEBSITE: DR2Theatre.com

Admission: $15 for tickets. For tickets and information, please visit the
FringeNYC website at www.fringenyc.org or call 212-279-4488.

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Opening night was also Herb's birthday, and I'm sure the show was a fine present. He adds, "If anyone has any questions be sure to give a brotha a call at 917-975-0150."

EVENSONG, directed by Lewis Magruder, continues at the TBG Arts Center through 27 August. Check out the photospread here: http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=11276

The 30th Anniversary Reunion of the Bicentennial Wagon Train Show took place in and around State College during the 4th of July weekend.

For those 30 years, few of us who had been involved thought of wagon trains. Kathleen and I moved to New York the day after the last show at Valley Forge, and have lived here ever since, rarely thinking about what we did in those 14 months leading up to the end of September 1976.

And then Bobbi Burger, who'd been on the California Train and worked publicity at Valley Forge, went to a Penn State Theatre Alumni Reunion in Los Angeles, buttonholed Dean Dick Durst and asked him why didn't we have a 30th reunion of the Wagon Train Show.

The Dean thought this was a good question and a better idea, and set the institutional wheels in motion. Because Bruce Trinkley was the last of the writers still alive, and because I had a long list of Penn State alumni, it fell to the two of us to put the thing together.

We began with addresses from the five companies that played Valley Forge in 4 July 1976. This didn't include anyone who'd only done the 1975 part of the wagon train or those who'd left the show troupes before they got to Valley Forge. The list even misspelled some people's names.

Over two years (with a lot of help) Bruce and I contacted about 50 people whom we could identify as being at one time among the casts and stage managers of the eight companies of the Wagon Train Show that performed 7 May 1975 - 31 October 1976. (Of these 50, 25 had some attachment to PSU.) We tracked down all but eight of those 50 people; only two had passed away, Mel Black and Don Shell.

(And at the Reunion we discovered one woman about whom everyone had forgotten everything except for her first name, Melissa. Track her down? I'm good, but I'm not THAT good.)

Nineteen people, 16 performers and three stage managers, showed up to rehearse on the afternoon of Saturday 1 July, and the songs of the Wagon Train Show were sung for the first time in 30 years.

All manner of people who'd been involved with the show came back, including Doug and Joan Cook (from Phoenix), Manuel and Gail Duque, Montez and Hagen King, Del and Vonny Boarts. Also Lynn Miller, the assistant dean for research back then who'd handled all the money.

And after we found Roger Cornish's widow, Violet Ketels-Cornish, in Philadelphia, she came, too.

Dick Durst wasn't there, because he'd just become the president of Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio. The interim dean of the College of Arts & Architecture is Yvonne M. Gaudelius, associate dean for undergraduate studies and outreach.

We were amazed that all manner of people who HADN'T been connected came back, including Helen Manfull and Richard Edelman and Marilyn McIntyre and Midge Maroni and Ruth Campbell.

(Sidebar on Marilyn: Marilyn McIntyre has just signed as a series regular to star in a new show on the Fox cable network called "Watch Over Me," which will premiere in the fall. McIntyre plays Ellen Monroe, a mother to the lead actor. The series is a Stu Segall production and will film at his studios in San Diego, CA.

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"A" mother? How many has the guy got?)

Doug produced the show, and Manuel directed it. Chuck Firmin was there because he's on the board of Ft. Roberdeau, where we were playing on the 4th. Helen still lives in State College. Montez did the Wagon Train Show costumes. Del and Vonny Boarts were there because they did the original.

Richard was there because he was directing Bruce's CONFESS/CONFUSE: FOUR MICRO-MUSIC-THEATRE WORKS at the Cornelia Street Cafe, of which more anon.

Here's some press from the Daily Collegian:
www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2006/07/07-03-06tdc/07-03-06darts-01.asp

And from the Centre Daily Times:
www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/entertainment/weekend/
14934920.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

The performance in the Esber Recital Hall of the Music Building on the night of 3 July drew perhaps 350. Can you believe that two of the women could still fit into their costumes from 1976? (Sherry Smith McCamley and Velma Anstadt.)

An outdoor reception followed, organized by the invaluable Joyce Hoffman.

The Glorious Fourth was a perfect Wagon Train Show Day. We traveled to a place we'd never been before -- a place no one would ever go by accident -- following sketchy directions under iffy weather conditions.

And of course as soon as we moved everything into the barn at Ft. Roberdeau, the light drizzle stopped, and it didn't rain a drop for the rest of the day...

Three shows were done at Ft. Roberdeau on the 4th, the second featuring the California company (Co. #1) and its replacements, with ringers Bruce Trinkley on piano and Pete Hennings on bass. An overflow crowd watched the first show, and there were still plenty of people there for the second and third.

The time before, between and after these shows were filled with eating and drinking, mainly in Bruce's back yard and the Nittany Lion Inn, interrupted by coffee and free wi-fi at Irving's on College Avenue (former site of the Ladybug?).

And all weekend, people came up and said things like, "I was 12, and I remember seeing the wagons," and, "I got up and took the kids down to 220, so they could see the wagon train."

Fact: the youngest person on stage at Ft. Roberdeau was 49. Therefore, it has been generally agreed that the next Reunion should be held in five years, not ten. And in 2011, the Glorious Fourth will happily fall on a Monday, creating a three-day weekend, which should be long enough -- after all, we won't need as much rehearsal next time, will we?

For more info see the official website:
www.music.psu.edu/WagonTrainShow/Home.html

Ron Byron's wife (whom he met on the Wagon Train) videotaped one of the shows, and it may be found here: www.personal.psu.edu/rrb1/familymedia/index.html

CONFESS/CONFUSE: FOUR MICRO-MUSIC-THEATRE WORKS, with music by Bruce Trinkley and libretti by Jason Charnesky (Bruce's partner of 23 years) directed by Richard Edelman, stage managed by Moi, and featuring Margie Benczak went off with hardly a hitch at the Cornelia Street Cafe on Thursday 27 July.

As Richard, Robin Hirsch (owner of the joint) and I were musing about taking THE MISER to Washington in the spring of 1969 for the first American College Theatre Festival, who should amble down the stairs but another veteran of that campaign, Chris Murney, who hung around and took tickets.

Velma Anstadt Lubliner came from Stroudsberg, PA, and Sherry Smith McCamley drove all the way from Cincinnati!

All right, now let's move on to some things about other people, shall we?

Ursula Abbott writes:
It's been a pretty amazing year for me, so I wanted to share: I recently finished filming the movie "Chapter 27" starring Lindsay Lohan and Jared Leto. The movie is based on the assassination of John Lennon. My character was "Jeri" (the best friend of Lindsay's character Jude). The film is due out next year. This September, Lion's Gate will be releasing "Brooklyn Rules" in which I play "Angela" (the girlfriend of Scott Caan's character). To top it all off... with my PSU bridesmaids by my side, I was just married to an amazing restaurant owner named Sean Connolly on May 13th. It just doesn't get any better!

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Terry Kester has good news, too:
Terry D. Kester is the Script Writer for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's landmark The Revolutionary City program set to premier on the streets of Colonial Williamsburg in late March 2006. ( Now up and running daily.)

Kester's script for The Revolutionary City leads the entire live event --a wholly new approach premiering in America's largest and most famous 'living history' site, Colonial Williamsburg! The event, a thorough examination of revolutionary era history in Williamsburg and Virginia, will reveal not only the familiar highpoints, 'but more the experiences of the 'middlin sort', the 'lesser sort', the slaves and the 'loyalists.'

Kester's script will feature as many as 43 characters portraying events in 22 different scenes, performed live on two days, for two hours each day. 'I am essentially writing two full length plays, but here each individual scene must stand on its own as a complete dramatic experience, as well as connecting to all of the other scenes of both days. In addition, it must be historically accurate, educational and entertaining! It is as daunting as it is fascinating!'

The project brings together a lifetime of experience for Terry - beginning with his professional theater experience. He was the first William & Mary student to graduate with a B.A. in Drama. He was also the first paid staff Intern at the Virginia Museum Theatre in Richmond. From those beginnings his professional career has centered on professionally directing, managing and producing literally hundreds of theatrical and entertainment events. Including Special Events in Washington DC with each of the previous Presidents to regional theater around the country, to on and Off- Broadway.

His most recent directorial assignments have been in Washington, DC., with: Saroyan's Time of Your Life; Verdi's King for a Day; Cry Aloud - The Clarence Darrow Story, for which he was Director, Co-Author and Designer; Cabaret; Pirates of Penzance; and Mamet's A Life In The Theater. His production venues have included Arena Stage, Theater Virginia, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center and Wolf Trap. His work has also been featured in theaters across the country and he has staged industrial extravagances in every major center in the major cities of America.

As a writer Terry has created plays, scores of scripts for video, multi-media, and performance events, as well as speeches for notables such as Kathleen Turner, Joe Gibbs, and Martin Luther King III. His first play, I Said So! had its genesis at William & Mary before it was performed in NYC and then toured college campuses (With Ed Dennehy). He has also had featured political essays published in the New York Daily News and he is currently a Talk Show Host and Political Commentator on WPFW 89.3 FM - Pacifica Radio's daily news and his shows What's At Stake, The Great Divide and The Terry D. Kester Peace Show.

In the academic world Terry has taught Playwriting, Directing, Dramatic and Film Analysis at North Carolina School of the Arts and American University and other schools. At NCSA he created one of, if not the first Production Management curriculums in the country.

Over the last decade Kester has concentrated his energies in political and historical analysis in essays, commentary and scripts - including scripts for George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate, where he also trains their Historical Interpreters and 1st Person Characters. He himself performs as Tobias Lear, Washington's Secretary and confidant for the last 16 years of Washington's life.

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Ed. Lange writes:
I'm in the midst of directing a new musical for kids that I'm hoping their parents and teacher may enjoy even more than the kids do. It's ingenuous and clever and funny and silly and witty all at once. I'm doing it in a combination style: film noir, graphic novel, comic book, and cartoon amalgam. And it actually seems to be working!!

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Steve Wolf writes from Florida:
I've made contact with Paul Farin. We'll be meeting up eventually, but it's going to take some time. He lives near Miami (as you already informed me) and that's where my daughter is currently at Grad school. I go down to Miami on a weekend once in a while, but being a missionary priest, he flies from Dania Beach, FL to different parishes in Latin America Fri-Sun. So we haven't been able to get together yet. Soon.

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Unfortunately, I missed John Pielmeier in his new play:
CAP21 will present a fully staged developmental production of The Classics Professor, a new comedy by Agnes of God writer John Pielmeier, who will also play the title role, June 1-17 in Manhattan.

The Classics Professor has been in development at CAP21 for the past year and will be presented in a fully-staged workshop production at CAP21's developmental space, The Shop, 18 West 18th Street.

Clayton Phillips will direct the play, which is billed this way: "Into Profess or Alexander's class 'Comedy in Greek Tragedy' steps Daemon, a beautiful young man who turns the good professor's life upside-down. Alexander, who is translating and directing a college production of 'The Bacchae,' suddenly finds that his own life mirrors Euripides' play about losing one's sanity in the throws of passion. This is a comedy about love, lust, madness, death, incest, infidelity and bubblegum."

John Pielmeier has written for theatre, film, and television. He won the Humanitas Award, the Christopher Award, the Edgar Award, and several nominations for Best Screenplay and Teleplay from the Writers Guild of America.

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Enid Reid Whyte writes from Ireland:
You might be personally pleased to know that I am now a trustee of Ireland's
nascent organisation of techies, stage managers and production managers, The Association of Irish Stage Technicians.

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I'd been urging Bob Wolff to send me data for ages, and he finally did. Hey,
I asked for it!:

*Robert William Wolff* (MA 1963), Assistant to the Director of the School of the Arts, 1961-63; Assistant Professor, first coordinator for Theatre Arts, PSU commonwealth Campuses, lighting and theatre management, 1967-68; Alumni Fellow; Alumni Achievement Award. Wolff designed productions for eight Vermont theatre companies since Spring 2005. These shows included: Champlain College (sets): /*No Exit, Lady Windermere's Fan, Cripple of Inishmaan, Not for the Faint of Heart*/; Catalyst Theatre Company (set): */The Guys/*; Lost Nation Theater (set): /*STONE*/ */2005/* and */STONE 2006/*; Vermont Stage Company (lighting): /*Vanya/Vermont, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris*/; Theatre on a Shoestring: */Five Women in the Same Dress/*; Flynn Center (set & drums): /*Bigger Than Us All*/; Sarah Cover's Dance Company (lights): */Blessed; /*.Maura Campbell Company (sets & lights): /*Wild Geese*/.

In addition to his theatre production work, he is at work on several theatre development projects, including a new home for The Caldwell Theatre Company in Boca Raton, Florida, The Waterfront Theatre in Burlington, Vermont, and a new theatre facility for the community of Sandstone, Minnesota.

Determined to do less and less collaborative work each year in the future, Bob is learning to be a potter at River Street Potters. He has been hand building since 2002, and in the past year has added throwning to his repertoire.

Lastly Wolff is making significant progress on his book for artistic directors, theatre consultants and boards of directors of arts entities to guide their efforts in facility development. Wolff says that theatre technology and acoustics have been positively transformed in the past 50 years. Now the biggest hindrances to achieving excellent facilities for the performing as visual arts are the owner's failure to understand the needs of a given project or the owner leadership technique necessary to develop what are complicated projects from almost every point-of-view. Theatre, dance and music facilities are among a community's biggest challenges. The notion that guidance throughout that process is unnecessary is a little like expecting a child to navigate her first 2 decades without parents or guardians. Bob is hoping to introduce his book to a UK theatre facilities conference in 2008.

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Jeff LaMarre couldn't make the Wagon Train Show Reunion because he had to< work:
Santa Cruz is sunny today and our show, FLW Tour, on the Fox Sports Network seems to be doing well (we were nominated for a sports Emmy). Sorry I'll miss the Wagon train show, though not the gingham or the red and white checked shirts. (I'm plagued by this nightmarish thought that I might have actually been wearing baby poop brown colored jeans during that time, though it was fun.) I'll be back in NYC for two months in September. Ironically, Ellen Stewart of LaMama has asked for an October reprise of Shepard's "The Tooth of Crime", of which I played in the kickass band (if I do say so myself) some 23 years ago. It starred Ray Wise, Steve Mellor, Jodi Long, Peter Fernandez, Raul Aranas, and a few others whose names escape me. Anyway, Ray, Peter and some of the cast will be back in their original roles, most of the band will be back and it should be a hoot. Anyway, it will be a fun way to pass my two months in the Big Apple before heading out here for the month of November. If all goes according to plan, I'll repeat the cycle once more in 2007: Jan-beginning of Sept. + November. Then ??? back to NYC I presume...

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Jack Hunter writes:
OK, I guess I can let the cat out of the bag. I've been cast in the feature length thriller Seance. Well, that's not quite true...I was cast a month ago. I'm not usually a superstitious person but I was taking no chances. I have 5 shooting days out of 14. That means it'll be tough to leave me on the cutting room floor. And I've already finished 3 or the 5 days. So I guess it's safe to tell friends that I've been cast. Heading off the questions. I do not know when the film will be released. I don't know if this will be a theatrical release. The movie does star Adrian Paul (of The Highlander) so there must be some big plans. In Seance I play Syd, the fat, stupid, lazy, perverted security guard. And every morning I fall to my knees and thank God for typecasting.

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Charles Dumas directed August Wilson's SEVEN GUITARS at Kuntu in Pittsburgh and appeared in Center Stage's WHO'S LIFE IS IT ANY WAY along with half the senior faculty and seven grad students. He was also seen as a judge on ALL MY CHILDREN for three days in June.

He writes further:
I will be on leave to Temple University where I will be head of the Acting in Media Program and.. Color Him Father: Stories of Love and Rediscovery of Black Men

As you may know, several months ago I was asked to contribute a story to a book about Black fathers. The book is titled Color Him Father: Stories of Love and Rediscovery of Black Men, and contains 35 stories, including my own, which celebrate Black men by offering positive, balanced images that reflect the countless Black men who are productive role models.

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The book may be ordered from www.amazon.com or from the publisher at www.kinshippress.com.

I had coffee with Sue Berlin, the Washington stringer for talkinbroadway.com, back in July. Sue was the ASM for THE LAST SWEET DAYS OF ISAAC in February 1975. She writes: I saw Rick Lyon backstage after a performance of Avenue Q fairly early in the run. I'm delighted to see his success.

I remember Susan Durfee from her summer at the Barn. She played Mame, didn't she?

Tracy (Sherritt) Gray was in high school and college with me. I saw her last summer at a State College Area High School all-years choir reunion. I never really knew her husband Rick.

By the way, did you know Catherine Dupuis? She was a State College native,
parents on the education faculty, who I think got her MFA at Penn State.
She's a New York cabaret singer now.

Tom Spivey taught my "acting for non-actors" class at PSU. I last saw him in the early 1980s, when he was appearing at Festival Theatre in the summer and I was a small-town reviewer.

I'd wondered what happened to David Garfield. His brother Bob Garfield (also a Penn Stater, a journalist rather than a theater person) is one of the hosts of NPR's "On the Media."

I think Renee Levine was the pianist for Isaac. I saw her last year. She's now Renee Cohn Jubelirer, judge of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, mother of three grown sons from her first marriage, now married to longtime Pennsylvania State Senate poohbah Bob Jubelirer, who is about 20 years older than she is and just lost his seat in the primary election. I knew Renee from when we were both 13, and she always was an overachiever.

Joe Reilly continues to direct (and design the sets) for the summer season at his alma mater, St. Vincent's College in Latrobe. But he doesn't do it alone.

Of his production of RELATIVELY SPEAKING, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said, "Director Joe Reilly gets quality performances out of four of his talented pool of professional actors, despite a slow pace... Offstage, mother and daughter duo Patricia and Annie Reilly instill their characters with plenty of the sly duplicity of females in this genre."

The rest of the season was RUMORS and MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS.

Arian Blanco directed a Play in Progress for the Workshop Theatre Company and June and July. NIYA TEY SOUNG by David M. Mead, was "...set in the world of the New York Theater, a brutal revenge killing is investigated by two of New York's finest. A trip that takes one officer back to the jungles of Vietnam and the other forward into the dementia of a Veteran's mind. Was he right to seek revenge, when Justice could be found no other way? Join us for a compelling look into the soul of the Vigilante."

Bruce Pachtman writes:
Two quick alumni notes:

1. This past fall, Knighthorse -- a two person theater company from Boston -- took up residence at one of the theater's I've been working with in the Bay Area. Turns out one of the two got his MFA at PSU (and he received his undergrad degree in English from the U.S. Naval Academy of all places.) His name is Tyrus Lemerande. He and his wife performed a two person version of The Tempest that was very good.

2. Another PSUer sighting. I saw Happy End (Brecht/Weill/Brechts Mistress) at the American Conservatory Theater, a major regional theater that now lives in SF but originated in Pittsburgh - I'm guessing you know that. One of the actresses was a woman named Celia Shuman who was awarded a BFA at PSU.

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I got this information about the memorial service for Susan Browning, BA in theatre, 1962, from All That Chat: It was held in a sunny chapel at the Unitarian Church of All Souls. The service centered around a Buddhist ceremony. We all went up to the alter an singing a simple song lit our candles from one representing Susan. A neighbor of hers flew in from Tennesee to sing Ave Verum CORPUS BY Mozart. A young boy played a lovely version of Imagine on piano. Then a trio of her castmates from Big River sang Waiting For the Light to Shine which they said allways got to her when she sang it with them offstage. One of them later sang a rendition of Being Alive from Company which a woman in front of me who was in Companys pit singers the Vocal Minority, agreed really channeled Larry Kurts version. They played Susan singing Barcelona from the cast album and the memories that evoked were very powerful given the circumstances. The whole thing was organized by Jimmy Rogers her friend and neighbor, composer of I Love You, Your Perfect, Now Change. It truely evoked her personality and spirit and was like spending one more time with her. Afterwards we went into a cozy living room setting had wine and sanwiches and I met people like an old actress who toured with Susan in After the Fall in the 1960's. She was nominated for two Tony's amd left her mark.

Many theatre people (such as Gordon Connell who sent a funny, touching message)will never forget her. Get D.A.Pennebaker's documentary on the recording of the Company cast album to see Susan talking and performing. Its called Original Cast Album, Company on D.V.D.

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Keith Lee Grant of CCNY (Associate Professor, Deputy Chairman, Academic Advisor, The Harlem Repertory Theater -- Artistic Director) had good reason not to make it to the Wagon Train Show Reunion.

Kathleen and I saw his production of DREAMGIRLS -- Keith directed and choreographed -- done on a postage stamp for about 27 cents, and the story was more clear and clean than I'd ever seen it.

We also got reacquainted with Dan Tamulonis, Keith's partner, and met their two children. Dan is now teaching in a charter school in Harlem.

Unfortunately, we were unable to make it to Keith's later show, BYE, BYE BIRDIE.

Peter Moore writes:
I just directed a show at the Guthrie. They commissioned a terrific local playwright named Kevin Kling to write a one-act for the opening of their new $125 million building (which is spectacular) that ran for two weeks on the mainstage and was very well-received. It was an occasional play, of course, and not part of the regular season, but as the artistic director Joe Dowling pointed out, it's still the first show ever to be done on the new stage -- how much fun is that? More importantly, I'm hoping it bodes well for directing there as part of the regular season next year.

Meanwhile, I'm off to direct a summer stock production of Godspell and then the area premiere of a new musical about stand-up comics called Funny Business.

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Tara Miller writes:
i was a '97 grad of the psu theatre program (ba in theatre arts). just wanted to give you an update. i have been living in san francisco for the past two years. i work as a therapist at a social and vocational rehab program for adults with mental illness. i was accepted and will be starting graduate school in the fall at new college of california in the graduate psychology program. i'm also taking an advance acting and scene study course with american conservatory theatre to keep those creative juices flowing!

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Of the picture of Richard, Manuel and Doug I sent out last time, Jim and Rose Pickering write, "Moe and Larry seem to be doing okay, but Curley looks as if he could use a shave."

Alison Stanley Birnbaum also noted the photo:
Thanks so much for the short note, in particular the photo of those dazzling theatre educators. As I have been engaged in round two of college searching (thank heavens it only lasts a year!), I have had plenty of opportunity to reflect on the truly personal and intimate education I received in the midst of a behemoth university. I truly am grateful to Richard and Manuel in particular for their deep commitment to understanding human nature and helping that nature live on the stage.

The Pielmeier/O'Garden clan and the Birnbaums are attending the Shaw Festival for some R&R.

Ask Irene for details about her show..She is sharing a theatre with my daughter Mary at Harvard. Mary is directing "You Never Can Tell" and organized the use of the theatre for a production of Irene's show about the printmaker,,,,hmmmwhat is her name??? This is happening in November.

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"The printmaker" is Sister Corita Kent, whose most famous work says, "War is not healthy for children and other living things."

Sheila McCarthy writes:
I'm still teaching, adding 2 more courses at Buffalo State College onto my plate. I'll be playing Domina in A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM in the fall at a theater here in Buffalo. The play I was directing (OLD WICKED SONGS) for The Jewish Rep Theatre in June (here in Buffalo) was postponed until next Spring. We were 10 days before opening and one of my actors had a
minor stroke. He is an old friend of Richard's -- Saul Elkin. He started this company (as well as Shakespeare in Delaware Park). Tell Richard that Saul says hello.

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It turns out that Saul Elkin was also Steve Adler's mentor at UB.

I've been spending most of the month in Woodstock, directing David Aston-Reese as John Barrymore in I HATE HAMLET at the Woodstock Playhouse. David is also appearing as the Duke in TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA at the Woodstock Shakespeare Festival, where I am the dramaturge.

Both shows are produced by Bird-On-A-Cliff Theatre, of which David is artistic director: www.birdonacliff.org

I HATE HAMLET opens Thursday 24 August and runs Thursday through Sunday at 8:00 pm at the Woodstock Playhouse.

(The above has been edited for space and content by Jerry James, dramaturge of the Woodstock Shakespeare Festival and member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop.)