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Foundation Gives—and Receives—Awards It has been an ongoing celebration of tributes and awards for the Eugene O’Neill Foundation. Last November, the foundation presented its prestigious Tao House Award, recognizing contributions to the American theatre, to actress Cherry Jones. On January 13, the foundation itself was presented with a rare and prestigious “Shellie” for its contributions to local theater and for keeping the O’Neill legacy alive. Eleven days later the foundation handed out awards at its annual dinner meeting, held appropriately enough in the O’Neill Room of the Crow Canyon Country in Danville. A near-capacity audience, including actors, directors, and media people was on hand. Photo highlights of the various events, along with tributes given at the dinner, are included in this section. Photos of the award dinner are by Tom Donahoe, a member of the foundation board.
SPECIAL AWARD: The National Park Service and the Eugene O’Neill Foundation were honored with a Producers Award at the 28th Shellies ceremony held at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek on January 20. Accepting the award were Martha Lee, superintendent for the NPS, and Gary Schaub, president of the foundation. The award recognized the 30th anniversary of the partnership between the NPS and foundation in perpetuating the life and works of Eugene O’Neill and in maintaining his Tao House estate in Danville as a National Historic Site. The presentation was made before a capacity audience at the event, which honors the best in musical and dramatic productions in the area and the people who make them happen. The ceremony marked only the fifth time a Producers Award has been given.
Accepting a special Partnership Award at the annual dinner was the Contra Costa Times. The award was accepted by Pat Craig, left, the paper’s theater critic, and publisher John Armstrong. Read the text of the tribute.
A second Partnership Award was presented to the National Park Service in recognition of 30 years of collaboration with the foundation. On hand to receive it were Park Service rangers Rick Smith, David Blackburn, and Lucy Lawliss amd NPS Superintendent Martha Lee. In attendance were George Turnbull, regional NPS official, and his wife.
The foundation’s Freeman Award went to Michael Cook, shown making acceptance remarks, with Carol Wynstra, past foundation president. Standing is Bob Rezak, a foundation director and host for the evening. Seated are Gary Schaub, foundation president, and his wife, Jann. Read the text of the tribute.
Foundation president Gary Schaub presents Tao House Award to Ed Hastings, a founder of A.C.T., in recognition of his contributions to the American theatre. Joining the festivities was actor-director Joy Carlin. Read the text of the tribute.
Always mindful of the audience, Ed Hastings added a touch of drama when shed his jacket to reveal prominent suspenders that help set the mood for an O’Neill poem he recited as part of his acceptance remarks. In the poem, O’Neill reflected on his life as a sailor.
Friends,of Hastings (wearing blue tie ) surrounded him after the
ceremony. They are, left to right, Ray Reinhardt, actor; Tim Cole;
Donna Prichard, ACT company manager; Chris Cara; James Haire, ACT
producing director; Joy Carlin, actor; Roddey Burdine, Hastings,
Mrs. Peter Donat, Donat, actor, and Gino Barcone (seated). THE TRIBUTES Presentation to Edward Hastings, January 24, 2007 Tonight we continue what has become a very important and a very pleasant tradition for the Eugene O’Neill Foundation – the presentation of the Tao House Award – the most important honor that the Foundation can bestow. The Tao House Award is given periodically to the individual, who, “in the opinion of the Board of Directors, has served the American Theatre with distinction.” In addition, Tao House Award recipients have, in their professional and personal life, helped to promote and preserve the legacy of Eugene O’Neill, America’s only Nobel Prize-winning playwright. Tonight we are very pleased to present this recognition to Edward Hastings. Ed joins a select line-up of important American theater professionals, scholars, educators, and writers who have been so recognized. The first Tao House Award recipient was Jason Robards in 1989. Successive awardees have included our own dear late colleague Travis Bogard, director Ted Mann, biographers Barbara and Arthur Gelb, Producer Paul Libin, scholars Donald Gallup and Steven Black, and actor Cherry Jones. For many of us, Ed Hastings is best known from his long association with the American Conservatory Theatre (A.C.T.). In 1965, under the leadership of the late William Ball, the American Conservatory Theatre was founded as a resident company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where the fledgling group grew rapidly and had as many as 8-10 productions in repertory at one time. Ed Hastings was among the earliest founding members as the new company’s Executive Director. The following year (1966), the ever-expanding company of players, designers and technicians found themselves needing a new home base. This eventually led to an ambitious first full season of 16 productions in two theatres in San Francisco in 1967. I had the pleasure of first meeting and working with Ed Hastings in early 1966 when the fledgling company spent a much too short residency in Ann Arbor as guests of the University of Michigan’s Professional Theater Program, where I was finishing my graduate studies, while working full-time as executive assistant to the program’s director at the University. It was a hectic time – a very large production company that wanted to work together and keep busy, a contract to produce only two plays, and an “over-achieving” artistic director in William Ball, who wanted to do much, much more with the company he had in residence. I believe we ended up doing up to six productions during that two-month residency. When things got really hectic – as they frequently did – the “go-to” guy who calmly helped get us all back on track was Ed Hastings. Ed continued as A.C.T.’s calm and effective “go-to” guy for the next twenty years, until Mr. Ball retired from the Company in 1986, and Ed became the artistic director, with Joy Carlin and Dennis Powers as associate artistic directors. In his quarter century of leadership with A.C.T., his steady and always positive hand was felt throughout the organization. He directed 30 productions on the Geary Theatre’s Main Stage – from American classics like Our Town and Time of Your Life to more modern works like General Gorgeous by Michael McClure, and Sam Shepard’s Buried Child. He headed up many educational and collaborative activities from the Conservatory’s training program; and from the establishment of the “Plays in Progress” series, and the Black Actors Workshop and the Asian-American Workshop to the Theatre Bridge project (funded by the State Department) between San Francisco’s A.C.T. and Shanghai’s Drama Institute. This decade-long partnership resulted in a production of O’Neill’s Marco Millions in 1988. Ed guided the company through very stressful times after the near-destruction of the Geary Theatre during the Loma Prieta earthquake. He also found time to serve on the Board of the Eugene O’Neill Foundation for many years, and helped us all celebrate the O’Neill centenary in 1988 Ed retired from A.C.T. in 1991. Living now in Santa Fe, he has been guest director for major resident theatre and opera companies throughout the country – including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Sante Fe Opera, and the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. He was resident director of the Playwrights’ Conference at the O’Neill Theatre Center in Connecticut for several summers. He directed several Playwrights’ Theatre afternoons, as well as Leslie Dillen’s Mable in 1996 and Barbara Gelb’s My Gene in 1998. Ed Hastings is a graduate of Yale College and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London; he was invested in the College of Fellows of the American Theatre at the Kennedy Center in 1991. Ed Hastings has – indeed – served the American Theater (and Eugene O’Neill) – with distinction. Congratulations, Ed! --Gary F. Schaub, President Tribute to Ed Hastings By Joy Carlin Ed and I were children together in New Haven, CT. He was in the college and I had just come to the Yale Drama School from the University of Chicago. It was 1951. W had played brother and sister in a play called Children in the Rain, or something like that. I think we held hands and cowered together against the storm. It began a lifelong friendship. He told me I looked like Peggy Ann Garner, or maybe that was later. Once, a an opening night party at A. C. T. when I got up to sing a song with the band, he said I reminded him of Susan Haywad in I’ll Cry Tomorrow. He always had good ideas for me. We didn’t see one another very often in New York but when we both came to the Bay Area in the ‘60s, he helped me get into A. C. T. by calling me in to audition for Jack O’Brien who was directing The Importance of Being Earnest. That was the beginning for me of 25 years of productive, creative, exciting, expanding steady work. At A. C. T., Ed protected me. He put me in most of his plays. I was able to grow as an actress there because of him. As an acting teacher in the Conservatory, I began to direct plays with students and because of Ed, I directed the first of many plays on the main stage of the Geary Theatre. That’s a story I like to tell. My student production of The House of Bernarda Alba brought the play to the attention of Mr. Ball, our artistic director, as a possible play for the following season, 1973. As the play has a cast of nine women (and 200 women mourners), Mr. Ball had the idea that perhaps a woman should direct it. He and his associates began to look for a prominent woman director. In 1972 there were only five who came to mind: Mai Britt, Ida Lupino, Elaine May, Helene Weigel and Nuria Espert. After having been turned down by all five, Mr. Ball turned to Ed and said, “Ed, I think you should direct it.” And Ed said, I think he said, “Why don’t you let Joy do it?” And that’s how I got the gig. Ed was the calm forward-thinking brain of the entire operation. In addition to his administrative, directing and teaching projects, he started the Plays in Progress series, which created enriching work for our company’s students, actors, designers and directors. The program encouraged young playwrights by giving them access to a great theatrical community where their talents were nurtured and appreciated. He started the Black Actors Workshop and the Asian American Workshop, seeking out the best new plays in the Bay Area and across the country from hungry artists who had been largely ignored by established theaters. When Mr. Ball left in 1986, no one but Ed could have taken over in such a smooth and gracious manner. During the turbulent last years of Mr. Ball’s tenure, I had turned to the Berkeley Rep for a home base. When Ed called to ask if I would like to come back and walk down the corridors of power with him, he might have heard my “Oh my God, Yes!” across the Bay without the telephone. In 1987, I went to China for a two months to direct You Can’t Take It With You at the Shanghai Youth Drama Group. Ed had laid the groundwork for this exchange of artists between the sister cities of San Francisco and Shanghai. He had gone with a group of directors and teachers; their teachers had come to our Conservatory. Now they wanted a director to work with their company and Ed chose me. The next step of this cultural exchange is a perfect example of Ed’s devotion to Eugene O’Neill and for this alone he deserves the honor you present to him tonight. Already very involved with the O’Neill Foundation as one of its most fervent supporters, Ed thought we should open our 1988-89 season with a play to celebrate the great man’s 100th birthday. To cement our Theatre-Bridge with Shanghai, Ed decided on O’Neill’s least produced and almost un-producible play: Marco Millions. We gave it a rare loving production that only a company the size and stature of A. C. T. could support. He brought the venerable Chinese actor Sun Daolin to play Kublai Khan, making him the first actor from the People’s Republic of China to perform with an American company. For costumes, he brought Jovita Chow, the elegant designer from You Can’t Take It With You. He put to work 33 actors, 23 students, and 5 Chinese-American musicians and, in addition, on October 16 threw a big party on the Geary stage, presenting scenes from many of O’Neill’s greatest plays performed by theatres far and wide, and, of course, brought out a big cake with 100 candles and everyone, under the direction of the great Maestro Gino Barcone, sang Happy Birthday, dear Eugene! Chen Shaoze, the artistic director of the Shanghai Troupe, came to S.F. for the opening and announced that “18 months from now we look forward to inviting a Chinese-speaking American actor to China to perform in a Chinese play.” Well, beside the fact that we never found that Chinese speaking American actor, other events intervened to delay the promises of our beautiful cultural bridge: Tiananmen Square and the S.F. earthquake. Just as the Hastings era at A. C. T. was hitting its stride, the earthquake intervened. However, once again, in his calm and graceful way, Ed carried us through that disaster, planting productions in unusual places such as the PG&E building on Market Street, the Orpheum Theatre, the Palace of Fine Arts, the Herbst Theatre and eventually the lovely Music Box movie theatre which was beautifully converted into a little theatrical gem so that we could continue almost uninterrupted for our ’89-’90 season known on our tee shirts as The Great Quake Tour. And now, in so-called retirement, Ed is as busy as ever, directing plays and operas all over the country in between creating beautiful places to live with Gino in New Mexico, places for his friends to come and visit and eat and drink and reminisce and make new plans. Joe London, who was our first young playwright in residence, wrote to me recently in honor of this occasion, “what every young aspiring playwright needs even more than brilliant criticism, is love and encouragement. When Ed was in the audience, you felt you were safe with your creation. Regardless of whatever reservations or judgments he may have had, you always felt that his heart was with you.” In honoring Mr. Hastings, the O ‘Neill Foundation joins his
many friends and admirers in reminding him how much he means to
us and how deeply he has enriched our lives. Edward Hastings in accepting the Tao House Award, Hastings offered a dramatic reading of the following poem: Ballad of the Seamy Side Where is the lure of the life you sing? Think of the dives on the waterfront Tell me the lure of “working mail” “I grant you the food is passing bad, Partnership Award Presented to Contra Costa Times One of the leading journalism schools in the country conducts an annual assessment of how well—or how poorly—newspapers across the nation cover the arts and cultural events. It is not entirely surprising, but most papers—for whatever reason—provide only minimal coverage. A calendar listing here and there. That’s it. Perhaps a dozen or so are exceptions to the trend: They devote a significant amount of resources and space to the subject—in spite of the challenges newspapers are experiencing as they struggle to remain economically viable. One of the newspapers in the top category is the Contra Costa Times and its community newspapers, including the Danville and San Ramon Valley Times. In addition to daily stories, the Times publications produce a comprehensive guide to the arts each Thursday in a special Time Out section, and a separate Arts and Entertainment section on Sundays. And all of us involved in the arts and culture—and the community at large-- are the beneficiaries of this extended coverage. The Eugene O’Neill Foundation and its partner –the National Park Service—have enjoyed what can only be described as extraordinary coverage, going back to our first O’Neill festival eight years ago and continuing with other major events including our Playwrights’ Theatre series, visits by prominent actors and celebrities, and the dedication of the O’Neill Commemorative in Danville two years ago. We ended up on Page One on that event. It doesn’t get much gooder than that. We are grateful for the recognition the Times and its community papers has given us. We regard it as an endorsement of our work. It validates our belief that O’Neill’s presence in Danville, the great plays he wrote here, and his Tao House estate that is now a National Historic Site are literary and cultural assets that help make Danville a destination. Our relationship with the Times is a partnership -- a partnership where in the case of Eugene O’Neill we share a common vision, a common dream -- keeping the legacy of this literary giant alive. We thank the publishers, the editors, the staff, and in particular Pat Craig. His articles and reviews are always insightful, enlightening and on occasion entertaining. We are honored that Pat could join us tonight along with the publisher of the Times, John Armstrong. And John, while we don’t have a Page One to put you on, we ask that you take center stage with me as we present you and the Times with our very first Eugene O’Neill Foundation Partnership Award.
Freeman Award Presented to Michael Cook Lights, Camera, Action...that familiar Hollywood directive reminds us that before the excitement of performance can begin, a lighting and scenic designer sets the mood. Michael Cook, tonight’s Freeman Award Recipient, has been flipping on the lights, and turning up the sound, creating a magical place, in our old barn, where we have all enjoyed extraordinary theater over the years. Michael is a Renaissance man...he is an actor’s equity actor, a sculptor, a playwright, a director, a teacher. He is the resident scenic and lighting designer for the performing arts department at St. Mary’s College, where he also serves as theater manager. He is most proud of having created and directed the January term Children’s Theatre Program at St. Mary’s, now in its 14th season. Over the years, when I have watched Michael, climbing up and down the ladder, hanging our light panels, keeping our fingers crossed that we don’t overtax an old electric system, I have often thought...The man is a saint.. It turns out I was right, he is a Saint... he has written and starred in a one man play, Saint John Baptist De La Salle...Journey of a Man When I asked Michael if he had any recollections of special productions he has worked on at Tao House he recalled •the 1994 production of Long Days Journey held in conjunction with the International Conference, O’Neill on World Stages. at Tao House. •the 1998 production of My Gene, starring Lura Dulas, and directed by tonight’s honoree, Ed Hastings, •1997, New Girl in Town, • and 2001, Moon for the Misbegotten. (Which was a featured cover story in the Contra Costa Times) I think part of Michael’s award also goes to his wife Jeffra, she too is a great friend of the Foundation. She appeared in our 1997 production of New Girl in Town, but the real story is from a few years later. After a successful production of Rhythms of his Soul in Danville, we were invited to do a performance at the Delancy St. Theater in San Francisco as part of the Irish American Festival the following St. Patrick’s Day weekend. Two hours before curtain we learned one of our actresses had laryngitis, and could not go on. After a very short rehearsal, Jeffra stepped in and saved the day with a seamless performance. And so, the 2007 Freeman Award goes to Michael Cook, who for so many years, has transformed our Old Barn and the Village Theater into so many places, Beyond the Horizon Carol Wynstra Partnership Award National Park Service
The EONF and the NPS working together secured the access to Tao House, and together we continue to work with the Kuss Road neighbors. Together we developed agreements outlining our areas of responsibility, known as the memorandum of understanding, or MOU. The partnership has flourished and grown over the years, perhaps one of the best examples of public and private partnerships in the country. Today, January 24, 2007 has been declared National Park Service Day by the California Legislature, the Contra Costa Country Board of Supervisors and the Danville Town Council. In addition Congressman George Miller has inserted his remarks on this Anniversary into the Congressional Record. Of the many programs produced at Tao House, perhaps the crown jewel, if you will, of these programs is Student Days. In recognition of the long partnership, and all the support given to the Eugene O’Neill Foundation I present Superentendent Martha Lee with a framed poster for Student Days. And to Regional Director George Turnbull I present these pictures of Tao House and Student Days. We also have a framed replica of the centerpiece of the Eugene O’Neill Commemorative Walk, the piece we refer to as the veil. The Eugene O’Neill Foundation salutes the National Park Service for all the care and attention you have given to O’Neill’s Tao House, these last 30 years and we look forward to many more years working together to preserve the legacy and the work of Eugene O’Neill.
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