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August
Wilson, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright,
was born in 1945 in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, PA, the setting
of many of his plays, including Seven Guitars. He first
became involved in theatre in the late 1960’s, as a co-founder of
Black Horizons, a Pittsburgh community theatre. His first play to be
produced - at St. Paul’s Penumbra Theatre in 1981 - was Black
Bart and the Sacred Hills, a satirical western he adapted from
an earlier series of poems. After several unsuccessful submissions
to the National Playwrights Conference of the O’Neill Theatre Center
in Connecticut, Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom was
accepted for a workshop in 1982. The workshop marked the beginning
of Wilson’s association with director Lloyd Richards, head of the
Playwrights Conference. With Ma Rainey and his subsequent
plays, Fences, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, Two
Trains Running, and Seven Guitars, Wilson explored the
heritage and experience of African-Americans over the course of the
twentieth century. He has won Pulitzer Prizes for Fences
(1987), and for The Piano Lesson (1990), as well as the New
York Drama Critics Circle Awards for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,
Fences, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, and Two
Trains Running. He has received several fellowships, including
the Rockefeller and Guggenheim Fellowships in Playwrighting, and is
a winner of the Whiting Writers Award. He is an alumnus of New
Dramatist, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences. He was recently inducted into the American Academy of Arts
and Letters.
He participated in
"A Conversation with August Wilson" on Friday, April 13 at 10:45
a.m. - 12:00 p.m. in the Inge Theatre. He also participated in the
panel discussion "The Producer, The Director, and The Playwright" on
Saturday, April 13 at 1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m at the Independence
Museum. August Wilson was awarded the "William Inge Festival Award
for Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre" during a
special evening of tribute on the stage of the William Inge Theatre
on Saturday, April 13, 1996.
Schedule of Events
The Fifteenth Annual
William Inge Theatre Festival and Conference
Schedule of Events
April 11, 12, & 13, 1996
Thursday, April 11
10:00 A.M. - 4:00
P.M.--REGISTRATION in the Margaret Goheen Foyer of the William
Inge Theatre, Fine Arts Building. FILM FESTIVAL featured "Penn
Avenue to Broadway" (documentary on Inge) and other Inge films:
Splendor in the Grass, Picnic, Bus Stop, The Dark at the Top of the
Stairs, and Come Back, Little Sheba. Fine Arts Room 114,
Fine Arts Building. FREE
10:00 A.M. - 9:00
P.M.--THE WILLIAM INGE
COLLECTION was opened to visitors. College Library, Academic
Building.
12:00 P.M. - 1:00
P.M.--Tour of "WILLIAM
INGE’S INDEPENDENCE." Met in the Margaret Goheen Foyer, Fine Arts
Building. FREE
1:00 P.M. - 2:15
P.M.--"THE COLLECTION AS A
REFLECTION." Inge Biographer, Ralph Voss, University of Alabama,
took a detailed look at the Inge Collection as a reflection of
William Inge’s life. Inge Collection Room, ICC Library, Academic
Building. FEE: $5.00 (ICC students free)
7:30 P.M.--COME BACK,
LITTLE SHEBA William Inge’s
full-length play performed by Independence community members.
Adults $8:00 (ICC students free). All seats reserved.
William Inge Theatre, Fine Arts Building. (Also performed
Wednesday, April 10 at 7:30 p.m.)
10:00 P.M.--"MOONGLOW
AT THE HOTEL BOOTH" After-theatre party at the historic Hotel Booth,
8th & Main, Independence. Attendees listened to jazz
band, Plush, and mingled with Inge Festival special guests.
TICKETS: $12.00 (Included light hors d’oeuvres and wine)
Friday, April
12
8:00 A.M. - 4:00
P.M.--REGISTRATION in the Margaret Goheen Foyer of the William
Inge Theatre, Fine Arts Building. THE WILLIAM INGE COLLECTION opened
to visitors. College Library, Academic Building. FILM FESTIVAL
continued in FA114, Fine Arts Building. (Check schedule at
Registration Desk) FREE
8:30 A.M - 9:30 A.M.--"AUGUST
WILSON: THE BIOGRAPHY." Wilson biographer, Professor Sandra Shannon,
Howard University, discussed her book, The Dramatic Vision of
August Wilson. Lecture Hall, Academic Bldg. FEE $5.00
(ICC students free)
8:30 A.M. - 10:30
A.M.--"ACTING WORKSHOP WITH
KEN HANES." Actor Ken Hanes, "Mike Guthrie" on the CBS daytime
series, The Bold and the Beautiful, conducted a workshop on
theatre and film acting techniques. Inge Theatre, Fine Arts Bldg.
FEE $10.00 (ICC students free)
9:30 A.M - 10:30
A.M.--"ASK A PLAYWRIGHT." A
panel discussion/question and answer session for aspiring
playwrights. Moderated by Best Plays editor, Otis L. Guernsey, Jr.
Playwrights that participated in the session were: Robert Anderson,
Jason Milligan, Mary Hanes, and the 1996 "New Voices" playwright,
Brian Burgess Clark. Lecture Hall, Academic Bldg. FEE $5.00
(ICC students free)
10:45 A.M. - 12:00
P.M.--"A CONVERSATION WITH
AUGUST WILSON." Mr. Wilson discussed the theatre and responded to
questions. Inge Theatre, Fine Arts Building. FREE
12:00 P.M. - 1:00
P.M.--"A MOVEABLE FEAST"
LUNCH. A keepsake lunchbag with contents that could be eaten at
numerous locations. Margaret Goheen Foyer, Fine Arts Bldg. FEE:
$7.50
1:15 P.M. - 2:30
P.M.--"SPLENDOR
AS A MUSICAL." Attendees listened to songs from a work in progress
adaptation of William Inge’s Splendor In The Grass. Wendy
Wilf, writer and lyricist led participants through her process of
writing and discussed her plans for the musical. Music Hall, Fine
Arts Bldg. FEE: $5.00 (ICC students free)
1:30 P.M. - 3:00 P.M.
& 3:15 P.M. - 4:45 P.M.--SCHOLAR’S
CONFERENCE with Conference Director: Dr. Jackson Bryer, The
University of Maryland. Lecture Hall, Academic Building. FEE:
$5.00 (ICC students free)
3:00 P.M. - 4:00
P.M.--Tour of "WILLIAM
INGE’S INDEPENDENCE." Met in the Margaret Goheen Foyer, Fine Arts
Bldg. FREE
7:00 P.M.--"A
GALA DINNER WITH GORDON PARKS." A Gala Dinner Party at the
Independence Country Club. The awarding of the 1995 Margo Jones
Award and Medal to Producer Robert Whitehead. All seats reserved.
$30.00
Saturday, April 13
8:00 A.M. - 4:00
P.M.--REGISTRATION at the Independence Museum, 8th &
Myrtle, Independence.
10:00 A.M. - 4:00
P.M.--THE WILLIAM INGE
COLLECTION opened to visitors. College Library, Academic Building,
ICC campus. FILM FESTIVAL continued in the College Library, Academic
Building.
9:00 A.M. - 10:00
A.M.--"THE PLAYWRIGHT’S
VOICE." Mike Wood, Director of Media Resources at Wichita State
University and producer of Inge Festival playwright tributes from
1987 to 1995, presented a lecture/video presentation of past Inge
Award honorees discussing the writing process. Independence Museum,
8th & Myrtle. FEE: $5.00 (ICC students free)
10:00 A.M - 11:30
A.M.--"NEW VOICES IN
AMERICAN THEATRE: 1996." Scenes from playwright Brian Burgess
Clark’s new play Southern Cross, with discussion afterwards.
Independence Museum, 8th & Myrtle, Independence. FEE:
$5.00 (ICC students free)
11:45 A.M. - 1:00
P.M.--"PICNIC LUNCHEON" at
Riverside Park, Main Shelter House. FEE: $7.50
1:15 P.M. - 2:30
P.M.--"THE PRODUCER, THE
DIRECTOR, AND THE PLAYWRIGHT." Playwrights August Wilson and Robert
Anderson, Producer Robert Whitehead, and director Josephine Abady
discussed the connection between these elements of production.
Moderated by Dan Sullivan, former theatre critic for the L.A.
Times. Independence Museum, 8th & Myrtle. FREE
2:45 P.M. - 4:00
P.M.--"REVIVING BUS STOP
ON BROADWAY." Josephine Abady, Director of the 1996 Broadway
revival of BUS STOP was joined by a Bus Stop cast
member and discussed the production. Independence Museum, 8th
& Myrtle. FEE: $5.00 (ICC students free)
3:00 P.M. - 4:00
P.M.--Tour of "WILLIAM
INGE’S INDEPENDENCE." Met in the Margaret Goheen Foyer, Fine Arts
Building. FREE
8:00 P.M.--"TRIBUTE
TO AUGUST WILSON." Presentation of "THE WILLIAM INGE FESTIVAL AWARD
FOR DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT IN THE AMERICAN THEATRE." William Inge
Theatre. All seats reserved. $10.00 (ICC students free)
Festival Participants
1996 Special Guests
and Festival Participants
Josephine
Abady directed the 1996
Broadway revival of William Inge’s Bus Stop at the
Circle-In-The-Square theatre, where she has served as Artistic
Director. She also served as artistic director at the Cleveland
Playhouse where she directed three world premiers - Better Days,
On the Waterfront, and The Cemetery Club; four American
premiers - Grace in America, Man of the Moment, By the Pool
and The March on Russia; and the dramatic comedies - The
Boys Next Door and David’s Mother which was filmed for
CBS and won an Emmy award. In 1990-91, she directed a revival of the
Tennessee Williams/Donald Windham play You Touched Me! Ms.
Abady’s first Cleveland production was a revival of Born
Yesterday featuring Edward Asner and Madeline Kahn, enjoyed a
six-month Broadway run in 1989. In 1987, she was nominated for an
Outer Critics Circle Award for The Boys Next Door
Off-Broadway. Her directing credits also include a revival of Robert
Anderson’s I Never Sang for My Father with Daniel Travanti,
Dorothy McGuire and Harold Gould that toured the US and was filmed
for television. Ms. Abady co-produced the award-winning film A
Raisin in the Sun with Esther Rolle and Danny Glover, which won
the Golden Gate Award and the Ohio State Award. Before Cleveland,
Ms. Abady served for nine years as Artistic Director of the
Berkshire Theatre Festival. She participated in the panel discussion
"The Producer, The Director, and The Playwright" on Saturday, April
13 at 1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m at the Independence Museum. She also
participated in "Reviving Bus Stop on Broadway" on Saturday,
April 13 at 2:45 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. at the Independence Museum.
Robert Anderson
(Inge
Award recipient in 1985)
participated in the panel discussion "Ask a Playwright" on Friday,
April 12 at 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. in the Lecture Hall of the
Academic Building. He also participated in the panel discussion "The
Producer, The Director, and The Playwright" on Saturday, April 13 at
1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m at the Independence Museum.
See updated bio in
1998 - Stephen Sondheim.
Queen Bey,
participated at the "Tribute to August Wilson" on Saturday, April 13
at 8:00 p.m. in the Inge Theatre.
See updated bio in 1997 - Neil Simon.
Brian Burgess
Clark is the William Inge Festival’s 1996 "New Voices in
American Theatre" playwright. He has been produced both
nationally and internationally. The film of his stage drama Down
Came the Rain was awarded a Canadian Emmy, the Can-Pro Award. In
1991, his stage drama Purple Hearts was produced in San
Francisco and toured to the Edinburgh Theatre Festival in Scotland
where it placed in the top five "Best of the Fest." Relative
Strangers premiered at the Missouri Repertory Theatre in Kansas
City along with readings of The Touch and The Immaculate
Conceptions of Malfie Dibbs and his play The Ivory Alphabet
was purchased for theatrical production. Clark has won "Best Play"
from the National Association of Speech and Dramatic Arts the Mary
Robert Rinehart Award and a special award from the U.S. Army for
Purple Hearts. Clark’s other works include The Velveteen
Rabbit, The Cola Wars and most recently, Southern
Cross. Clark has taught playwriting at the University of Hawaii,
the Mid-Pacific Institute, and the Office of Very Special Arts at
the Kennedy Center in Washington. He participated in the panel
discussion "Ask a Playwright" on Friday, April 12 at 9:30 a.m. -
10:30 a.m. in the Lecture Hall of the Academic Building. Scenes from
Clark’s Southern Cross were read at the "New Voices in
American Theatre: 1996" with a discussion afterwards on Saturday,
April 13 at 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. at the Independence Museum.
Otis L. Guernsey
Jr. moderated the panel discussion "Ask a Playwright" on Friday,
April 12 at 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. in the Lecture Hall of the
Academic Building.
See updated bio in 1997 - Neil Simon.
Ken Hanes
conducted "Acting Workshop with Ken Hanes" on Friday, April 12 at
8:30 a.m. 10:30 a.m. in the Inge Theatre of the Fine Arts Building.
See updated bio in 1997 - Neil Simon.
Mary Hanes
was the
Inge Festival's 1995 "New Voices in American
Theatre" playwright
for her play Doin' Time at the Alamo. She
participated in the panel discussion "Ask a Playwright" on Friday,
April 12 at 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. in the Lecture Hall of the
Academic Building.
See updated bio in 1997 - Neil Simon.
David LeVine
participated in the Friday, April 12, Gala Dinner as chairman of the
Margo Jones Award.
See updated bio in
1998 - Stephen Sondheim.
Jason
Milligan, was
the
1993 "New Voices in American Theatre"
playwright for his play Men in Suits.
See updated bio in
1998 - Stephen Sondheim.
Gordon Parks:
Recipient of the
"Kansas Citizen of the Arts" Award
presented at the Independence Country Club
on Friday, April 12 1996.
Gordon Parks,
native of Fort Scott, Kansas, was presented the "Kansas Citizen
of the Arts" Award at the Friday night Gala Dinner at the
Independence Country Club. Mr. Parks is an award-winning
photographer, writer, filmmaker, and composer. He worked as a
freelance fashion photographer for Vogue and
Glamour, and in 1949 joined the staff of Life
magazine as a photojournalist. Author of the autobiographical
best-selling novel, The Learning Tree and three other
autobiographies, he has also done five volumes of poetry and
photographs and a novel, Shannon. His film career began in
1961 when he wrote and directed the documentary Flavio. His
second documentary, Diary of a Harlem Family, received an
Emmy Award. His first Hollywood film was The Learning Tree,
which he produced and directed in his hometown of Fort Scott, and
for which he wrote the screenplay and the musical score. He then
directed the Shaft, Shaft’s Big Score (for which he wrote the
classical music score), Super Cops and Leadbelly. In
1984, he made a film from the diary of a 19th century
freeman who was illegally enslaved entitled The Odyssey of
Solomon Northup, which aired on Public Television’s American
Playhouse Series. His latest film is the autobiographical Moments
Without Proper Names, combining his photography, poetry and
music.
Sandra Shannon,
Ph.D, is Associate
Professor of English at Howard University and the author of The
Dramatic Vision of August Wilson. Her work on Wilson has also
appeared in the collections Memory & Cultural Politics: New
Approaches to American Ethnic Literatures’ (1996), The
Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (1996),
May All Your Fences Have Gates: Essays on the Drama of August Wilson
(1994), and August Wilson: A Casebook (1994). Dr. Shannon’s
published research on Wilson also appears in Callaloo, African
American Review, MELUS, Obsidian II, and Emerge magazine.
She has also to her credit a number of invited lectures and forums
on August Wilson’s work, including "A Tribute to August Wilson" held
in Pittsburgh, PA in March of 1995 and sponsored by The Associated
Writers Program and "Exploring the Dramatic Vision of August
Wilson," held on the campus of Howard University in September 1995.
She discussed her book at the "August Wilson: The Biography" session
on Friday, April 12 at 8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. in the Lecture Hall of
the Academic Building.
Dan Sullivan
moderated the session "The Producer, The Director, and The
Playwright" on Saturday, April 13 at 1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. at the
Independence Museum.
See updated bio in
1998 - Stephen Sondheim.
Faith Sullivan
was the featured speaker at "A Moveable Feast" lunch on Friday,
April 12 where she discussed her book The Cape Ann at 12:00
p.m. - 1:00 p.m. in the Lecture Hall.
See updated bio in
1997 - Neil Simon.
Dr. Ralph F. Voss
presented "The Collection
as a Reflection" on Thursday, April 11 at 1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. in
the Inge Collection Room of the Library.
See updated bio in
1998 - Stephen Sondheim.
Wendy Wilf,
composer/lyricist of the
work-in-progress musical adaptation of William Inge’s Splendor In
the Grass is a graduate of Northwestern University. She
continued her music studies at Berklee College of Music, and is also
a member of the BMI Lehman/Engel Musical Theatre Workshop in New
York City. Wendy composed both music and lyrics for the children’s
musical The Moons which was performed in Lenox, MA,
co-composed music for the off-Broadway production of Shakespeare’s
Coriolanus and has had selections of her work presented at
the BMI Musical Theatre Showcase at the Lamb’s Theatre in New York
City. She presented "Splendor as a Musical" on Friday, April
12 at 1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. in the Music Hall of the Fine Arts
Building.
Mike Wood
presented "The Playwrights Voice" on Saturday, April 13 at 9:00 a.m.
- 10:00 a.m. at the Independence Museum.
See updated bio in
1998 - Stephen Sondheim.
Margo Jones Award
Robert Whitehead
recipient of the 1995 Margo Jones Award
presented at the Independence Country Club
on Friday, April 12
Robert Whitehead
was awarded the The Margo
Jones Medal as a "citizen-of-the-theatre" who has demonstrated a
significant impact in the living theatre. The medal was presented at
the Inge Festival’s Friday night Gala Dinner at the Independence
Country Club. Mr. Whitehead, in over 40 years on Broadway, has
produced many memorable plays including his first, Robinson Jeffers’
Medea, and five New York Drama Critics’ Award-winners: The
Member of the Wedding, The Waltz of the Toreadors, The Visit, A Man
for All Seasons, and Betrayal. Among his other notable
productions: Crime and Punishment, Bus Stop with Kim Stanley,
The Skin of Our Teeth, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, A Matter of
Gravity, and The West Side Waltz both of which starred
Katharine Hepburn. His productions of A View from the Bridge,
After the Fall, Incident at Vichy, The Price, Creation of the World
and Other Business, The Archbishop’s Ceiling, the revival of
Death of a Salesman starring Dustin Hoffman, and Broken
Glass, were all by Arthur Miller. Mr. Whitehead directed
Medea and Lillian, both of which starred his wife, Zoe
Caldwell. He also produced Israel Horovitz’s Park Your Car in
Harvard Yard. Currently, he is represented on Broadway with
Terrence McNally’s Master Class, starring Zoe Caldwell. Mr.
Whitehead was the recipient of the Sam. S. Shubert Award, the 1990
Edwin Booth Award, and the 1991 UJA/Federation Lifetime Achievement
Award. He participated in the panel discussion "The Producer, The
Director, and The Playwright" on Saturday, April 13 at 1:15 p.m. -
2:30 p.m at the Independence Museum.
Conference Scholars
1996 Conference Scholars
Conference Director:
Jackson R. Bryer, Ph.D, of University of
Maryland,
See updated bio in
1998 - Stephen Sondheim.
Respondents:
Jan Balakian, Kean
College of New Jersey, Union, NJ
James A. Robinson, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Scholars:
Greg Carpenter,
University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS presented
"Looking Back to See the Future: August Wilson’s Unique View of the
Sixties in Two Trains Running."
Joy V. Goldsmith, Bethel College,
McKenzie, TN presented "Inge’s Oppressed Women: Gender Role
Prescription Critiqued in Male/Female Dramatic Dialogue."
Susan Koprince, Ph.D, University of
North Dakota, Grand Fork, ND presented "William Inge and The
Glass Menagerie."
John E. Murphy, Heman G. Stark Youth
Training School, Chino, CA presented "Valiant Fury: Anger and
Violence in the Plays of William Inge and August Wilson."
Mark W. Rocha, California State
University Northridge, Los Angeles, CA presented "Seven
Guitars and Its Place in August Wilson’s Historical Cycle."
Jon Rossini, Duke University, Durham, NC presented
"Anti-Semitism and the Political Closet in The Dark at the Top of
the Stairs."
Jack Wann, Ph.D, Northwestern State
University, Natchitoches, LA presented "Picnic and
the Provincial Idiom."
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