Letters from Alvina Krause: November 1980

Note to DGO Subscribers
If you read Krause's letters via the email sent to you by Feedburner, please check the actual blog post of Friday January 18 for a video of Krause's remarks accepting the President's medal.

Letter of November 1, 1980
Congratulations on Candida. Tell your cast I am proud for them. Now they can move on to even greater achievements. Bravo!
Doll's House was a success too. Good houses of people new to our theatre. Julie did a terrific performance of Nora. She is a true actress. And how the audience loved Ibsen! They were spellbound for three hours. One man said -- mind you: a man -- "that wasn't written 100 years ago! That's today!" Do you think Ibsen heard that?
I have a group coming today for a three hour session on acting -- Next weekend we go to NY for the dedication of a little off-off Broadway theatre which will bear the name "The Alvina Krause Theatre" -- two more days of celebration of my name in light in NY!
On your next visit to the Dean could you just subtly insert the words that we are working, striving, begging for $25,000 down payment on our theatre. The irony of it! I witnessed all that money thousands, millions tossed about at NU and BTE is begging for $25,000 down payment.
You are on the crest of a wave: ride it!
A.K.

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Letter of November 21, 1980
Is NU Speech restored to normalcy?
I spent a weekend in NY for the dedication of Neal Weaver's The Alvina Krause Theatre. A tiny little theatre on a top floor, but oh, the love! They had invited former students of mine -- I couldn't believe it! There was Priscilla Weaver, one of the three original founders of E.M.! [Summers at The Playhouse, Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania, started in 1945. Patricia Neal was among the original group -- DD] I had not seen her since she left EM in 1946. And there we stood holding hands and saying over and over "Oh, Priscilla, Priscilla!" "Miss Krause"! And George Furth broke in -- George Schweinfurth who couldn't act "but you can write, George. Write." And "Twiggy" made him rich -- and there was the fabric of my life -- Norm Larson [Not sure of either the spelling or the identification -- DD] came up from Washington -- You know the real story that should be written about me? "AK actors who became writers, teachers, leaders." They are every bit as important as Charlton Heston, Patricia Neal, etc etc. It was a wonderful two days I had with them.
Thank you for the clippings. I especially appreciated the Evanston Review article and picture. Or isn't it called "Evanston Review" any more?
BTE has accumulated $15,000 toward the down payment on the Columbia Theatre. They have a few days left to collect the rest of the down payment. Did Dean Wood mean it when he said "I can do something about it"? By the way, is he going to pay my plane fare? I have not heard from him --
We are deep in Christmas Carol --
Beautiful letter from one of your students --
A.K.