Context
The School gears up for a televised gala in October 1980 to celebrate the opening of the new Theater/Interpretation Center. The Dean wants Krause to agree to participate.
Letter
David,
[Discussion of an applicant for an acting teaching position in the Theatre Department -- DD]
Many things puzzle me. Why is Dean Wood suddenly courting me? A huge floral arrangement comes to me on the occasion of the film festival. [One of the Bloomsburg students had made a short film about Krause and her Bloomsburg teaching -- DD] And before that an urgent invitation to the Centennial Alumni meeting May 11. "Be my guest". Why? I have virtually been banned for years. Why this urgency now. Dean McBurney told me: "Understand, Miss Krause, alumni have no control in my administration, no influence whatsoever". And he cut all alumni ties. All contacts with Dennis-Cumnock alums were cut off. And he made a point of establishing none with graduates of his own regime, particularly theatre grads. So where would I be on alumni day? Alone? alumni days can be fearfully lonely. But what I do not understand is this sudden intimate pressure. What goes?
The film festival was a big success. I can't bear the film myself, but people seem moved by it. And so I endure it. Tony Roberts was at his best: his genuine, outgoing, sharing self. BTE did a smart job inviting him here. How much money will come in remains to be seen.
Sea Gull progresses. [Krause was directing -- DD] There are hurdles but it is promising. C is becoming a real actress -- if I can get her to make it big enough. Why do NU theatre majors fail to realize that theatre is bigger than life? But the group spirit is remarkable. Pray for us.
A.K.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Letters from Alvina Krause: January/ February 1979
Context
A new year with new concerns and old passions.
Letter
The fog, heavy and all-concealing, is creeping up from the hollow this January day. What a winter! Snow and cold and now a fog!
[...A discussion of the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble and the possibility of my directing for the upcoming summer... -- DD]
Someone told me that Coakley is resigning -- Is it true? Is it possible? I restrain my Glory Hallelujiah until I hear positive truth. And what is [another colleague -- DD]'s present stand? If anyone is leaving you and Sam [Ball -- DD] must have a strong voice in new appointments. Both of you are too reluctant to fight. If you can't name a strong, giant of a replacement, can't you wangle a Galati directed production? That's how I made a transition from Interpretation to theatre. In that new theatre can you start clean? Is there no one else but me who wants the name Dennis over the portals?
Have I disturbed you?
A.K.
If the name McBurney is to be featured in the new theatre building, I will never go near it. The name alone fills me with revulsion. Does Sam remember this?
****
Context
Krause's birthday was January 29.
Letter
The flowers are beautiful! Did you tell them to tuck yellow rose buds? among pink carnations, white mums and purple heather. Exquisite! I thank you for thinking of me so beautifully! My heart leaps up.
It was a wonderful birthday party! So good to be with a company laughing together, celebrating together. I dread birthdays and birthday parties -- reminders of the race that can't be won. But this was a happy event this year.
You know we all want you to direct here this summer. I have told the administrative committee to write you conditions. I have nothing to do with financial arrangements. Artistic Direction is all I can manage. You will hear from them very soon. There is a problem. If "Misalliance" is the first show it must go into rehearsal in May. In fact I would start character work immediately after the Bucknell performance of "Sea Gull" [Krause had directed -- DD]. Can that be managed? "Misalliance" is a good opener for the season. Any other suggestions.
[...Discussion of BTE finances... -- DD]
...I repeat we are all most eager to have you direct a production. Does Equity cover you as a director or only as an actor?
A new year with new concerns and old passions.
Letter
The fog, heavy and all-concealing, is creeping up from the hollow this January day. What a winter! Snow and cold and now a fog!
[...A discussion of the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble and the possibility of my directing for the upcoming summer... -- DD]
Someone told me that Coakley is resigning -- Is it true? Is it possible? I restrain my Glory Hallelujiah until I hear positive truth. And what is [another colleague -- DD]'s present stand? If anyone is leaving you and Sam [Ball -- DD] must have a strong voice in new appointments. Both of you are too reluctant to fight. If you can't name a strong, giant of a replacement, can't you wangle a Galati directed production? That's how I made a transition from Interpretation to theatre. In that new theatre can you start clean? Is there no one else but me who wants the name Dennis over the portals?
Have I disturbed you?
A.K.
If the name McBurney is to be featured in the new theatre building, I will never go near it. The name alone fills me with revulsion. Does Sam remember this?
****
Context
Krause's birthday was January 29.
Letter
The flowers are beautiful! Did you tell them to tuck yellow rose buds? among pink carnations, white mums and purple heather. Exquisite! I thank you for thinking of me so beautifully! My heart leaps up.
It was a wonderful birthday party! So good to be with a company laughing together, celebrating together. I dread birthdays and birthday parties -- reminders of the race that can't be won. But this was a happy event this year.
You know we all want you to direct here this summer. I have told the administrative committee to write you conditions. I have nothing to do with financial arrangements. Artistic Direction is all I can manage. You will hear from them very soon. There is a problem. If "Misalliance" is the first show it must go into rehearsal in May. In fact I would start character work immediately after the Bucknell performance of "Sea Gull" [Krause had directed -- DD]. Can that be managed? "Misalliance" is a good opener for the season. Any other suggestions.
[...Discussion of BTE finances... -- DD]
...I repeat we are all most eager to have you direct a production. Does Equity cover you as a director or only as an actor?
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Letters from Alvina Krause: December 1978
Context
Krause's 1978 Christmas card.
Letter
Merry Christmas wherever you are!
This morning was three hours of brilliant Shakespeare. I think JG's [a recent addition to the Bloomsburg class -- DD] work has sparked the group. She knows how to work (remarkable!) and she works. Her work glows. This morning she was a Juliet, truly Shakespeare's Juliet created for J! Young, glowing, "natural", responsive to all living things. I felt I were seeing Juliet for the first time. And S played Romeo, not as brilliant as her Juliet, but a truly responsive Romeo.
X and Y still agonize. Z did a Launcelot Gobbo that was absolutely brilliant. Not one trace of Z struggling. Easy as if he had played clowns all his life. Z has been working hard and it is paying off. T still has problems. She is tangled up in personal complications and cannot give her talents the concentration due them. The other day I ordered her to get her personal life in order and come to grips with what is important. She does an excellent piece of work one day, then nothing for weeks.
Are you insisting on voice training for actors. B could be terrific if she had a voice equal to her talents. As it is her voice is her enemy. She is aware of the need, but I can't give time to voice!
Did you know Vera Ward and Muriel Bach [former Krause students -- DD] approached Dean Wood with a project to raise funds to have my name somewhere in the new building? He was cool to the idea and they dropped it. It seems I am still "controversial". I don't mind: I feel no link to the present School, but isn't it ridiculous? Is he afraid of me? After all the School once stood high nationally and internationally for excellence. Is that evil?
A.K.
Footnote
Lucy once said to me, "She's always complaining about the school, but all the flowers she plants are purple and white". [Northwestern University's school colors -- DD]
Krause's 1978 Christmas card.
Letter
Merry Christmas wherever you are!
This morning was three hours of brilliant Shakespeare. I think JG's [a recent addition to the Bloomsburg class -- DD] work has sparked the group. She knows how to work (remarkable!) and she works. Her work glows. This morning she was a Juliet, truly Shakespeare's Juliet created for J! Young, glowing, "natural", responsive to all living things. I felt I were seeing Juliet for the first time. And S played Romeo, not as brilliant as her Juliet, but a truly responsive Romeo.
X and Y still agonize. Z did a Launcelot Gobbo that was absolutely brilliant. Not one trace of Z struggling. Easy as if he had played clowns all his life. Z has been working hard and it is paying off. T still has problems. She is tangled up in personal complications and cannot give her talents the concentration due them. The other day I ordered her to get her personal life in order and come to grips with what is important. She does an excellent piece of work one day, then nothing for weeks.
Are you insisting on voice training for actors. B could be terrific if she had a voice equal to her talents. As it is her voice is her enemy. She is aware of the need, but I can't give time to voice!
Did you know Vera Ward and Muriel Bach [former Krause students -- DD] approached Dean Wood with a project to raise funds to have my name somewhere in the new building? He was cool to the idea and they dropped it. It seems I am still "controversial". I don't mind: I feel no link to the present School, but isn't it ridiculous? Is he afraid of me? After all the School once stood high nationally and internationally for excellence. Is that evil?
A.K.
Footnote
Lucy once said to me, "She's always complaining about the school, but all the flowers she plants are purple and white". [Northwestern University's school colors -- DD]
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Letter from Alvina Krause: November 1978
Context
With Annie May Swift closed, the school rented the seventh and eighth floors of a downtown Evanston bank building to house the Dean's offices and the Theatre Department. The acting classroom was one of those rooms with low ceilings, fluorescent lights, tile floors.
Letter
David, I know it must be hard -- this adjustment. (My own heart aches thinking of that Annie May Swift auditorium and what we created therein. Lear! A magnificent Lear!) But take a deep breath, David, and respond to that challenge! With what you have to give you can convert any space into a stage. Play in the round and create a world in a little space. Make it an opportunity to test imagination! I have just written a biting criticism to your students here in Bloom on their inability to create, on their total lack of imagination, on their inability to get out of their commonplace egoes [sic]. Not one can see and respond to General Gabler's picture on a wall! And so they fail utterly as actors. Get busy, David. It's a challenge. Convert your present class rooms into Ibsen's world. Chekhov's. Shakespeare's! maybe out of nothing you can really be a great teacher and touch the creative minds of actors which now luxuriate in unmotivated emotion and lines without imagery behind them. Why tell me why can no Hedda put images behind, around, and overflowing: "I am bored -- bored to death" Why does not one of them want to smash that lamp shade with red roses painted on it. Why can not one of them want to stamp on my French Oriental turned into a flowered green carpet? NO creative minds! Get busy in your desolate classrooms. I challenge you! And I believe in you! Grieve with me over Annie May Swift, but join hands with Cumnock and Dennis --
By the way maybe you can jolt your Dean a bit. Muriel Bach [former student -- DD] called me the other night. She and Vera Ward (former student -- DD] had approached the Dean on a project of theirs concerning the new Theatre building and me. He welcomed them, said he favored their project, said he had considered it himself but someone had always come forth with derogatory comments -- Can you make him see the nature of the source of those comments -- C C Cunningham's letter of resignation tells the full story I can swear it is the truth. It is in the archives, if it isn't in his own office files it is in President Miller's file. Can truth never prevail? Must the Mitchells, Schneidemans, Coakleys forever prevail? Muriel and Vera think otherwise. I doubt that they can make their point.
With Annie May Swift closed, the school rented the seventh and eighth floors of a downtown Evanston bank building to house the Dean's offices and the Theatre Department. The acting classroom was one of those rooms with low ceilings, fluorescent lights, tile floors.
Letter
David, I know it must be hard -- this adjustment. (My own heart aches thinking of that Annie May Swift auditorium and what we created therein. Lear! A magnificent Lear!) But take a deep breath, David, and respond to that challenge! With what you have to give you can convert any space into a stage. Play in the round and create a world in a little space. Make it an opportunity to test imagination! I have just written a biting criticism to your students here in Bloom on their inability to create, on their total lack of imagination, on their inability to get out of their commonplace egoes [sic]. Not one can see and respond to General Gabler's picture on a wall! And so they fail utterly as actors. Get busy, David. It's a challenge. Convert your present class rooms into Ibsen's world. Chekhov's. Shakespeare's! maybe out of nothing you can really be a great teacher and touch the creative minds of actors which now luxuriate in unmotivated emotion and lines without imagery behind them. Why tell me why can no Hedda put images behind, around, and overflowing: "I am bored -- bored to death" Why does not one of them want to smash that lamp shade with red roses painted on it. Why can not one of them want to stamp on my French Oriental turned into a flowered green carpet? NO creative minds! Get busy in your desolate classrooms. I challenge you! And I believe in you! Grieve with me over Annie May Swift, but join hands with Cumnock and Dennis --
By the way maybe you can jolt your Dean a bit. Muriel Bach [former student -- DD] called me the other night. She and Vera Ward (former student -- DD] had approached the Dean on a project of theirs concerning the new Theatre building and me. He welcomed them, said he favored their project, said he had considered it himself but someone had always come forth with derogatory comments -- Can you make him see the nature of the source of those comments -- C C Cunningham's letter of resignation tells the full story I can swear it is the truth. It is in the archives, if it isn't in his own office files it is in President Miller's file. Can truth never prevail? Must the Mitchells, Schneidemans, Coakleys forever prevail? Muriel and Vera think otherwise. I doubt that they can make their point.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Letters from Alvina Krause: October 1978
Context
Annie May Swift Hall burned. A fire had started on the stage of the very theater where Krause had taught her acting classes. The fire had spread to within the walls of the building. To determine the extent of the damage, Annie May Swift Hall was closed indefinitely.
Letter
David,
Thank you for calling us about the fire. I couldn't have borne to hear it from someone who didn't care. Let me know what happens now. The people who would deeply care are either dead or like me far away. McBurney, you know, deliberately, purposefully, ended all alumni relations with generations preceding him. "Alumni do not run my School" says he to me.
"In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was God". Do you know that was the beginning of the School? That was how it started. That was its function, its purpose. Should that not be the beginning of the History. To read the Word of God, to speak the word of God, to communicate the Word of God with beauty, with meaning, with dignity, with truth, with conviction. Isn't that wonderfully unique in this crass, unbelieving world? A young theological student sat listening with growing indignation at the way his fellow students, his instructors, his Wesleyan ministers read the glowing words of the Bible. He sensed that "out of the depths" came the Psalms. He cried out when "Lift up my eyes unto the hills" was read in dull, dead, meaningless tones. He experienced the vitality of the scriptures, he recognized the beauty of the King James version. The Scotch poet soul in him rose in rebellion. He was a man of action. He started classes for his fellow students in reading the Bible, in public speaking for ministers all based on his deep feeling that the Word of God, the life of Christ, the work of the Apostles was too deep, too important to humanity, that it must be communicated in a form fitting the importance of the subject and the beauty of the language.
I wish you could have heard him read a Psalm! It glowed with understanding of the depths of our needs. And the book of Job. To me it had been a lengthy overwrought tale of misery until I heard him read a passage with the simplicity of great art and the comprehension of a great mind revealing, through the beauty of the spoken word, the depths of faith. You have written to me of my "greatness". I have just given you the source. He illuminated the Bible, Shakespeare, Bobby Burns. I saw what Speech could be; it shook me, stimulated my mind, my imagination, my will. He saw the need for Speech education -- it was called Elocution in those days, but don't let that mislead you. There was nothing of elocution in his own work and any tendency in that direction was knocked out of us pronto. With his own funds he bought from NU the land on which Annie May stands (It has its own campus!) He set about raising money for his school, he assembled a staff of people who shared his sense of truth and discipline. And among those students was Ralph Dennis whom he recognized as a worthy successor. And Dennis carried on. It was glorious. Those people believed. They believed in their work, they believed in the School, and they believed in their students. And they had true comprehension of the power of the spoken word to reveal humanity through great writing. They shared that belief with their students. The Cumnock spirit carried on right up to the Sarett Conspiracy which ushered in McBurney and death. How dare that woman write those drab paragraphs. The School of Speech was a light in the wilderness. Truly it was Dennis was the personification of a leader in Speech. In his tacky old suits he strode about the Speech education world like a giant. Sure! He was hated. He tore down empty attitudinizing. He jerked us up by the nape of the neck on any evidence of satisfaction with mediocrity. Mediocrity! It could not exist in his world. We had to reach, reach. He started the theatre department. Before it was fully established he had opened up Speech Correction, speech therapy; before that was old, radio was on its way, TV. And he travelled Europe, China, India, Russia (when the Revolution broke) Always learning, discovering, searching, living.
He brought that world and the people of that world right into Annie May Swift. And now they turn over the writing of that history to a woman as devoid of mind and imagination as a rhinoceros -- the dumbest of beasts! ----- So she makes a cut-and-dried dissertation out of life itself. Do something! Take her to dinner, get her drunk, wangle her material from her, re-write it. Strangle her!
Annie May Swift Hall burned. A fire had started on the stage of the very theater where Krause had taught her acting classes. The fire had spread to within the walls of the building. To determine the extent of the damage, Annie May Swift Hall was closed indefinitely.
Letter
David,
Thank you for calling us about the fire. I couldn't have borne to hear it from someone who didn't care. Let me know what happens now. The people who would deeply care are either dead or like me far away. McBurney, you know, deliberately, purposefully, ended all alumni relations with generations preceding him. "Alumni do not run my School" says he to me.
"In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was God". Do you know that was the beginning of the School? That was how it started. That was its function, its purpose. Should that not be the beginning of the History. To read the Word of God, to speak the word of God, to communicate the Word of God with beauty, with meaning, with dignity, with truth, with conviction. Isn't that wonderfully unique in this crass, unbelieving world? A young theological student sat listening with growing indignation at the way his fellow students, his instructors, his Wesleyan ministers read the glowing words of the Bible. He sensed that "out of the depths" came the Psalms. He cried out when "Lift up my eyes unto the hills" was read in dull, dead, meaningless tones. He experienced the vitality of the scriptures, he recognized the beauty of the King James version. The Scotch poet soul in him rose in rebellion. He was a man of action. He started classes for his fellow students in reading the Bible, in public speaking for ministers all based on his deep feeling that the Word of God, the life of Christ, the work of the Apostles was too deep, too important to humanity, that it must be communicated in a form fitting the importance of the subject and the beauty of the language.
I wish you could have heard him read a Psalm! It glowed with understanding of the depths of our needs. And the book of Job. To me it had been a lengthy overwrought tale of misery until I heard him read a passage with the simplicity of great art and the comprehension of a great mind revealing, through the beauty of the spoken word, the depths of faith. You have written to me of my "greatness". I have just given you the source. He illuminated the Bible, Shakespeare, Bobby Burns. I saw what Speech could be; it shook me, stimulated my mind, my imagination, my will. He saw the need for Speech education -- it was called Elocution in those days, but don't let that mislead you. There was nothing of elocution in his own work and any tendency in that direction was knocked out of us pronto. With his own funds he bought from NU the land on which Annie May stands (It has its own campus!) He set about raising money for his school, he assembled a staff of people who shared his sense of truth and discipline. And among those students was Ralph Dennis whom he recognized as a worthy successor. And Dennis carried on. It was glorious. Those people believed. They believed in their work, they believed in the School, and they believed in their students. And they had true comprehension of the power of the spoken word to reveal humanity through great writing. They shared that belief with their students. The Cumnock spirit carried on right up to the Sarett Conspiracy which ushered in McBurney and death. How dare that woman write those drab paragraphs. The School of Speech was a light in the wilderness. Truly it was Dennis was the personification of a leader in Speech. In his tacky old suits he strode about the Speech education world like a giant. Sure! He was hated. He tore down empty attitudinizing. He jerked us up by the nape of the neck on any evidence of satisfaction with mediocrity. Mediocrity! It could not exist in his world. We had to reach, reach. He started the theatre department. Before it was fully established he had opened up Speech Correction, speech therapy; before that was old, radio was on its way, TV. And he travelled Europe, China, India, Russia (when the Revolution broke) Always learning, discovering, searching, living.
He brought that world and the people of that world right into Annie May Swift. And now they turn over the writing of that history to a woman as devoid of mind and imagination as a rhinoceros -- the dumbest of beasts! ----- So she makes a cut-and-dried dissertation out of life itself. Do something! Take her to dinner, get her drunk, wangle her material from her, re-write it. Strangle her!
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Letters from Alvina Krause: October 1978
Context
More and more Krause was connecting her experience with the Bloomsburg students to her suggestions for my teaching.
And the School of Speech centenary celebration continued to rankle.
Letter
David, don't don't don't let your students in beginning acting perform. They have no instrument with which to perform. A violinist wants a perfect Stradivarius so an actor must want a perfect instrument before he can perform. That instrument is himself: his body (train every muscle) his voice (it must express every character from Hamlet to Lear, every emotion, reach everyone in an audience without effort) senses -- which create the Renaissance world, the Arthur Miller world, unknown worlds etc -- the imagination ------- but I don't need to tell you this. Do it! The trouble with the actors I have here is that they cannot create worlds, they cannot respond to that world or to each other. You saw it this summer. They are only now beginning to perceive (to use their senses to respond to stimuli, to understand through perception what a human being is and how he relates to his world) to play together and that means to actually respond through the senses to each other.
Do not let Juliet speak one word or "emote" one emotion until she actually has seen an Italian sun in an Italian sky and felt its heat on her face, her neck. And for God's sake: she must sense stars in an Italy sky -- stars stars -- that play is full of stars. You train those senses to respond truthfully or I disown you. I have told this group "Work on Act II Hedda Gabler but know that you are not Hedda, you are not Brack, you must create them. Hedda must handle an army pistol as a man does, must shoot in the air because she dares not fire straight; she hears, senses, people gossiping etc. --
Your actors have nothing with which to act until they have trained those senses to respond. Talent in acting is the ability to perceive more deeply than other people do -- They must create an actor's Stradivarius.
If Lynn [Rein. See the December 13 post -- DD] is capable of doing the history of School of Speech why is her article in Dialogue so utterly devoid of appreciation of what that school was. Why is it so devoid of appreciation, of color? It reads like an article written in response to an unimaginative assignment of a professor in an English class "Write a 1000 word essay on -- --". But that wasn't what surprised me most in the last "Dialogue". Lee Mitchell who was McBurney's right hand man in the destruction of the theatre department writes on "foundations of excellence" ---- for the Centennial section. So the "Centennial" is to celebrate McBurney's reign! I get my invitation to the ground breaking the day before the event! But McBurney gets there on time! I have a diploma from the old School and two degrees from the present school. And I knew Dr. Cumnock! ---- Sorry!
It's a beautiful day! Pennsylvania in October. We drove for two or three hours this morning. Intoxication! "Lord, thou has made the world too beautiful this year"
Yes, the class is alive this year. I begin to enjoy teaching again. I still fear "Sea Gull" [A spring production was planned by the new Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble -- DD] but not quite so much as before. Tell JC [a former Bloomsburg student -- DD] of these developments. He might be impressed --
Have fun
A.K.
More and more Krause was connecting her experience with the Bloomsburg students to her suggestions for my teaching.
And the School of Speech centenary celebration continued to rankle.
Letter
David, don't don't don't let your students in beginning acting perform. They have no instrument with which to perform. A violinist wants a perfect Stradivarius so an actor must want a perfect instrument before he can perform. That instrument is himself: his body (train every muscle) his voice (it must express every character from Hamlet to Lear, every emotion, reach everyone in an audience without effort) senses -- which create the Renaissance world, the Arthur Miller world, unknown worlds etc -- the imagination ------- but I don't need to tell you this. Do it! The trouble with the actors I have here is that they cannot create worlds, they cannot respond to that world or to each other. You saw it this summer. They are only now beginning to perceive (to use their senses to respond to stimuli, to understand through perception what a human being is and how he relates to his world) to play together and that means to actually respond through the senses to each other.
Do not let Juliet speak one word or "emote" one emotion until she actually has seen an Italian sun in an Italian sky and felt its heat on her face, her neck. And for God's sake: she must sense stars in an Italy sky -- stars stars -- that play is full of stars. You train those senses to respond truthfully or I disown you. I have told this group "Work on Act II Hedda Gabler but know that you are not Hedda, you are not Brack, you must create them. Hedda must handle an army pistol as a man does, must shoot in the air because she dares not fire straight; she hears, senses, people gossiping etc. --
Your actors have nothing with which to act until they have trained those senses to respond. Talent in acting is the ability to perceive more deeply than other people do -- They must create an actor's Stradivarius.
If Lynn [Rein. See the December 13 post -- DD] is capable of doing the history of School of Speech why is her article in Dialogue so utterly devoid of appreciation of what that school was. Why is it so devoid of appreciation, of color? It reads like an article written in response to an unimaginative assignment of a professor in an English class "Write a 1000 word essay on -- --". But that wasn't what surprised me most in the last "Dialogue". Lee Mitchell who was McBurney's right hand man in the destruction of the theatre department writes on "foundations of excellence" ---- for the Centennial section. So the "Centennial" is to celebrate McBurney's reign! I get my invitation to the ground breaking the day before the event! But McBurney gets there on time! I have a diploma from the old School and two degrees from the present school. And I knew Dr. Cumnock! ---- Sorry!
It's a beautiful day! Pennsylvania in October. We drove for two or three hours this morning. Intoxication! "Lord, thou has made the world too beautiful this year"
Yes, the class is alive this year. I begin to enjoy teaching again. I still fear "Sea Gull" [A spring production was planned by the new Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble -- DD] but not quite so much as before. Tell JC [a former Bloomsburg student -- DD] of these developments. He might be impressed --
Have fun
A.K.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Letters from Alvina Krause: Fall 1977
Context
The play I directed for my first University Theatre mainstage production (fall quarter 1977) was Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance.
Letter (27 November 1977)
David,
Do you present your show in Cahn? [The largest theater auditorium on campus. With one balcony, it seats over a thousand-- DD] If you do let me warn you about projection problems. You know it is difficult. There are spots on stage from which it is exceptionally difficult: upstage center and in a direct line down stage. Get your people on stage before dress rehearsal and have them think out and up to the balcony. It isn't loudness that carries. In fact loudness strikes up subtle reverberations that muddle sound. It is (1) think up and out, (2) realize that it takes sound time to travel that distance 3 articulate clearly but not artificially, 4. Direct tones to the front. I know you have probably been aware of this, but I have to make sure -- And maybe you are not in Cahn!
[Comments about an NU colleague -- DD]
Can't you get the department to bring in a good voice instructor? Your people badly need it. It is shocking that people in the field of acting graduate from Speech with such hideously inadequate voices. And people like T [A former graduate assistant, studying in Bloomsburg -- DD] are not equipped to do the job! And Speech reeducation people [now the department of Communications Sciences and Disorders -- DD] are not equipped to do the job. They know only remedial speech, not speech for the actor. When is the department going to wake up to this fact?
Write me in full about Delicate Balance opening. You know we are all wishing big wishes for you. Keep your spine erect, no caving in! My other self will be sitting in the right end seat, 8th row, center section. Tell them to play out to me.
A.K.
****
Letter (19 December 1977)
I have not yet had a direct account of Delicate Balance, maybe Rand will be back tonight. [Rand Whipple, NU alum and Bloomsburg student, and current resident of Bloomsburg PA -- DD]
Sizing up the strength and weakness of this year's group: You must concentrate on responding, responding to fellow actors, to the world in which their characters exist, to the specifics in that world which play on character. These people still want to play emotions, say lines! After six months of Chekhov. I am desperate. They can play escape, but from what: the stemming from the stimulus is missing. And stir creative minds!
Always,
AK
****
Letter (30 December 1977)
David, this letter came to me from John Van Meter. He is a deeply thoughtful critic. I thought you might like to see it. It is high encouragement. Did the theatre staff recognize the merit in your work?
[...Discussion of the beginning plans to start a theatre in Bloomsburg -- DD]
A brilliant 1978 to you!
A.K.
Letter to Krause from John Van Meter (27 December 1977)
Dear Alvina,
David's production was such as to command the utmost respect from all who saw it. The quality of listening in the audience was something you rarely sense in theatres today and the lively discussions of Albee's intent, meanings, dramatic methods which you heard in the lobby during intermissions and after the play showed that the drama was engrossing to the spectators. David seems to have spent his rehearsal time on all the right things, so that we were treated not only to comedy and climaxes, but to poetry, good diction, voices well-placed, actors' bodies under control, developing characters and character relationships, beautiful resonances after and between lines. He did, I thought, an especially remarkable job of opening up the evening -- of establishing his characters, the tone of the evening to come, the questions to be probed in our own minds. David seemed genuinely excited by my suggestion to him that his principal characters needed something "new" to do in the latter part of the play so that an audience wouldn't feel they had heard all the strings in a given actor's bow -- that some new vocal tones, new notes of speaking, new acting areas to play in, new attacks on scenes, etc. in the last hour of playing could keep us refreshed and on the edges of our seats right up to the end. David's mind grasped the possibilities of this with any production and went racing off to develop its potential: he has a robust intelligence. I know you would have been thrilled by the play in performance and by seeing the sound applications of your principles to worthwhile material. And at NU again -- of all places. My own fondness for Albee as a playwright has quickly-reached limits: I find his people tiresome, I don't like some of his involuted dialogue, he hints at things he will dramatize later and then sidesteps the whole matter instead, and he is too darkly pessimistic for my taste. I would hate to be trapped for six weeks as the director of one of his plays, but I admire David's staying power in such a situation. When he told me about some of his problems with individual cast members (the girl who played the four-times divorced daughter in particular) I was in awe of his handling of the cast, for it was ensemble playing from beginning to end. And how difficult! -- all the characters in that grey zone of middle age where nothing but solid character acting will carry the day, even if the average cast age is 20! ... a college girl who has to be drunk all evening, etc. etc. David dared mightily and brought off a production to be remembered by U. T. [University Theatre -- DD] audiences. His lot from now on with his colleagues wil not be an easy one. He is too good!
I'm delighted to know that Lucy has been feeling well and that you have had some company in the house for part of the holidays. I'm so sorry to learn of your sister's death. [Krause's favorite sibling -- Otelia? Krause was the youngest of five and ten years younger than Otelia, the next youngest -- DD] Would that we could go on at our peak performances always and not have to waste away. But it cannot be. And so I settle for memories more and more of the enrichments that have come my way from those who have at some time been close to me.
Will you ladies travel to Chicago when the snows are over or shall I come to Bloomsburg again to see you?
Love,
John
The play I directed for my first University Theatre mainstage production (fall quarter 1977) was Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance.
Letter (27 November 1977)
David,
Do you present your show in Cahn? [The largest theater auditorium on campus. With one balcony, it seats over a thousand-- DD] If you do let me warn you about projection problems. You know it is difficult. There are spots on stage from which it is exceptionally difficult: upstage center and in a direct line down stage. Get your people on stage before dress rehearsal and have them think out and up to the balcony. It isn't loudness that carries. In fact loudness strikes up subtle reverberations that muddle sound. It is (1) think up and out, (2) realize that it takes sound time to travel that distance 3 articulate clearly but not artificially, 4. Direct tones to the front. I know you have probably been aware of this, but I have to make sure -- And maybe you are not in Cahn!
[Comments about an NU colleague -- DD]
Can't you get the department to bring in a good voice instructor? Your people badly need it. It is shocking that people in the field of acting graduate from Speech with such hideously inadequate voices. And people like T [A former graduate assistant, studying in Bloomsburg -- DD] are not equipped to do the job! And Speech reeducation people [now the department of Communications Sciences and Disorders -- DD] are not equipped to do the job. They know only remedial speech, not speech for the actor. When is the department going to wake up to this fact?
Write me in full about Delicate Balance opening. You know we are all wishing big wishes for you. Keep your spine erect, no caving in! My other self will be sitting in the right end seat, 8th row, center section. Tell them to play out to me.
A.K.
****
Letter (19 December 1977)
I have not yet had a direct account of Delicate Balance, maybe Rand will be back tonight. [Rand Whipple, NU alum and Bloomsburg student, and current resident of Bloomsburg PA -- DD]
Sizing up the strength and weakness of this year's group: You must concentrate on responding, responding to fellow actors, to the world in which their characters exist, to the specifics in that world which play on character. These people still want to play emotions, say lines! After six months of Chekhov. I am desperate. They can play escape, but from what: the stemming from the stimulus is missing. And stir creative minds!
Always,
AK
****
Letter (30 December 1977)
David, this letter came to me from John Van Meter. He is a deeply thoughtful critic. I thought you might like to see it. It is high encouragement. Did the theatre staff recognize the merit in your work?
[...Discussion of the beginning plans to start a theatre in Bloomsburg -- DD]
A brilliant 1978 to you!
A.K.
Letter to Krause from John Van Meter (27 December 1977)
Dear Alvina,
David's production was such as to command the utmost respect from all who saw it. The quality of listening in the audience was something you rarely sense in theatres today and the lively discussions of Albee's intent, meanings, dramatic methods which you heard in the lobby during intermissions and after the play showed that the drama was engrossing to the spectators. David seems to have spent his rehearsal time on all the right things, so that we were treated not only to comedy and climaxes, but to poetry, good diction, voices well-placed, actors' bodies under control, developing characters and character relationships, beautiful resonances after and between lines. He did, I thought, an especially remarkable job of opening up the evening -- of establishing his characters, the tone of the evening to come, the questions to be probed in our own minds. David seemed genuinely excited by my suggestion to him that his principal characters needed something "new" to do in the latter part of the play so that an audience wouldn't feel they had heard all the strings in a given actor's bow -- that some new vocal tones, new notes of speaking, new acting areas to play in, new attacks on scenes, etc. in the last hour of playing could keep us refreshed and on the edges of our seats right up to the end. David's mind grasped the possibilities of this with any production and went racing off to develop its potential: he has a robust intelligence. I know you would have been thrilled by the play in performance and by seeing the sound applications of your principles to worthwhile material. And at NU again -- of all places. My own fondness for Albee as a playwright has quickly-reached limits: I find his people tiresome, I don't like some of his involuted dialogue, he hints at things he will dramatize later and then sidesteps the whole matter instead, and he is too darkly pessimistic for my taste. I would hate to be trapped for six weeks as the director of one of his plays, but I admire David's staying power in such a situation. When he told me about some of his problems with individual cast members (the girl who played the four-times divorced daughter in particular) I was in awe of his handling of the cast, for it was ensemble playing from beginning to end. And how difficult! -- all the characters in that grey zone of middle age where nothing but solid character acting will carry the day, even if the average cast age is 20! ... a college girl who has to be drunk all evening, etc. etc. David dared mightily and brought off a production to be remembered by U. T. [University Theatre -- DD] audiences. His lot from now on with his colleagues wil not be an easy one. He is too good!
I'm delighted to know that Lucy has been feeling well and that you have had some company in the house for part of the holidays. I'm so sorry to learn of your sister's death. [Krause's favorite sibling -- Otelia? Krause was the youngest of five and ten years younger than Otelia, the next youngest -- DD] Would that we could go on at our peak performances always and not have to waste away. But it cannot be. And so I settle for memories more and more of the enrichments that have come my way from those who have at some time been close to me.
Will you ladies travel to Chicago when the snows are over or shall I come to Bloomsburg again to see you?
Love,
John
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Letters from Alvina Krause: Winter 1978
Context
The School of Speech was planning to publish a 100th anniversary history.
Letter
David,
A Centennial history of the School done by a present graduate student fills me with horror. What department is the student in? He should be in Interpretation. Not by Public Speaking! The School was first of all: Interpretation. You should supervise the study -- can't you manage it? If not it should be Lilla. [Lilla Heston, chair of the Interpretation Department]. She has more links with the Dennis regime than anyone. See that whoever does it gets in touch with Hazel Easton [Instructor of Voice and Interpretation 1919-1936; those positions were phased out in 1936. And Winifred Ward's life partner (see blog post of September 22, 2012) -- DD], she will have invaluable material and perhaps knows how to reach people still living who were in some way connected with the Dennis years. Be sure that whoever does it begins with a graduate dissertation done some years ago on Cumnock by Grace Mattern. That Centennial paper must come out of the Interp department. It was when McBurney, a public speaking man, was made Dean that the ruin began. Let's have an end to hypocrisy!
Your new course -- splendid. Go on working at it, think about it deeply, find yourself in it. That's all I can say. Find what you really want to say through theatre. Keep at theatre roots in living, but growing to theatre. Set up goals, never lose sight of them. What is it we want: great Theatre. Now define that term! Never lose sight of what you are really teaching. And what students deeply need --
My flu has been dreadful -- I still go weak with no provocation. And I am sick of being shut in for three weeks! And my head doesn't click on all fours. And I didn't know Moliere would be such a nightmare to teach. They seem all responsive, understanding ---- and nothing happens. No carry over. They do nothing. They seem content to know about. There's no drive to do. Are any of them really actors?
Happy working!
****
Letter
David,
[...Krause asks about someone who had written to inquire about joining the Bloomsburg students...--DD]
Lynn Rein [Hired to write the centenary history of the School of Speech -- DD] was an experience! I hate living in the past. I recognize roots in the past, but I do not want to relive it. And she did her dissertation on Lew Sarett! [Professor of prosody in the Public Address and Communication Department 1920-1953 --DD] That bit of news almost turned me off completely. Lew Sarett put McBurney in the Dean's chair. His name, to me, is anathema. For whom is she writing this book? Wood? [Roy V. Wood, Dean of the School of Speech 1972-1988 -- DD] NU? Who is financing it? She somehow dodged my questions. Has she interviewed Sam Ball? (Teacher of Set Design 1960 to late 1990s] He could tell a thing or two about the McBurney era. I wish Rein success but what can she do with the McBurney years. And will she tell he married his daughter-in-law after his son deserted her. To my amazement she had found C C Cunningham's [Professor of Interpretation 1929-1947-- DD] letter of resignation in the library! In President Miller's files. You must read it some day. It was plain truth he told.
[...Discussion of the situation with her current Bloomsburg students... -- DD]
W was here the other night all afire -- he had just discovered Shaw. He was so excited he bounced in his chair. He had just discovered Bernard Shaw! You get busy and really teach this giant in Theatre! M is full of Shavian vitality too. He is a stimulant. Teach him.
We have just returned from a beautiful trip to the Gaspé Peninsula. John Van Meter drove us. Beautiful!
Make it a great year!
The School of Speech was planning to publish a 100th anniversary history.
Letter
David,
A Centennial history of the School done by a present graduate student fills me with horror. What department is the student in? He should be in Interpretation. Not by Public Speaking! The School was first of all: Interpretation. You should supervise the study -- can't you manage it? If not it should be Lilla. [Lilla Heston, chair of the Interpretation Department]. She has more links with the Dennis regime than anyone. See that whoever does it gets in touch with Hazel Easton [Instructor of Voice and Interpretation 1919-1936; those positions were phased out in 1936. And Winifred Ward's life partner (see blog post of September 22, 2012) -- DD], she will have invaluable material and perhaps knows how to reach people still living who were in some way connected with the Dennis years. Be sure that whoever does it begins with a graduate dissertation done some years ago on Cumnock by Grace Mattern. That Centennial paper must come out of the Interp department. It was when McBurney, a public speaking man, was made Dean that the ruin began. Let's have an end to hypocrisy!
Your new course -- splendid. Go on working at it, think about it deeply, find yourself in it. That's all I can say. Find what you really want to say through theatre. Keep at theatre roots in living, but growing to theatre. Set up goals, never lose sight of them. What is it we want: great Theatre. Now define that term! Never lose sight of what you are really teaching. And what students deeply need --
My flu has been dreadful -- I still go weak with no provocation. And I am sick of being shut in for three weeks! And my head doesn't click on all fours. And I didn't know Moliere would be such a nightmare to teach. They seem all responsive, understanding ---- and nothing happens. No carry over. They do nothing. They seem content to know about. There's no drive to do. Are any of them really actors?
Happy working!
****
Letter
David,
[...Krause asks about someone who had written to inquire about joining the Bloomsburg students...--DD]
Lynn Rein [Hired to write the centenary history of the School of Speech -- DD] was an experience! I hate living in the past. I recognize roots in the past, but I do not want to relive it. And she did her dissertation on Lew Sarett! [Professor of prosody in the Public Address and Communication Department 1920-1953 --DD] That bit of news almost turned me off completely. Lew Sarett put McBurney in the Dean's chair. His name, to me, is anathema. For whom is she writing this book? Wood? [Roy V. Wood, Dean of the School of Speech 1972-1988 -- DD] NU? Who is financing it? She somehow dodged my questions. Has she interviewed Sam Ball? (Teacher of Set Design 1960 to late 1990s] He could tell a thing or two about the McBurney era. I wish Rein success but what can she do with the McBurney years. And will she tell he married his daughter-in-law after his son deserted her. To my amazement she had found C C Cunningham's [Professor of Interpretation 1929-1947-- DD] letter of resignation in the library! In President Miller's files. You must read it some day. It was plain truth he told.
[...Discussion of the situation with her current Bloomsburg students... -- DD]
W was here the other night all afire -- he had just discovered Shaw. He was so excited he bounced in his chair. He had just discovered Bernard Shaw! You get busy and really teach this giant in Theatre! M is full of Shavian vitality too. He is a stimulant. Teach him.
We have just returned from a beautiful trip to the Gaspé Peninsula. John Van Meter drove us. Beautiful!
Make it a great year!
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Letters from Alvina Krause: Summer 1977
Context
It had been a tumultuous Ft. Lauderdale summer. This post is a conflation of two letters from Krause with discussions of her Bloomsburg students omitted.
Letter
Wisdom, David! Seek it! Hang onto it! Wisdom and understanding. Let this summer lead you to it. Try hard to see through this tangle and come through it without scars that are too deep.
[....]
...try to reach understanding. Pass no judgment until you can view it all from a distant mountain top. And grow, David! Taller and taller.
[....]
I think you all have learned much this summer. Or rather, much has crystallized. You have grown. I think you are, at least, the leader you should be. Is the way clear now? Are you strong enough to take over the role you must play at NU? No more downstage extra player positions? You know now that you can act, you can direct, you can teach.
The questions you ask me are the ones that hit me after I was retired and started travelling to other teachers. It hit hard: Where were the teachers of acting? I was shocked, amazed, sick: All other aspects of theatre taught in detail, but no acting -- Why? -- Because in this country -- in this great America, the "star" system prevails! You have it or you don't have it: it can't be taught -- And it has infected [Krause names names -- DD]
I don't need to give you the answer, David. You know it. You have found it.
[....]
Meanwhile if this group can start things going in Bloom -- Who knows maybe you don't need NU --
Be brave --
Two roads- - - -
I took the one less travelled by
And that made all the difference
Well?
It had been a tumultuous Ft. Lauderdale summer. This post is a conflation of two letters from Krause with discussions of her Bloomsburg students omitted.
Letter
Wisdom, David! Seek it! Hang onto it! Wisdom and understanding. Let this summer lead you to it. Try hard to see through this tangle and come through it without scars that are too deep.
[....]
...try to reach understanding. Pass no judgment until you can view it all from a distant mountain top. And grow, David! Taller and taller.
[....]
I think you all have learned much this summer. Or rather, much has crystallized. You have grown. I think you are, at least, the leader you should be. Is the way clear now? Are you strong enough to take over the role you must play at NU? No more downstage extra player positions? You know now that you can act, you can direct, you can teach.
The questions you ask me are the ones that hit me after I was retired and started travelling to other teachers. It hit hard: Where were the teachers of acting? I was shocked, amazed, sick: All other aspects of theatre taught in detail, but no acting -- Why? -- Because in this country -- in this great America, the "star" system prevails! You have it or you don't have it: it can't be taught -- And it has infected [Krause names names -- DD]
I don't need to give you the answer, David. You know it. You have found it.
[....]
Meanwhile if this group can start things going in Bloom -- Who knows maybe you don't need NU --
Be brave --
Two roads- - - -
I took the one less travelled by
And that made all the difference
Well?
Letters from Alvina Krause: Summer 1977
Context
Besides directing Arms and the Man in Ft. Lauderdale, I played Vladimir in Waiting for Godot. This post is an excerpt from a longer letter dealing with her Bloomsburg students.
Letter
[....]
If an audience does not look with you into the far distance and see nothing you fail. I suggest you play in black darkness and try to see light. If your audience sees a nuclear cloud rising -- good.
The comedy springs from the incongruity of two tramps, two naive humans concerned with a banana and the need for a toilet are faced with profundities -- Charlie Chaplin and a nuclear bomb -- You -- David -- washed up on a desert isle -- you need food -- why? -- shelter -- why? But you can't remember the end of "King Lear": Waiting for -- what? Godot. Never forget that empty waiting. So you eat a banana, take off a shoe, rub a corn, talk, take off a coat, put it on again -- endlessly waiting -- for what? And in come Pozzo -- money -- money -- and a slave remembering all the things he has forgotten -- with no association with realities. -- Some rehearsal play it as a nightmare more real than reality --
The summer was a curious one, but wound up with three final hours of work that make hope flame again.
[... Further discussion of her students -- DD....]
Besides directing Arms and the Man in Ft. Lauderdale, I played Vladimir in Waiting for Godot. This post is an excerpt from a longer letter dealing with her Bloomsburg students.
Letter
[....]
If an audience does not look with you into the far distance and see nothing you fail. I suggest you play in black darkness and try to see light. If your audience sees a nuclear cloud rising -- good.
The comedy springs from the incongruity of two tramps, two naive humans concerned with a banana and the need for a toilet are faced with profundities -- Charlie Chaplin and a nuclear bomb -- You -- David -- washed up on a desert isle -- you need food -- why? -- shelter -- why? But you can't remember the end of "King Lear": Waiting for -- what? Godot. Never forget that empty waiting. So you eat a banana, take off a shoe, rub a corn, talk, take off a coat, put it on again -- endlessly waiting -- for what? And in come Pozzo -- money -- money -- and a slave remembering all the things he has forgotten -- with no association with realities. -- Some rehearsal play it as a nightmare more real than reality --
The summer was a curious one, but wound up with three final hours of work that make hope flame again.
[... Further discussion of her students -- DD....]
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Letters from Alvina Krause: Winter 1977, Summer 1977
Context
A letter mostly about her Bloomsburg students.
I omit that central section.
Letter
David,
Wonderful! So you have really found the joy of teaching! You will probably suffer for it! Excellence cannot be tolerated, you know. But for the students' sake keep it up and know that the intolerance is acknowledgement of achievement on your part.
My class starts slowly. They chose to work on Shaw and he has them floundering for the time being.
[...Discussion of individuals -- DD]
These people have written me. Are they people I want if I decide to keep on with this strange, non-academic set-up. Would they work as hard and as intelligently as the present group?
[A list of names -- DD]
Onward!
A.K.
****
Context
During the summer of 1977 I directed a production of Shaw's Arms and the Man in Ft. Lauderdale in a company mostly of fellow Krause Bloomsburg students.
Letter
David,
So you have learned! The hard way! By seeing a good drama turn into a bad show! Now engrave it in hard words in your brain, your heart, your director's code: A director must be an autocrat, a tyrant, a strict disciplinarian. He must not compromise! The drama comes first, the public a close second. Keep your tender, compassionate heart in storage for your personal, private life. As a director you have no private life. For the period of rehearsal and production the play is your life! And your players will honor you, respect you, even love you if you are that autocrat. If those players are true theatre people they will make their private lives secondary to their theatre life. Shaw comes first. Serve him and you will be rewarded not only by public approval but by the deep respect of your cast. Stiffen your spine, David. No compromises with personal soft heartedness! I am happy your cast pulled through with a good performance Saturday night, but in future guard against that happening.
Clear your mind, David! You have the capacity to become a great director. Don't settle for less. Keep your vision clear, your sights clear: truth, excellence. Hold them to the highest! There are thousands of [Krause names three NU colleagues -- DD], but only a few greats. Join the latter!
A letter mostly about her Bloomsburg students.
I omit that central section.
Letter
David,
Wonderful! So you have really found the joy of teaching! You will probably suffer for it! Excellence cannot be tolerated, you know. But for the students' sake keep it up and know that the intolerance is acknowledgement of achievement on your part.
My class starts slowly. They chose to work on Shaw and he has them floundering for the time being.
[...Discussion of individuals -- DD]
These people have written me. Are they people I want if I decide to keep on with this strange, non-academic set-up. Would they work as hard and as intelligently as the present group?
[A list of names -- DD]
Onward!
A.K.
****
Context
During the summer of 1977 I directed a production of Shaw's Arms and the Man in Ft. Lauderdale in a company mostly of fellow Krause Bloomsburg students.
Letter
David,
So you have learned! The hard way! By seeing a good drama turn into a bad show! Now engrave it in hard words in your brain, your heart, your director's code: A director must be an autocrat, a tyrant, a strict disciplinarian. He must not compromise! The drama comes first, the public a close second. Keep your tender, compassionate heart in storage for your personal, private life. As a director you have no private life. For the period of rehearsal and production the play is your life! And your players will honor you, respect you, even love you if you are that autocrat. If those players are true theatre people they will make their private lives secondary to their theatre life. Shaw comes first. Serve him and you will be rewarded not only by public approval but by the deep respect of your cast. Stiffen your spine, David. No compromises with personal soft heartedness! I am happy your cast pulled through with a good performance Saturday night, but in future guard against that happening.
Clear your mind, David! You have the capacity to become a great director. Don't settle for less. Keep your vision clear, your sights clear: truth, excellence. Hold them to the highest! There are thousands of [Krause names three NU colleagues -- DD], but only a few greats. Join the latter!
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Letters from Alvina Krause: Fall 1976
Context
My first professional acting job in Chicago: A Day in the Death of Joe Egg by Peter Nichols. Directed by Dennis Zacek. Northlight Theatre.
Letter
Just had a long telephone call from John Van Meter. Ecstatic over "Joe Egg". And John to be moved to ecstasy is most rare. He praised your work in great detail. And praised the directing! That was a surprise after seeing his work at Loyola. [Zacek was artistic director of Chicago's Victory Gardens Theatre from 1977 to 2011. In fall 1971 at Loyola he co-directed with Bud Beyer a production of Romeo and Juliet, which I think is the only production of Zacek's that Krause saw. At Loyola I acted in several shows directed by Zacek: The Knack (fall 1969), Little Mary Sunshine (spring 1970), The Roar of the Greasepaint the Smell of the Crowd (summer 1970), Thieves' Carnival (summer 1970), Waiting for Godot (winter 1971) -- DD]
So you did it! You truly did it! Tied up all you have learned and all that you are. Now will you stand tall! Without any prodding. Now will you teach with joy? You better! And meet your faculty colleagues eye to eye. Be humble thinking of all there is still to achieve, but no humility before the Coakleys, Schneidemans [faculty colleagues -- DD], etc. of your world. Did the Dean see your production? No humility before him either! Eye to eye assurance!
Thank you for giving me an opportunity to gloat a little personally. Grin at [She names another colleague -- DD] for me!
A.K.
****
David,
I am deeply curious about the 2 million plus that has been contributed to the theatre fund. Do find out who gave it. The Dean should be willing to tell. [I didn't ask; he didn't tell -- DD]
As for the article [Is it the Dialogue article? something else? I can't remember -- DD] -- no one could do it more effectively than you -- especially since this summer when I think you were objective about the totality of theatre training. Whatever you do keep it down to earth, realistic, true. No eulogy. The roots of acting are in humanity. The study of characters is the study of man -- of the people of a small town, a big town, a family, a Congress, a White House. if you can stick to assignments -- I so much wish you could destroy the charisma rationalization that [She names a colleague -- DD] and other theatre staff are propagating. The extension of the theories of psychology, sociology, history, etc -- into reality, into humanity ---- why can't people see it -- They don't want to: it's hard going, it means thinking, understanding, perceiving. And that statement: "Acting can't be taught; you have it or you don't" -- that sticks in my craw! -- And vitally concerned. Not a day goes by, studying Chekhov, that we have not referred to US politics, the nuclear bomb, education, etc -- Be sure to indicate that studying drama is not going back to the past; it is bringing our past to our present.
God bless!
****
Context
After the second week of fall 1976, I stopped writing a teaching journal. This is one of Krause's last comments in that journal.
Comment
I burst with joy!
Now you are strong. You know where you are going.
Fear Nothing -- No One
Take Workshop [Student-directed one-acts -- DD] on any terms and convert it into yours with superior leadership
My first professional acting job in Chicago: A Day in the Death of Joe Egg by Peter Nichols. Directed by Dennis Zacek. Northlight Theatre.
Letter
Just had a long telephone call from John Van Meter. Ecstatic over "Joe Egg". And John to be moved to ecstasy is most rare. He praised your work in great detail. And praised the directing! That was a surprise after seeing his work at Loyola. [Zacek was artistic director of Chicago's Victory Gardens Theatre from 1977 to 2011. In fall 1971 at Loyola he co-directed with Bud Beyer a production of Romeo and Juliet, which I think is the only production of Zacek's that Krause saw. At Loyola I acted in several shows directed by Zacek: The Knack (fall 1969), Little Mary Sunshine (spring 1970), The Roar of the Greasepaint the Smell of the Crowd (summer 1970), Thieves' Carnival (summer 1970), Waiting for Godot (winter 1971) -- DD]
So you did it! You truly did it! Tied up all you have learned and all that you are. Now will you stand tall! Without any prodding. Now will you teach with joy? You better! And meet your faculty colleagues eye to eye. Be humble thinking of all there is still to achieve, but no humility before the Coakleys, Schneidemans [faculty colleagues -- DD], etc. of your world. Did the Dean see your production? No humility before him either! Eye to eye assurance!
Thank you for giving me an opportunity to gloat a little personally. Grin at [She names another colleague -- DD] for me!
A.K.
****
David,
I am deeply curious about the 2 million plus that has been contributed to the theatre fund. Do find out who gave it. The Dean should be willing to tell. [I didn't ask; he didn't tell -- DD]
As for the article [Is it the Dialogue article? something else? I can't remember -- DD] -- no one could do it more effectively than you -- especially since this summer when I think you were objective about the totality of theatre training. Whatever you do keep it down to earth, realistic, true. No eulogy. The roots of acting are in humanity. The study of characters is the study of man -- of the people of a small town, a big town, a family, a Congress, a White House. if you can stick to assignments -- I so much wish you could destroy the charisma rationalization that [She names a colleague -- DD] and other theatre staff are propagating. The extension of the theories of psychology, sociology, history, etc -- into reality, into humanity ---- why can't people see it -- They don't want to: it's hard going, it means thinking, understanding, perceiving. And that statement: "Acting can't be taught; you have it or you don't" -- that sticks in my craw! -- And vitally concerned. Not a day goes by, studying Chekhov, that we have not referred to US politics, the nuclear bomb, education, etc -- Be sure to indicate that studying drama is not going back to the past; it is bringing our past to our present.
God bless!
****
Context
After the second week of fall 1976, I stopped writing a teaching journal. This is one of Krause's last comments in that journal.
Comment
I burst with joy!
Now you are strong. You know where you are going.
Fear Nothing -- No One
Take Workshop [Student-directed one-acts -- DD] on any terms and convert it into yours with superior leadership
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