The First Decade: 1963-1973

celebrate the past, present and future

contents

It started with a simple idea. To commemorate our 50th Anniversary season, we would reach out to fifteen amazing artists who had called Seattle Rep their home and ask them to be part of an Honorary Artistic Council. Perhaps they would share a few stories about their time in Seattle, and then we, in turn, could share those memories with you – our audience.

Assembling the Team p. A-6

And that is how it all began. Stories from one conversation would spill into another, leading to more conversations with more artists – and repeated trips into the archives. We began to uncover the wealth of photos, programs, and assorted memorabilia hidden away, but not forgotten. During the course of the season we’ll be sharing these rediscovered treasures.

The Acting Company p. A-7

Tucked into each Bagley Wright Theatre Encore program will be a Decades insert, each tackling a different ten-year period of the theatre’s history. Our goal is not to present an exhaustive overview, but to leave you with a feeling – a sense of the work that was done and the people, particularly the artists, who made it all possible.

Building An Audience p. A-9

In addition to our Decades inserts, we have updated our website to reflect our 50 years of life onstage. Visit us at www.seattlerep.org to find more information about our Honorary Artistic Council, an enhanced production history, and an interactive timeline that allows you to share your own memories. We hope you’ll join the conversation.

How It All Began p. A-4 Stuart Vaughan p. A-5

Contract Negotiation – 60s Style p. A-6

Rotating Repertory p. A-8

The Inaugural Season pp. A-10 – A-11 Two Generations p. A-12 Moving Forward p. A-13

This Decades insert was made possible thanks to the generosity of Encore Media Group. Content provided by: Karen Rippel Chilcote Editor Andry Laurence Graphic Designer Peggy Scales Interviewer

Opposite page photos from left to right, top to bottom: Patrick Hines and Marjorie Nelson in The Hostage (1966), Josef Sommer and Kay Doubleday in Tartuffe (1967), Cast of The Night of the Iguana (1967), Laurie Books-Jefferson and Patrick Gorman in Juno and the Paycock (1968), Beverly Atkinson in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1968), Cast of Lysistrata (1969), Cast of The Blacks at Off Center Theatre (1969), Richard Gere in The Initiation (1970), John Kaufman in Indians (1970), Clayton Corzatte and Ted D’Arms in A Flea in Her Ear (1970),Cast of Hay Fever (1971), Hazel Haynes, Ron Glass, Joe Fields, and Bea Winde in Happy Ending (1971), Margaret Hamilton in Ring ‘Round the Moon (1971), Cast of The House of Blue Leaves (1971), Pauline Flanagan and Ronny Graham in And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little (1972). Editorial photos. p.A6: Cast of King Lear, Kay Doubleday and Roy Clary in The Cherry Orchard, Jonathan Farwell, Elizabeth MacDonald and John Gilbert in The Importance of Being Earnest . p. A12: Pauline Flanagan and Jonathan Farwell in The Crucible. Photo credits: The Hostage by Bill Houlton. Seattle Repertory Theatre archives are incomplete; all other production photo credits are unknown. The First Decade: 1963-1973    A-3

THE FIRST DECADE HOW IT ALL BEGAN Buoyed by the cultural success of the 1962 World’s Fair, a handful of community leaders—with Bagley Wright at the helm—envisioned for Seattle a professional theatre company to rival the best in New York. Seattle Repertory Theatre was founded in 1963 to realize that vision. But did you ever wonder where those community leaders got that idea? Legend at the Rep always placed the original impetus to join the regional theatre movement on visiting artist Hal Holbrook. So we decided to ask Mr. Holbrook directly.

lbrook Hal Ho Twain, as Mark 62. circa 19

“Yes, it was I who suggested to a couple of the businessmen who put the Seattle World’s Fair together in 1962 that they start a repertory theatre in the playhouse where I did Mark Twain for about a week. They didn’t seem to know what a repertory theatre was until I explained to them that it could be a very valuable addition to the town and that Tyrone Guthrie was getting one underway in Minneapolis. They later offered me the job of Artistic Director which I could not accept and I suggested Stuart Vaughan for the job. I had just worked with him in Abe Lincoln in Illinois.”

AND WHAT WERE STUART VAUGHAN’S CREDENTIALS? Mr. Vaughan was a seasoned actor and director, of both summer stock and Broadway. A Fulbright Grant recipient in the program’s inaugural year for theatre (1949—1950), he had spent a year in England at The Central School, Sir Laurence Olivier’s alma mater, to work with British repertory theatres in order to find out why they had so many resident theatres and how they managed to survive. To quote Mr. Vaughan, he had a motto at the time: “The only reason to be in the American Theatre is to change it.”

Stuart Vaughan

while serving in a company of fellow actors devoted to forging a company “style,” the life of an American actor consisted primarily of searching for financial success on film and in TV, and only occasionally performing in a play on Broadway or elsewhere with a pick–up company while waiting for the Hollywood phone to ring. Was this a fruitful destination for careers that had begun with a devotion to the 2500–year–old art of theatre? Hal and I went for a beer at McSorley’s one night after rehearsal, and I found myself lamenting aloud that our theatre offered no place for an actor to grow as a member of a company that existed for art’s sake, and that New York actors seemed trapped in a society that used “show business” to help expensive New York real estate pay for itself. He told me about doing his Mark Twain in Seattle, about the Playhouse built as part of their uniquely successful World’s Fair, and that some city fathers had approached him to inquire about how they could go about starting a regional theatre. Would I like him to put me in contact with those Seattle folks? Would I! He did. From that conversation, and after only two beers apiece, came phone calls, letters, and an invitation to come out to meet with Ewen Dingwall, who had guided the World’s Fair to success. I flew out, and “Ding” and I were joined by my friend Greg Falls, then head of theatre at the University of Washington. We met with other worthies, I saw the Playhouse, got a crash course on the Seattle cultural scene, and laid out some thoughts about the nature of the theatre company I could envisage creating. I remember saying, based on my New York experience with the Phoenix, that such a theatre’s board, should they decide to go ahead, could expect a probable income gap for the first season. If they could deal with that, we should keep talking; if not, they should consider going in a different direction.”

As Mr. Vaughan remembers: “As the first Artistic Director of The New York Shakespeare Festival and as Artistic Director of New York’s Phoenix Theatre, I had the chance to direct acting companies in productions that, while not exactly changing the American Theatre, had indeed some influence. I had become one of the leaders of a revolution: the emergence of the American not–for–profit theatre. This was more a change in financial organization than artistic progress, but it gave one hope. During a sabbatical leave from the Phoenix, a Ford Foundation Directors Grant funded my visits to Brecht’s Berliner Ensemble, Sweden’s Royal Dramat, Milano’s Piccolo Teatro, and other theatres where resident companies performed in repertory. Returning to the Phoenix to direct the wonderful Hal Holbrook in Abe Lincoln in Illinois, I was even more aware of the plight of the working American actor. Instead of happily rehearsing a play in the daytime and playing in a different one at night

Among the worthies was a young man by the name of Bagley Wright. An investor in the Space Needle and an avid arts enthusiast, he would quickly become a driving force behind the theatre’s founding.

Playhouse, 1962 .

ASSEMBLING THE TEAM William S. Taylor, who had a distinguished record working for the Ford Foundation, as administrative head of a major dance company, and as associate director of Charleston’s Dock Street Theatre, was appointed Executive Director. As an accomplished director of plays he had a solid background in the artistic as well as the business side. As Stuart recalls, “In the spring of 1963, we arrived in Seattle to get things moving. We were given office space in a former armory, which since the Fair had served as the Seattle Center’s Food Circus. Amidst the smells, the stalls, and the tourists, we hired our staff, set up our subscription campaign, and began our casting and production plans.”

CONTRACT NEGOTIATION—60S STYLE As it is today, the Playhouse was a city–owned building and was required to engage union stagehands. Under Stuart Vaughan’s leadership, the crew would need not only to run the performance, but to hang lights and to build sets, since union stagehands would not handle non–union–built scenery. A crew was needed that could spend most of their working day building scenery, and the rest of their day setting up and running the performance. At that time, no theatre in the country had such a contract. Again, Mr. Vaughan provides some insight on the negotiation process: “The business representative for the stagehand’s union was a hard–headed, rough–spoken, actually good–hearted old stager named Floyd Hart, who knew set-building and running shows. Bill Taylor and Hart had a series of unproductive meetings as the time left for negotiations grew shorter. Floyd was known to be the last drinker left standing if anyone was, and Bill figured he was probably able to match Floyd drink for drink. So, a final meeting took place, covering many Seattle bars and lasting for about twenty-four hours, from which both stalwarts could remember enough to draw up a contract—which pleased everybody! Floyd assembled an able crew, who during these first seasons proved to be a loyal crew. Playing a different play each night, sets were designed so a change–over from play to play could be done in one hour. Those guys, both building and running, worked hard and were proud of it. They even wore T–shirts emblazoned with the words Stuart Vaughan’s Idiots. I was flattered.”

Pictured this page: King Lear, 1963; The Cherry Orchard,1965; The Importance of Being Earnest, 1965. A-6

THE ACTING COMPANY In due course, the actors arrived, many of whom had worked with Stuart Vaughan before. Thomas Hill, with actress wife Anne Gerety, had been with the Cleveland Playhouse for some years. Vernon Weddle (Lear in the Rep’s first production) had just been in Vaughan’s Abe Lincoln in New York. Stephen Joyce, from Hollywood and TV, had been Romeo in the New York Shakespeare Festival’s first Central Park production, directed by Vaughan. Archie Smith and actress wife Kay Doubleday came from New York with many shows, Actors Studio membership, and teaching credits. Conrad Bain, later a TV star, had been in Vaughan’s first Phoenix Theatre production. Ruth Sobotka was a former Balanchine dancer turned actress. William Myers was a character actor with solid classic credentials. Pauline Flanagan was a well–known Irish actress—Abbey Theatre and Broadway. (She and her actor husband George Vogel had their first child in Seattle. See sidebar.) Marjorie Nelson had been in the Seattle Repertory company of the 1930’s, and John Gilbert was hired as a recent University of Washington graduate. Nina Polan, of Warsaw, London, and New York is still active, heading her Polish Theatre Institute in the U.S.A. WHAT DREW THESE ARTISTS TO SEATTLE? For some, it was the excitement of starting a new type of theatre; others were wooed by Vaughan himself, as well as the opportunity to stay in one place with their families. All agreed that Seattle was something special. As Stephen Joyce shared with us: “My wife Billie and our children Toni, Mike and Carol drove to Seattle directly from the San Diego Shakespeare Festival; it had been a wonderful summer doing Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the King in Winter’s Tale and Antony in Antony and Cleopatra. Michael and Toni had appeared in the plays with me and almost fifty years later remember those days fondly. So we arrived in Seattle to open a new theatre with high hopes. King Lear was to be our first production in rotating repertory with The Firebugs and Death of a Salesman. When we arrived in Seattle and rented a house on Mercer Island on the shores of Lake Washington, with our own dock and flocks of birds from med hens to mallards to Canadian geese for our youngest daughter to feed before school, it all seemed to be the perfect place to spend a year of our life.” For the late Marjorie Nelson, that first year was inspirational. As she shared with a Rep staff member in a January 2000 interview, “we thought we were really going to do something. There was a sense of the importance of a regional theatre. There was great enjoyment of working with one another. We worked everyday and had a lot of fun doing theatre exercises, talking with the new trustees of the theatre. For many of us a sense of isolation alternated with a sense of exploration. We literally felt like pioneers.”

A FAMILY AFFAIR: PAULINE FLANAGAN AND GEORGE VOGEL

Pauline Flanagan was the first leading lady at Seattle Rep. She passed away in 2003 after a long and distinguished career. As her surviving husband George shared: “I became a member of the Seattle Rep because Stuart Vaughan wanted my wife in the company. In any event, he was able to find a place for me…Pauline and I were married for 45 years. The audience in Seattle might like to know that she went on to Broadway and capped her career by winning the Laurence Olivier award for her performance in Dooly West’s Kitchen at the Old Vic in London. We all did our best to get the theatre off to a strong start and repay the trust that Bagley Wright and the board had given us. Now that 50 years have passed and the Seattle Rep is still in business, I think we can assume we did something right. As to memories, there are so many that I wouldn’t know where to begin, but they are all about the people. As a company it was one of the best I ever had the good fortune to work with. I made some lifetime friends and I can’t end this without mentioning Gertrude Verrier. She was the costume lady who was always there with a needle and thread and a smile. Everyone in the company loved her.” His daughter, Jane Vogel Holtzen shared the same fond memories: “While I wasn’t a member of the cast, I was made to feel that I was a part of the company. After my mother had my sister, I was jealous of her and—being 4 years old—made my feelings rather well known loudly. Instead of berating me, the wardrobe mistress Gertrude made me an exact copy of a costume my mother was wearing on stage. I will always treasure that time in my life as happy and fulfilling.” The First Decade: 1963-1973    A-7

ROTATING REPERTORY The plays, during Stuart Vaughan’s Seattle tenure, were played in rotating repertory. In a repertory theatre, several plays may be presented in a given week.

theatre and its process that builds loyalty and affection—a trust between theatre and audience, allowing the theatre increasing scope for experimentation and the raising of standards.

Creating an artistic home, where actors can become comfortable both in theatre and in the community…these possibilities were my goals in wanting to seek out a place where a special theatre experience was possible. When the Seattle Repertory was “From childhood, I had founded, I hoped our actors, staff, and been raised to believe that board of trustees could build such a theatre the real fun and challenge together.” of acting is to become someone you’re NOT and to Institutional support was strong for the inhabit that persona totally rotating repertory model in the beginning, in performance. To try to but the financial challenges it posed always achieve that in multiple roles troubled the theatre’s community backers. performing alternately is like As the late Bagley Wright, a founding being a kid in a candy shop.” President of the Board of Trustees, noted on

Vaughan was, and is, a huge proponent of the repertory theatre model. As he enthused: “I believe such programming is actually superior for both actor and audience than scheduling individual plays in sequential runs. Occupying more than one role in a given week calls on the actor to carefully differentiate between them, thus increasing his/her range. Too, a week’s roles may be of different sizes, conserving actor energy for the bigger parts. Company morale is always better in theatres where everyone gets a chance for some big parts as well as playing some small ones. When plays are played in sequence, say, four weeks, and then on to the next play, performances toward the end of the run can get stale. With a different play every night, performances are always fresh.

Audiences for a resident company enjoy seeing actors they’ve come to know extend themselves in new directions. While new faces offer novelty, audiences who are allowed to follow the development of talent and company style form a bond with the

Seattle Rep staff, 1965.

the occasion of our 30–year anniversary: “Theatre professionals were all sick of the Broadway stage, where plays would open one night and close the next at the mercy of one or two critics. Stuart Vaughan’s rallying cry was, ‘We need the right to fail.’ However, it turned out that they didn’t have the freedom to fail after all. They might not have closed the next night, but they could close the whole theatre if things didn’t work out well over a period of time.”

—Jonathan Farwell, Company Member

The Firebugs, 1963.

BUILDING AN AUDIENCE Following the Ford Foundation’s prescription for a subscription campaign, Stuart Vaughan and Bill Taylor went to work. Stuart recalls that the two “designed and sent out an impressive number of brochures, embodying instructions about the best colors being ‘red and black on white’ and ‘Don’t spend a lot of money on fancy artwork’ and ‘Use every available space for copy. It may look tacky, but it will sell.’ It did look tacky to me, but it did sell!” Even more important than brochures and flyers were the grass roots efforts undertaken by Vaughan and Taylor. As Stuart remembers: “Between us, Bill and I spoke at 150 coffee parties. The job of scheduling them was taken on by the ladies of the Junior League, who made us their ‘project’ for that year and without whom we would have been lost. A hostess would invite groups of her friends—couples—and serve coffee and nibbles. Everyone there would know in advance that they’d be asked to ‘shell out’ on the spot. Each party, like a cocktail party, began with milling about til all those invited arrived. Then either Bill or I would give our spiel, describing the theatre, the shows, and the benefits of subscribing. Someone was on hand to take checks, and the results were usually gratifying. The task was time consuming, but it worked.” Those coffee parties were at the heart of building the Rep’s audience in the community. As Marnie Andrews wrote in an article commemorating the Rep’s 20th Anniversary: “Informational parties sprouted everywhere: at private homes in quiet suburban and city neighborhoods, in offices during coffee breaks, at business and private clubs. One Bellevuite remembers hosting such a party in her just–finished new house where the only furniture was the coffee urn. Speakers were most often

The Firebugs program.

actors from the forming company whose enthusiasm for the new venture inspired over 500 volunteers to join the effort to make the Seattle Repertory Theatre a part of the city’s language. The success of this effort was so marked that, when a small notice appeared in the papers inviting interested women to attend a meeting to discuss the formation of a woman’s auxiliary, 250 women attended. The name chosen for the newly formed group was the Women’s Association of the Seattle Repertory Theatre. With the American passion for reducing titles to acronyms, they soon became known as the WARTS which, although amusing to some, prompted a change to the present name Seattle Repertory Organization, i.e. SRO—a more hopeful and appropriate acronym.” The hard work paid off, and the first season opened with over 9,000 subscribers, at that time the largest audience for any Seattle cultural institution. Billie Joyce (wife of company member Stephen Joyce) was tapped by Stuart Vaughan to take over the box office. She had some experience working at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. and was up to the challenge. As she remembers it, both the theatre and Seattle audiences had a lot to learn about the subscription model. To quote Billie: “It is a difficult thing to pick dates for performances a year later. It became apparent that with all the exchanges there were gaps in the audience, often several rows empty in the front of the theater. As a performer this was depressing and disconcerting. I started a policy of selling any unsold ticket at curtain to a student for five dollars. This was very successful; all our seats were full, and young people made an enthusiastic response.”

The First Decade: 1963-1973    A-9

THE INAUGURAL SEASON

The first play in the first season was Shakespeare’s King Lear, presented in rotating repertory with The Firebugs. As company member Marjorie Nelson remembered: “The first performance of King Lear was charged. I remember that everyone—the volunteers, the staff and the actors—gathered in a circle, held hands and said 10,000 subscriptions (the goal for the first season)…that was a charged moment.” Shortly after the theatre opened, John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Again, Stuart Vaughan weighs in: “It was suggested that we not play that night. I said, ‘We play,’ and we did. Some criticized. Why did we play? Theatre makes us all feel better when we’re ill or sad. Some people with tickets would be grateful, finding the solace we did in theatre. People who wanted to stay home could come back another time. When our late friend June Havoc as a child in vaudeville would say to her mother, ‘I’m not feeling good—I don’t want to go on,’ her mother would answer, ‘You go on anyway. Old Doctor Theatre will fix you up.’ June said her mother was always right—about that.”

“Theatre makes us all feel MAKING THE NEWS

better when we’re ill or sad.” —Stuart Vaughan

Another challenge for the fledgling theatre? Media coverage. As Billie Joyce shared, outside of reviews, “the publicity for a new theatre was nonexistent. In the two seasons we were there (1963—1965), the only front page we got I arranged by a chance meeting with a reporter from the local newspaper.” What fascinating tidbit captured the reporter’s attention? The fact that the Joyces’ daughter Carol taught Dad how to act like a dog. Stephen Joyce’s role in King Lear was that of Edgar, the fugitive son of the Duke of Gloucester, who disguises himself as Poor Tom, a madman. To display the depth of his madness, Poor Tom, in one scene, acts like a dog, twitching, growling, and howling. A-10

It was a tough but rewarding first season. Critical reception was good, particularly from the non–local press. As Stuart noted: “In some respects, the Seattle community had to be dragged along, not quite believing that something local could ‘make it.’ At one meeting, when I was speaking to a group, someone actually got up and said, ‘If you’re so good, why didn’t you stay in New York?’ My answer was, ‘I have more faith in Seattle than you seem to have. Perhaps someone from outside is able to see more potential.’” It was one area in which Stuart Vaughan and Bagley Wright agreed. To quote Bagley: “That opinion of Seattle was commonly held. In the long run, though, Seattle proved itself as a theatre town. And what satisfied me the most was that you could see really first–rate theatre being produced by a resident company in Seattle.”

King Lear program.

TWO GENERATIONS

Jonathan Farwell joined the company for Stuart Vaughan’s third season. His daughter, Elisabeth Farwell–Moreland, is the Producing Director at Seattle Repertory Theatre today. We took the opportunity during a recent visit to take a photo and ask a few questions. Jonathan, what drew you to Seattle Rep?

Elisabeth, do you have any memories of all this?

In 1962, Stuart Vaughan directed me in The Importance of Being Earnest and Medea at Ohio’s Antioch Area Theatre. In early ’65, about the time of Elisabeth’s 4th birthday, Stuart wrote me a letter inviting me to join the Rep. With two kids to support, it didn’t take me long to decide to accept.

The Rep stands out in my memory as my first real theatre experience. My father seemed larger than life onstage. He was handsome and talented and people flocked to him.

The Crucible, 1966.

We were welcomed most graciously by Peter Donnelly, installed in our beautiful rental at 312 Lee Street on Queen Anne Hill, and my first two roles (in rep) were Marc Antony in Julius Caesar and Jack Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest. My next assignment was as Hector Hushabye in Heartbreak House, and in the midst of rehearsals, it was announced that Stuart had been fired. So much for his promise that I could stay with the Rep indefinitely! Fortunately for me, Stuart’s successor Allen Fletcher was a gentleman, and kept me in the company for three more wonderful seasons.

Any particular roles you cherished? Hard to choose! Allen Fletcher cast me in Blithe Spirit opposite guest star Margaret Hamilton (of Wizard of Oz fame), Pauline Flanagan, and Kate Doubleday. How could I go wrong? Maggie was sheer heaven, (and old pro that she was) lavished on me not only affection and encouragement, but hours of private coaching time. In particular, she taught me how not to ‘break up,’ no matter how hysterically funny she was. A-12

It was the 60s, so kids were taken to see everything, and we were at a lot of parties as well. Everyone I met at the Rep became extended family. Pauline Flanagan, Gordon Coffey, Bagley Wright, Peter Donnelly, Stuart Vaughan, Stewart Ballinger: these were mythological names that stayed with me my entire life. My mother worked at ACT in the early days as well, so we were completely immersed in the Life here in Seattle. Did you ever imagine that you would one day work at the Rep yourself? When I realized that my experience level was becoming more balanced with my dad’s, that we were becoming peers, it was shocking to me. It never in a million years occurred to me that I might actually become a full time member of this company. I am starting my seventh season with Seattle Rep, and I couldn’t be prouder or more excited to be a part of Jerry and Ben’s vision moving forward. My goal is to help carry on what I recognized as a child: amazing, magical, challenging work on our stages. Jonathan, were you surprised when Elisabeth took her position at the Rep? Not in the least. Once she had settled in Seattle, I knew that, with her years of experience in production stage management, both on Broadway and on tour, it would only be a matter of time. Once on board, her growth in areas of responsibility has delighted me. But then, Elisabeth has always been a source of astonishment and pride.

MOVING FORWARD The late Bagley Wright once shared that “We went through a difficult time in the first seven years. We went through three directors, and what made me very unpopular was that I was the one that fired them.”

ARTISTIC DIRECTORS STUART VAUGHAN left his position as Artistic Director mid–season 1966. As he shared with current Managing Director Ben Moore: “My Seattle experience with rotating repertory was a high point in my artistic development. Years later when (wife) Anne and I were running our own touring New Globe Theatre with four classic plays in rotation at one time, I was confirmed again in my belief that rotating repertory programming is the ideal vehicle for artistic growth.”

PIRIE MACDONALD came to the Seattle Rep as an Assistant Artistic Director, and he led the theatre for the remainder of the 1966 season. Mr. MacDonald’s first production at the Rep was Long Day’s Journey Into Night. He then went on to direct The Tinder Box, Galileo, The Importance of Being Earnest, and The Father. Bagley Wright had this to say about MacDonald: “During that early period, I must say, they put on some good productions. I still remember two that Pirie MacDonald put on, The Hostage, by Brendan Behan, and The Father, by Strindberg. Both seemed to me brilliant productions. One of the big mistakes, looking back, was that Pirie deserved to have a chance at being Artistic Director. We decided, I think wrongly, that the theatre needed a national name to polish its image, which had gone through a terrible bruising when Stuart Vaughan departed.”

ALLEN FLETCHER served as Artistic Director from 1966—1970. At the time, he was nationally recognized as one of the country’s outstanding directors with an impressive list of directorial credits. At Seattle Rep, he directed The Crucible, Blithe Spirit, Tartuffe, The Night of the Iguana, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Henry IV, The Rivals, You Can’t Take It With You, and The Threepenny Opera, plus many more. As company member Jonathan Farwell remembered: “We all adored Allen Fletcher, despite his personal shyness and reserve.”

W. DUNCAN ROSS was appointed Artistic Director in 1971 and stayed for seven seasons. A professor in the Department of Drama at the University of Washington, Ross set up the highly successful Professional Acting Training Program there. During his first season at the Rep’s helm, he changed the name of Seattle Repertory Theatre to Seattle Center Stage, thus doing away with the repertory format. His directing credits at the Rep during this period included Ring Round the Moon, The House of Blue Leaves, Macbeth and Camino Real.

MANAGING DIRECTORS DONALD FOSTER was hired as Executive Director in 1964. A Seattle native, he had degrees in marketing from Stanford and had been the director of foreign and domestic exhibits for the Seattle World’s Fair Corporation. At the successful wind–up of the World’s Fair in 1962, he assisted in the transition of the World’s Fair to permanent status as the Seattle Center. He stayed at the Rep through 1970, helping to guide the theatre to financial solvency for the first time in its history. He then joined the New York–based Ford Foundation and divided his time between coasts. It was on one of his frequent flights between New York and Seattle that gallery owner Richard White offered to sell him his business. The Foster/White Gallery was born, and for 30 years it shaped Seattle’s art community.

PETER DONNELLY came to Seattle Repertory Theatre in 1964 under the auspices of the Ford Foundation in the field of management. During the first decade, Donnelly was directly involved with the Theatre’s administrative policies and the production of more than sixty plays. In the spring of 1969, he produced the two highly–praised productions which the Rep took on special invitational tour to the Bergen International Festival. He was appointed Managing Director in 1970 and stayed in that position until 1985. (More about him in our next Decades insert.)

The First Decade: 1963-1973    A-13

Main Stage Production History 1963–1964 Season King Lear by William Shakespeare The Firebugs by Max Frisch The Lady’s Not For Burning by Christopher Fry Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller Shadow of Heroes by Robert Ardrey

1964–1965 Season Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw Ah, Wilderness! by Eugene O’Neill The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov Hamlet by William Shakespeare

1965–1966 Season Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Eugene O’Neill Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw Galileo by Bertolt Brecht

1966–1967 Season The Crucible by Arthur Miller The Hostage by Brendan Behan Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward Tartuffe by Molière The Visit by Friedrich Durrenmatt The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams

1967–1968 Season Henry IV, Part 1 by William Shakespeare The Rehearsal by Jean Anouilh You Can’t Take It With You by Moss Hart & George S. Kaufman The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan The Father by August Strindberg The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht

A-14

1968–1969 Season Our Town by Thornton Wilder Juno and the Paycock by Sean O’Casey A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare Sergeant Musgrave’s Dance by John Arden Lysistrata by Aristophanes A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller

1969–1970 Season Volpone by Ben Jonson The Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov Once in a Lifetime by Moss Hart & George S. Kaufman In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Heinar Kiphardt The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman The Country Wife by William Wycherley

1970–1971 Season Indians by Arthur Kopit A Flea in Her Ear by Georges Feydeau The Miser by Molière Hay Fever by Noël Coward The Price by Arthur Miller Happy Ending & Day of Absence by Douglas Turner Ward

1971–1972 Season Ring ‘Round the Moon by Jean Anouilh The House of Blue Leaves by John Guare Hotel Paradiso by Georges Feydeau Getting Married by George Bernard Shaw And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little by Paul Zindel Adaptation & Next by Elaine May & Terrence McNally

1972–1973 Season Macbeth by William Shakespeare Camino Real by Tennessee Williams Charley’s Aunt by Brandon Thomas Child’s Play by Robert Marasco All Over by Edward Albee The Tavern by George M. Cohan

Community Leadership Since 1963, community leaders have served as members of Seattle Rep’s Board of Trustees. By volunteering their time, energy, passion, wisdom and financial support, these dedicated men and women have strengthened the theatre artistically and financially. We are grateful for their remarkable contribution to Seattle Rep’s growth during the first decade.

TRUSTEES Thomas E. Alexander M.J. Alhadeff Mrs. Ellsworth C. Alvord Mrs. Frederick Ayer II Philip W. Bailey Patricia Baillargeon A. Stewart Ballinger Mrs. Christopher T. Bayley David C. Black Huntington Boyd Louis Brechemin William W. Brinkley Mrs. Samuel H. Brown Mrs. A. Scott Bullitt Louis K. Bye Cornelius J. Byrne W. Murray Campbell David M. Checkley John C.T. Conte, Jr. Mrs. James P. Crutcher Mrs. Joseph B. Danz Harold O. Davidson Edward Devine Michael Dederer Dan A. Duryee, Jr. Mrs. Robert Flanagan Mrs. E. Peter Garrett William H. Gates, Jr. Gary D. Gayton Mrs. Hamilton Harris Harold H. Heath Mrs. Robert M. Helsell Mrs. Clifton H. Holms L.P. Hughes William T. Jacobson Mrs. Lawrence Karrer Dr. Solomon Katz Robert L. King Mrs. George Kinnear Mrs. Henry L. Kotkins Ludlow Kramer III David Kroft Dr. Herbert C. Lazenby Dr. J.H. Lehmann Leo Lowe, Jr. Mrs. William G. Lucks

Garth W. Marston Carl Meurk Kenneth Monson Mrs. Mechlin D. Moore Dr. William Moore, Jr. Gerhardt Morrison Fuhrman C. Moseley Mrs. Charles S. Mullen Mrs. Stuart G. Oles Mrs. H. Neil Paton Frederick J. Patterson Paul F. Pauly Mrs. Robert O. Payne W.J. Pennington Mrs. Charles M. Piggott Berch Pitts Ralph Potts Andrew Price, Jr. Mrs. George N. Prince Mrs. Patrick Ragen Mrs. Edgar L. Sanford, Jr. Herman Sarkowsky Donald A. Schmechel Morton L. Schwabacher Langdon S. Simons Mrs. Hunter W. Simpson Mrs. David E. Skinner Mrs. Lemuel Solomon M.L. Stamper Dan L. Starr Prof. Victor Steinbrueck Walter W. Straley William K. Street Dexter K. Strong Mrs. George W. Taylor Mrs. A. Roger Thibideau Elisabeth Toth Mrs. Paul P. Van Arsdel, Jr. Mrs. Gerald Van Slyck Mrs. Girton R. Viereck Mrs. Daniel B. Ward Robert L. Wiley Andrew M. Williams Gail M. Williams Bagley Wright T. Evans Wyckoff

SRO LEADERSHIP The Seattle Repertory Organization is a 150+ member volunteer group established in 1963 for the purpose of supporting Seattle Repertory Theatre. All of the women listed below served terms as SRO Presidents. Marilyn Ward Geri Lucks Gertrude Davidson Mary Ragen Dorothea Checkley Anita Van Slyck Dorothy Paton Jean Baur Viereck Pat Thibaudeau Bold = President or Chair, Board of Trustees

The First Decade: 1963-1973    A-15