Attaboy, Carl, hitting the bullseye as always.
michael
________________________________
From: winedale-l-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org
To: Mike Godwin
Cc: Shakespeare at Winedale 1970-2000 alums
Sent: Sun Jun 13 11:49:45 2010
Subject: Re: [Winedale-l] Fwd: CampShakespeare '10
Half empty? Half full?
I didn't have the good fortune to attend any of the summers I did not attend (if you
get my meaning), but when in doubt, quote the big guy:
29
When, in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least,
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings,
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
From what I'm reading, this applies to friendships born from 1970 forward!
Carl Smith
1970 - and, happily, several times after...
On Jun 13, 2010, at 10:12 AM, Mike Godwin wrote:
On Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 6:46 PM, Jerald Head
<jlhead1952@gmail.com<mailto:jlhead1952@gmail.com>> wrote:
Mike,
All jesting aside, I do remember the Lear performance 30 years later, and I was amazed,
eyeballs and all. And I remember Joy, and Robert, and Jeff. Joy was such a delight and
Robert was soooo evil. Some guy as you mentioned, Bruce Meyer was there too. It is such
fun to stir up such memories. Although I will never concede "best class" I tip
my hat to "80.
The fact is, every summer is special, and each summer is special in its own way. I had
been in the class of '79, and I had learned an immense amount that summer, especially
from Maria Black, who gave the most informative and nuanced line readings for Rosalind
that I had ever heard (I still believe her Rosalind is the best I've ever seen, for
that matter, and I've seen a bunch since then). Maria, Bruce Wharton, and Richard
South were returning from the previous summer, as I recall, and each of them taught me a
lot. But those of us for whom 1979 was our first summer also had so much to offer -- Bruce
Meyer, Jeanne McCarthy, Britt Block, Teresa Jaynes, Robin Mize, and David Sharpe come
immediately to mind.
In 1980, those of us returning from 1979 and from previous years were all very aware that
it was the tenth summer. We especially knew what kind of impact your classes had, Jerald
-- people in the community still talked about them -- and we knew we had to build on that
in 1980. We knew we could do comedy, but were not entirely sure we could do a whole
tragedy. (Well, maybe some of us were sure -- I was nervous, though.)
I strongly believe that if 1980 stands out, it's largely because of the strength of
experience -- not just the strength of experienced individuals (although we had a lot of
folks returning to perform that summer) but the strength of the shared experience and
community of knowledge that was created by people like you, Jerald -- and Mary and Terry
and Maggie and so many others -- and communicated in some profound cultural way so that we
quickly grasped the magnitude of the tasks before us, and we were able to hit the ground
running as a group. (I remember with great clarity a moment when David Polley and I were
sitting in the chairs and coaching Robert Faires about different ways we thought he could
play evil Edmund -- I think we both took as much pride in Robert's performance as he
did.)
For me, summer of 1981 was a lot harder -- fewer returning students, plus a role (Leontes)
that I had immense difficulty figuring out. But one of the sweetest compliments I ever
got at Winedale came from a kid who was watching me perform as a guard (no lines) in
"Measure for Measure" -- "I was watching you the whole time! You were
always in character! You were really acting!" Where did I learn how to do that? I
had to wonder. And I realized I learned it pretty much from every one of you who had
worked at Winedale, either with me or before me. Quite often I felt as if all of you were
with me as I performed. (There have been times in the years since that I have performed
some moment of comedy or madness and find myself thinking "that's how Bruce Meyer
would have done it" or "that's how Terry Galloway would have done
it.")
For most of the 1980s I was in the audience. If you were performing, you probably heard me
laughing at some point (I'd even laugh in tragedies, which one summer got me a
threatening look from an audience member). And seeing Robin or Jeff or David Sharpe
performing in later summers, I'd always feel this little pang -- I wanted to be
performing with you folks again. And I could see in 1986 (and before, and after) that
whole groups of people I'd never performed with (Willie Wilson! David Ziegler!
Stephanie Modlin!) were feeling the same magic I had felt. I wanted to work with them too.
(In 2005, finally got to perform with Zieg!)
The fact is, every summer I performed in, and every summer I attended as an audience
member, has given me something special that I will remember for the rest of my life.
(Performing once more in summer of 1989 was, as I now know New Orleans folks like to say,
"lagniappe," although it did give me the peculiar pleasure of having Bruce Meyer
walk up to me at intermission and, with horror and disbelief at my performance in
"Shoemakers Holiday," cry out in anguish that "You sang!" Bruce has
always been a "fan" of my singing voice.)
Speaking of New Orleans, it's probably worth mentioning that a new addition to our
list, Angela Breckenridge (1988 and 1989), is performing the title role in
"Hamlet" in New Orleans this summer. It's mentioned in this newsletter --
http://www.dcc.edu/networks/31/ -- and you can see a pic of the remarkably unaged Prince
of Denmark here (the one on the left):
http://www.dcc.edu/networks/31/Hamlet-Publicity-033.jpg .
--Mike
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