[Alumni-chat] Legal Fund Needs - by Yazz Allen '66

[john_hevelin (bwotte at rexx.com)]

>In a message dated 8/1/2007 9:44:02 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
>alumni-chat_forum at antiochians.org writes:
>
>I am  dreaming of the day when "Shakespeare Under The Stars" returns to a
>place as a  regional event, bringing faculty, students, community, and audience
>together.  And I am working to make that dream happen.  I hope to  see you at
>the next show!  I'm nominating "All's Well That Ends  Well".
>
>-Beth R. '04
>
>
>
>Beth, Shakespeare Under the Stars -- and I think one way or another I saw
>all the plays (beginning with King John), either by being in the audience,   or
>sitting on the lawn and watching rehearsals.  At the time Antioch had  perhaps
>four tenured members of the Theatre Department, but the majority of the
>roles were played by professional actors from New York and other places, and  they
>were paid Union Scale.  Students understudied, did production, dealt  with
>ticketing and all -- and of course made costumes and all -- but essentially  it
>was a full blown professional production effort.  You didn't get theatre  bus
>tours coming in from New York, having read the Times Reviews, because
>something amateur was being done.  The Amphitheater was hardly an adequate
>replacement for the stage of those days -- It was a seven level thrust structure
>constructed of beams and platforms against the face of Main Building, that made
>use of windows in the towers for entrances and exits.  (this was before  Main
>Building was gutted and restored.)  And while Main Building was never  exactly
>Tudor, once it got a little dark and the lighting people did their thing  with
>our Towers, it was totally theatrical.  I always thought the  amphitheater a
>rather piss poor replacement for that stage.  For some  things it is great --
>but it was never for Shakespeare.
>
>I have always wondered if anyone filmed any of the plays?  (no Video  in
>those days).
My mother and father met while working in Antioch theatre in 1944 or 1945 -- he was attending Antioch on the GI Bill, she was a young war widow (her first husband had been shot down on a bombing run over Germany).  I remember viewing performances staged on the front steps of Main Building.  My younger brother and I once attended a night performance of /Henry IV, Part I/ -- my mother tucked us into a sleeping bag at the rear of the audience, and we were scared to hear battles and swordfights on the surrounding lawn.

During my years at Antioch (1964-68), I attended every Shakespeare performance at the Ampitheatre that I could.  It wasn't quite the same as seeing the plays on the front steps, but I don't remember being dissatisfied.  I'm sorry to hear that the performances no longer occur, and hope they can be restored.

John Hevelin '68