1984 William Inge Honoree

William Gibson

William Gibson was born in New York but had his first plays produced in the Topeka Civic Theatre in the 1940's. He wrote I Lay in Zion, A Cry of Players, Dinny and the Witches, Two for the Seesaw, The Miracle Worker, a musical version of Odets' Golden Boy, John and Abigail, The Body and the Wheel, The Butterfingers Angel, Mary and Joseph, Herod the Nut, The Slaughter of Twelve Hit Carols in a Pear Tree, Golda, Monday after the Miracle, and Goodly Creatures. He had also written poetry, a novel, and chronicles of play productions. He is best known for The Miracle Worker, the story of Annie Sullivan's struggle to overcome Helen Keller's blindness and deafness by giving her the gift of language. Gibson was presented "The William Inge Playwright Award for Outstanding Contributions to the American Theatre" by John Carlin, Governor of Kansas on Monday, April 16 at 7:30 p.m. at the "Evening with William Gibson and Friends" in the William Inge Theatre. He participated in the discussion "Our Contemporary Theatre" on Monday, April 16 at 11:00 a.m. in the Inge Theatre. See updated bio in 1986 - John Patrick.

Schedule of Events

The Third Annual
William Inge Theatre Festival and Conference
Schedule of Events
April 15, 16, & 17, 1984

1:00 P.M. - 5:00 P.M.--REGISTRATION in the Foyer of the William Inge Theatre, Fine Arts Building.

2:00 P.M.—William Gibson’s MONDAY AFTER THE MIRACLE, presented by the Picnic Players of Independence." William Inge Theatre, Fine Arts Building. FEE: $5.00

4:30 P.M.—"WILLIAM INGE: PENN AVENUE TO BROADWAY." A slide show and sound track prepared by Mike Wood and assisted by Paul Fry. Lecture Hall, Academic Building.

8:00 P.M.—INGE’S BUS STOP SINGS! With Walter Willison, Jefrey Silverman, and Kim Chirswell. William Inge Theatre. Reception in the foyer hosted by Independence Arts Council. FEE: $5.00

8:30 A.M. - 12:00 P.M.-- REGISTRATION in the Foyer of the William Inge Theatre, Fine Arts Bldg.

9:30 A.M --"WILLIAM INGE: PENN AVENUE TO BROADWAY." A slide show and sound track prepared by Mike Wood and assisted by Paul Fry. Lecture Hall, Academic Building.

9:30 A.M. - 10:30 A.M.—Keynote address: Albert Wertheim, Indiana University, "WILLIAM INGE AND THE 1950’s." Robert Patrick, author of Kennedy’s Children, "The Playwright as Social Commentator: Inge, Williams, McCullers, and Albee." The paper was read by Shirley Knight. Lecture Hall, Academic Building.

11:00 A.M.—"OUR CONTEMPORARY THEATRE," conducted by William Gibson, playwright; Walter Willison actor-producer and lyricist; Jefrey Silverman, composer; and Shirley Knight, actress. William Inge Theatre, Fine Arts Building.

12:30 P.M.—Honors Luncheon. Student Union. FEE: $5.00

2:00 P.M.—"WILLIAM INGE AND THE SPECTER OF CELEBRITY," presented by Ralph F. Voss, University of Alabama, Inge biographer. Lecture Hall, Academic Building.

2:30 P.M. - 3:20 P.M.—SCHOLAR’S CONFERENCE. Theme: "THE HEART OF THE COUNTRY." Room FA1, Fine Arts Building.

2:30 P.M. - 3:20 P.M.—SCHOLAR’S CONFERENCE. Theme: "ISOLATION OR COMMUNITY." Music Room, Fine Arts Building.

3:00 P.M.--"WILLIAM INGE: PENN AVENUE TO BROADWAY." Lecture Hall, Academic Building.

3:30 P.M. - 4:20 P.M.—SCHOLAR’S CONFERENCE. Theme: "THE AMERICAN FAMILY ON STAGE." Room FA1, Fine Arts Building.

3:30 P.M. - 4:20 P.M.—SCHOLAR’S CONFERENCE. Theme: "THE COLLECTION AND THE CURRICULUM." Inge Collection Room, Library, Academic Building.

7:30 P.M.—"AN EVENING WITH WILLIAM GIBSON AND FRIENDS." A Tribute that featured Shirley Knight, Jefrey Silverman, and Walter Willison; William Gibson reading from his newest work. Presentation of "The William Inge Award for Lifetime Achievement in the American Theatre" by the Honorable John Carlin, Governor of Kansas. There was a reception in the Foyer during Intermission. William Inge Theatre. Fee: $5.00

8:30 A.M. - 9:30 A.M.—REGISTRATION in the Foyer, William Inge Theatre.

9:30 A.M. - 10:20 A.M.—"GOONS AND PRETTY GIRLS: WILLIAM INGE’S FEMALE CHARACTERS," presented by Susan Hawkins Miller, University of Kansas. Looking Forward: Jackson Bryer, University of Maryland, "William Inge: A Playwright for the 1980’s?" Lecture Hall, Academic Building.

9:30 A.M.—"SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS," A film by William Inge. Post film discussion led by Gary Mitchell, Independence Community College. William Inge Theatre, Fine Arts Building.

10:30 A.M. - 11:20 A.M.—SCHOLAR’S CONFERENCE. Theme: "MYTH, OEDIPUS, AND ANIMA." Room FA1, Fine Arts Building.

11:30 A.M. - 12:20 A.M.—SCHOLAR’S CONFERENCE. Theme: "THE PLAYWRIGHT AND THE CRITICS." Music Room, Fine Arts Building.

11:30 A.M. - 12:20 A.M.—SCHOLAR’S CONFERENCE. Theme: "REALITY OR OPPORTUNITY." Room FA1, Fine Arts Building.

Festival Participants

1984 Special Guests and Festival Participants

Jackson R. Bryer presented "William Inge: A Playwright for the 1980's?" at 9:30 - 10:20 a.m. in the Lecture Hall of the Academic Building on Tuesday, April 17. See updated bio in 1998 - Stephen Sondheim.

Kansas Governor John Carlin presented "The William Inge Playwright Award for Outstanding Contributions to the American Theatre" at 7:30 p.m. at "An Evening with William Gibson and Friends" on Monday, April 16.

Kim Chriswell, featured in Nine, appeared with Walter Willison and Jefrey Silverman.

Shirley Knight participated in the discussion "Our Contemporary Theatre" at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, April 16, in the Inge Theatre, and presented Robert Patrick's paper "The Playwright as Social Commentator: Inge, Williams, McCullers, and Albee" at 9:30 - 10:30 a.m. on Monday, April 16. She was also a guest performer at "An Evening with William Gibson and Friends" in the Inge Theatre at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, April 16. See updated bio in 1995 - Arthur Miller.

Susan Hawkins Miller, Department of English, University of Kansas, completed her Ph.D. at the University of Oregon in 1981. Her doctoral work focused on the drama, fiction, and poetry of the American postwar period. She has published articles in the Denver Quarterly and American Poetry. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities summer seminar fellowship to study postmodernism with Ihab Hassan. She presented "Goons and Pretty Girls: William Inge's Female Characters" on Tuesday, April 17 at 9:30 - 10:20 a.m.

Gary Mitchell, English Instructor at Independence Community College, led a discussion on Inge's Splendor in the Grass on Tuesday, April 17 at 9:30 a.m. in the Inge Theatre. He also moderated the "Collection and the Curriculum" conference session on Monday, April 16 at 3:30 - 4:20 p.m. in Room FA 1 of the Fine Arts Building and the "Playwright and the Critics" conference session on Tuesday, April 17 at 11:30 a.m. - 12:20 p.m. in the Music Room of the Fine Arts Building.

Picnic Players of Independence presented William Gibson's Monday After the Miracle on Sunday, April 15 at 2:00 p.m. in the Inge Theatre.

Ralph F. Voss presented "William Inge and the Specter of Celebrity" in the Lecture Hall at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, April 16. See updated bio in 1998 - Stephen Sondheim.

Albert Wertheim is a Professor of English and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Development at Indiana University where he teaches classic and contemporary British and American Drama. He is the editor of Essays on Contemporary American Drama and Essays on Contemporary British Drama. He is the author of American Drama, 1940-1960 and has published essays on Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neill, Bertolt Brecht, Trevor Griffiths, Restoration Comedy, Elizabethan Drama, and Shakespeare. He presented "William Inge and the 1950's" at 9:30 - 10:30 a.m. on Monday, April 16 in the Lecture Hall.

Walter Willison and Jefrey Silverman, a song-writing team, returned to the William Inge Festival after last year's presentation of "How Do You Make a Bus Stop Sing?" and "One More Time." Willison and Silverman have composed Front Street Gaieties, Broadway Scandals of 1928, and Perfect Strangers, based on William Inge's Bus Stop. They performed Inge's Bus Stop Sings! on Sunday, April 15 at 8:00 p.m. in the Inge Theatre. They also participated in the discussion "Our Contemporary Theatre" on Monday, April 16 at 11:00 a.m. in the Inge Theatre and were guest performers at "An Evening with Gibson and Friends" on Monday, April 16 at 7:30 p.m. in the Inge Theatre. Walter Willison, see updated bio in 1987 - Garson Kanin. Jefrey Silverman, see updated bio in 1985 - Robert Anderson.

Mike Wood presented the slide show and sound track "William Inge: Penn Avenue to Broadway" and was assisted by Paul Fry on Sunday, April 15 at 4:30 p.m. and Monday, April 16 at 9:30 a.m. in the Lecutre Hall. See updated bio in 1998 - Stephen Sondheim.

Conference Scholars

1984 Conference Scholars 

Scholars:
     Tom Averill, Washburn University, presented "Critic vs. Playwright: Brustein and Inge" at 11:30 - 12:20 p.m. on Tuesday, April 17 during the "Playwright and the Critics" conference session in the Music Room of the Fine Arts Building.
     Anita Bremseth, The University of Mississippi, presented "Elmer Rice and William Inge: Contrasting Attitudes toward Women" on Monday, April 16 at 3:30 - 4:20 p.m. at the "American Family on Stage" conference session in Room FA 1 of in the Fine Arts Building.
     Steven R. Centola, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, presented "Settling for Half: Compromise and Repression as Bad Faith in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge and William Inge's Come Back, Little Sheba" at 11:30 - 12:20 p.m. on Tuesday, April 17 at the "Playwright and the Critics" conference session in Room FA 1 in the Fine Arts Building.
     Joel Climenhaga, Kansas State University, presented "Opportunities for Playwrights in the 90's" at 11:30 - 12:20 p.m. on Tuesday, April 17 at the "Playwright and the Critics" conference session in Room FA 1 in the Fine Arts Building.
     Gene DeGruson, Pittsburg State University, presented "The Kansas Roots of William Gibson" at 2:30 - 3:20 p.m. on Monday, April 16 at "The Heart of the Country" conference session in Room FA 1 of the Fine Arts Building. See updated bio in 1995 - Arthur Miller.
     Robert Kent Donovan, Kansas State University, presented "Searching for Dionysus in the Inge Collection" at 3:30 - 4:20 p.m. on Monday, April 16 at the "Collection and Curriculum" conference session in the Inge Collection Room of in the Library.
     George S. Friedman, Towson State University, presented "Dead-Ends and deliverers: Loneliness and Companionship in the Plays of William Inge" on Monday, April 16 at 2:30 - 3:20 p.m. at the "Isolation or Community" conference session in the Music Room of the Fine Arts Building.
     Steven Gale, Missouri Southern State College, presented "Small Town Images in Four Plays by William Inge" on Monday, April 16 at 2:30 - 3:20 p.m. at the "Isolation or Community" conference session in the Music Room of the Fine Arts Building.
     Robert F. Gross, Cornell University, presented "Selling 'The Circumcision': Father and Son in Behrman's Lord Pengo" at 10:30 - 11:20 a.m. on Tuesday, April 17 at the "Myth, Oedipus, and Anima" conference session in the Music Room of in the Fine Arts Building.
     Therese Jones, The University of Colorado - Boulder, presented "An American Menage a Trois: Husband, Wife, and Prostitute in Four Plays by Eugene O'Neill" on Monday, April 16 at 3:30 - 4:20 p.m. at the "American Family on Stage" conference session in Room FA 1 of the Fine Arts Building.
     Virginia Jones, Baker University, presented "Stereotyping and Idealism in Come Back, Little Sheba and Dark at the Top of the Stairs" on Monday, April 16 at 2:30 - 3:20 p.m. at "The Heart of the Country" conference session in Room FA1 of the Fine Arts Building.
     Janet Juhnke, Kansas Wesleyan University, presented "Inge's Women and 'The Feminine Mystique' " at 11:30 - 12:20 p.m. on Tuesday, April 17 at the "Playwright and the Critics" conference session in the Music Room of the Fine Arts Building.
     Colby H. Kullman, The University of Mississippi, presented "'William Inge, the Early Years': William C. Young's Unfinished Biography of William Inge as Compassionate Playwright" at 11:30 - 12:20 p.m. on Tuesday, April 17 at the "Playwright and the Critics" conference session in the Music Room of the Fine Arts Building. See updated bio in 1993 - Wendy Wasserstein.
     Charles Masinton, The University of Kansas, presented "Inge and Shepard: Two Views of Middle America" on Monday, April 16 at 2:30 - 3:20 p.m. at "The Heart of the Country" conference session in Room FA 1 of the Fine Arts Building.
     Jeanne McGlinn, Ottawa University, presented "To Face Reality: Women in the Plays of William Inge and Tennessee Williams" at 11:30 - 12:20 p.m. on Tuesday, April 17 the conference session "Playwright and the Critics" in the Room FA 1 in the Fine Arts Room.
     Bill Pfannenstiel, Pittsburg State University, presented "Organizing the Inge Collection" at 3:30 - 4:20 p.m. on Monday, April 16 at the "Collection and Curriculum" conference session in the Inge Collection Room of the Library.
     Donna Rothgeb, Independence School System, presented "William Inge in the Curriculum" at 3:30 - 4:20 p.m. on Monday, April 16 at the "Collection and Curriculum" conference session in the Inge Collection Room of the Library.
     Priscilla D. Shaw, The University of Kansas, presented "Arthur Miller's Women: Jung's Anima in Miller's Plays" at 10:30 - 11:20 a.m. on Tuesday, April 17 at the "Myth, Oedipus, and Anima" conference session in the Music Room of in the Fine Arts Building.
     Wayne B. Stengel, The University of Florida, presented "Breaking Away and Coming Home: The Sense of Community in William Inge's Picnic and Lanford Wilson's Fifth of July" on Monday, April 16 at 2:30 - 3:20 p.m. at the "Isolation or Community" conference session in the Music Room of the Fine Arts Building.
     Judith Thompson, The University of Kansas, presented "Williams and Inge: Myth-Maker/Realist" at 10:30 - 11:20 a.m. on Tuesday, April 17 at the "Myth, Oedipus, and Anima" conference session in the Music Room of in the Fine Arts Building.
     George Wedge, The University of Kansas, presented "Mixing Memory with Desire: The Family of the Alcoholic in Three Mid-Century Plays" on Monday, April 16 at 3:30 - 4:20 p.m. at the "American Family on Stage" conference session in Room FA 1 in the Fine Arts Building.