CONCENTRATION CAMP

The 1960’s/1970’s was an era of hippies, dramatic improvisation and “participation theatre.” My contribution to the improvisatory genre, in 1969, was CONCENTRATION CAMP, a piece in the mood of the turbulent anti-Vietnam-war demonstrations. We presented it as a Mask & Bauble Midnight Theatre show for a number of weeks.

The militaristic cast members – they played “Camp Guards,” – were dressed in black, with ominous logo armbands (Hitlerian red with a lightning bolt, I think), and carried big police flashlights. They met the audience outside Poulton Hall with the lights extinguished, just before midnight. Each audience member was “handcuffed” in shackles made from manila folders, stapled in place. They were lined up and divided into groups of six, with couples and friends intentionally separated from each other. (Some affronted couples refused to be parted, and their tickets were refunded).

The show took place in rooms on three levels of Poulton Hall, all lit only by red exit signs and the flashlights of the guards. The impressive and quick-witted Jim Illig played the imposing Camp Commandant. There was a distinct plan for the show, but the cast improvised their lines within this outline.

Details have escaped my memory, but some moments remain. In one room a huge American flag was unfurled, and the participants surrounded it and held the edges. The Commandant and his guards stood on chairs behind the audience, shining their flashlights down on the flag from all sides.

The Commandant then demanded that participants proclaim just what this flag meant to them in this controversial Vietnam era. This led inevitably to vehement pro-military and pro-peace declarations. In retrospect, I think that if it were not for dropping the flag on the ground, a number of patriotic participants might have taken a swing at each other as they yelled at each other across the flag from different sides. I may be mistaken, but I think someone spit on the flag on one occasion, and I do remember that some anti-war protesters folded their arms and refused to help hold the banner. Authoritative Commandant Illig, however, kept tight control of the situation with his booming debater’s voice.

In another phase of the evening, participants were lined up and sent to one of several “interrogation rooms.” They were seated and harassed by several interrogators whom they could not see, due to the blinding flashlights focused on them. Improvised questions were along the line of, “What good are you to society?” I remember the eloquence of a nursing student whose drop-dead dignified answer about finding ways to serve humanity was humbling.

In the final room (or indignity) audience members knelt on the floor with their eyes closed. The Commandant and his henchmen slipped away, and eventually the audience realized that their night of terror was at an end.

This whole idea may sound bizarre in 2010, but in that long-ago hippie era, it worked. Well….. Maybe today it cold be done as a Muslim Terrorist Enclave? Masked rifle-bearing turban-wearing guards, and female audience member captives given veils with eye-slits? Very scary.

—
Donn B. Murphy, Ph.D.
President and Executive Director

The National Theatre
1321 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004

703-524-1616
703-524-1919 Fax
dbm@nationaltheatre.org
http://www.nationaltheatre.org

MASK AND BAUBLE MOVES TO “TRINITY THEATRE”

M&B presented shows in Gaston Hall for a number of years. The acoustics were excellent, but the space was used for so many meetings and other activities that securing performance dates, let alone rehearsal times, was challenging. A deal was worked out with Holy Trinity Church: Georgetown would renovate the somewhat run-down high school auditorium in return for its use on a continuing basis by M&B. I worked with John Padden, a wonderful man at GU Facilities, and we turned a rather drab
space into a sparkling 600-seat theatre. We put in new padded seats, panels of flocked wallpaper, a gold plush curtain which rose in scallops (like the one in Radio City!) and a new lighting system (for which we cut holes in the ceiling to get a 45-degree angle to the stage). The lobby was given a deep blue ceiling and crystal chandeliers. We put lighted billboards on either side of the O Street entrance, and took that opportunity to drop “high school” and “auditorium,” and-renamed the venue “Holy Trinity Theatre” which it remains to this day, even though not much theatre happens there apparently.

We had never worked with a counterweight system for raising and lowering scenery, so this was a real adventure. “The Loft Crew” was comprised of the biggest and burliest members of M&B. Jerry O’Berski, Earl Nikkel, Denny Burke, and many others were celebrated for their muscle and expertise in handling the counterweights and hauling the pipes up and down, and were notorious for their robust camaraderie. We mastered the art of sewing large backdrops, and painting them with stage paint and aniline dye.

The crystal chandeliers remain today, but the flocked wallpaper and blue ceiling are long gone, and there is no stage lighting in the ceiling ports, just a couple of big floods. Trinity Theatre is now used for Sunday Masses. I attend each week, and sit in the aisle seat from which I directed many, many shows. It’s quite nostalgic.

—
Donn B. Murphy, Ph.D.
President and Executive Director

The National Theatre
1321 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004

703-524-1616
703-524-1919 Fax
dbm@nationaltheatre.org
http://www.nationaltheatre.org

NEGATIVE GRAVITY AND A NEW THEATRE GROUP

Patrick Warner Flynn and Jojo Ruff are recent graduate of the Georgetown Performing Arts program. They are the founders of a new theatre company which premiered in Washington this summer – 2010: The Welders Theatre. The title comes from a poem by Cherie Moraga, in which she says: “I am a welder. Not an alchemist. I am interested in the blend of common elements to make a common thing.” The company made its debut in the Devine black-box theatre in the Davis Center. What Jojo and Patrick have put together is beyond common: It is a theatre company which debuted with the first Washington, DC production of THE PULL OF NEGATIVE GRAVITY by Jonathan Lichtenstein. To say that this is not an easy play is understatement: it is demanding! In two unrelenting hours, it presents a devastating picture of the deep physical and emotional havoc which the Iraq War has on a farming family
in a remote village in Wales. The detailed profound sorrow, anger and fatal violence which attends the return of an emotionally and physically maimed veteran to his mother, brother and fiancé is visceral, painful and heart-rending. The young company, with Ms. Ruff directing, and GU professor and Actors Equity performer Susan Lynskey in one of the four roles, handled the challenging material brilliantly. An unrelenting two hours without intermission left the audience stunned with sadness and confronted viscerally with the numbing stupidity of war as a means of resolving international conflicts. May the Welders Theatre prosper after the hot sparks of an auspicious beginning! Long live The Welders!

You can visit the company online – Twitter; @Welderstheatre; Facebook:
Welders Theatre Company, Web: http://www.weldertheatre.org

—
Donn B. Murphy, Ph.D.
President and Executive Director

The National Theatre
1321 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004

703-524-1616
703-524-1919 Fax
dbm@nationaltheatre.org
http://www.nationaltheatre.org

M&B AT THE WHITE HOUSE

One Sunday afternoon we were working on scenery at a WWII “Temporary Building” – a two-story wooden structure which stood just outside the GU Main Gate. Some classes were scheduled in the building, but M&B had been given most of the first floor for offices, as well as scenery construction and storage. We were working there one Sunday afternoon when Senator Jack Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline came walking up O Street, with Caroline in a stroller. They stopped to chat, and the students told them eagerly about The Mask and Bauble.

When they arrived in The White House and Mrs. Kennedy wanted to give performances there, I received a call from White House Social Secretary Tish Baldridge, who invited us to provide technical assistance. Of course we were delighted to be active in “The New Frontier.”

A handsome temporary stage with flats covered in deep maroon velvet had been designed for the east Room by famed scene designer Jo Mielziner. Subsequently, we did the lighting for dozens of performances throughout the Kennedy years and into the Johnson administration.

On each occasion a GU stage crew – memorably led by Jerry O’Berski, Jim Simon and others – would commandeer and load a large open GU flatbed truck was spotlights, strip lights, heavy poles and bases, and off we went to the Executive Mansion. In those relatively innocent days, I simply gave my name at the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance and rolled in, followed by the truck, to park directly in front of the White House.

We carried our equipment into the East Room. We were then sequestered there to do our work, and had to contact the Ushers Office for any needed assistance. When we asked for “a little piece of black cloth” to cover the base of the lighting stands, a bolt of felt appeared. When someone asked if there was a drinking fountain, a pitcher of ice water and goblets arrived on a silver tray.

We became great friends with J.B. West, the jovial and “anything you need” Head Usher, and the glamorous Tish Baldrige, Mrs. Kennedy’s close friend and Social Secretary. On one memorable occasion, when the guests were at dinner and we were waiting for the performance to follow, Tish came to The East Room and festively modeled some of the extravagant fur wraps which the guests had hung on a coat rack nearby. Another time, Jackie arrived on the South Lawn and the thrust of the helicopter blades had whipped her hair into a huge fright wig. She laughed as she passed us in the hallway. She came in once during an afternoon rehearsal, and sitting beside me, asked if I would explain to Caroline what was going on.

I was invited to be in the receiving line for a dinner honoring The Shah of Iran. His wife, Empress Farah, wore a deep green dress and a tiara with an array of emeralds the size of robins’ eggs. I felt momentarily sorry for Jacqueline, but she outdid the Queen in a stunning white gown, with a simple sunburst of diamonds in her hair.

The president shook my hand, without quite remembering who I was. A moment later, apparently remembering (or being told by an aide) he reached back to me, in front of the Shah, to say, “I want to thank you for all that you and the Georgetown students are doing for us.”

The audience sat in the East Room on gold banquet chairs set up in rows in front of the stage.

After many performances the students, doing a quick-change into ball gowns and tuxes, joined the guests in the entrance hall for champagne and dancing to the music of the Marine Band String Ensemble. Not many college students danced with Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, but some Mask and Baublers had that privilege. Countless students could put “Technical Assistance to The White House” on their resumes.

Many celebrities were, of course, in the East Room audiences, notably on one occasion Attorney General Robert Kennedy, sitting in the back row smoking a cigar.

These are the presentations for which Mask and Bauble supplied technical assistance:

FOR PRESIDENT AND MRS. JOHN F. KENNEDY

1961 AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL THEATRE at a State Dinner honoring the President of the Sudan

1961 PABLO CASALS CONCERT at a State Dinner honoring the Governor of Puerto Rico

1962 METROPOLITAN OPERA PERFORMANCE: “COSI FAN TUTTE” at a Reception for Embassy Students

1962 GRACE BUMBRY OPERA CONCERT for a Dinner honoring Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson

1962 JEROME ROBBINS BALLET U.S.A. for a State Dinner honoring the Shah of Iran and Empress Farah

1962 FREDERICK MARCH AND FLORENCE ELDRIDGE DRAMATIC PERFORMANCE for a Dinner honoring Nobel Prize Winners

1962 AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE: “BILLY THE KID” honoring the President of the Ivory Coast

1963 NEW YORK CITY CENTER: “BRIGDOON” for a State Dinner honoring the King of Morocco

1963 BASIL RATHBONE CONSORT PLAYERS for a State Dinner honoring the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

1963 THE ROBERT JOFFREY BALLET for a State Dinner honoring the Emperor of Ethiopia

PRODUCTIONS SUPERVISED AT THE WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESIDENT AND MRS. LYNDON B. JOHNSON
1964 JAZZ FESTIVAL for a Reception honoring Presidential Scholars

1964 THE HARKNESS BALLET fort a State Dinner honoring the President of the Philippines

1965 SARAH VAUGHAN CONCERT for a State Dinner honoring the Prime Minister of Japan

1965 HUME CRONYN AND JESSICA TANDY DRAMATIC READINGS for a Dinner honoring Vice President Hubert Humphrey

1965 AMERICAN INDIAN DANCERS for a State Dinner honoring the President of Upper Volta

1965 LEONTYNE PRICE CONCERT for a State Dinner honoring the Prime Minister of Italy

1965 “AH, WILDERNESS” DRAMATIC PERFORMANCE for a Reception for the Players Incorporated

1965 WALTER TRAMPLER CONCERT for a State Dinner honoring the President of Korea

1965 ANDRE WATTS and JOHN UPDIKE, CONCERT and READINGS for a Reception honoring Presidential Scholars

1965 WHITE HOUSE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS featuring and Honoring Mark Van Doren, Saul Bellow, Helen Hayes, Gene Kelly and others

1965 A SALUTE TO CONGRESS Involving performances by many artists including Anita Bryant, Ferde Grofe, Mahalia Jackson, Frederick March, and Robert Merrill

—
Donn B. Murphy, Ph.D.
President and Executive Director
The National Theatre
1321 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004
703-524-1616
703-524-1919 Fax
dbm@nationaltheatre.org
http://www.nationaltheatre.org

A POLE IN THE MIDDLE OF STAGE ONE

A round steel support column in the middle of Stage One – in the basement of Poulton Hall – challenged the creativity of directors and designers. It became a tree, a lamp-post, a sign-post, the center of a round ottoman, a double love-seat, etc.

An alumnus of the period joked that, “You can recognize directors from our era at GU, because they will always have some kind of an obstacle in the middle of their set.”

Despite the small playing area and the pole, the little theatre housed some grand productions. Gus Kaikonnen was a formidable Aztec king-god in THE ROYAL HUNT OF THE SUN. Brecht’s epic THE RISE AND FALL OF ARTURO UI was, well, mini-epic. But we installed screens above the seating areas, and slides created both scenery and Brechtian commentary on the action. Carousel projectors were new stage technology then, and we used the projection system for several other shows. For DEATH OF A SALESMAN, the tech team installed a laser (on loan from the Physics Department). The red beam was reflected in a pattern above the heads of the actors on a series of mirrors – an impenetrable ceiling over Willy Lohman (played by Nelson Smith). We were cautioned that a mishap could blind anyone who looked into the beam, so the laser projector and the mirrors were monumentally secured by the tech crew. I had wanted to make a floor out of hundreds of beer cans: Willy Lohman on a metal grid , but that didn’t happen.

The floor in Stage One became a very major scenic element, and it was re-designed and re-painted for each show. Student director Louis Scheeder went further, and for MARAT/SADE, removed all the maroon the draperies to reveal Poulton Hall’s barred windows in black cement walls.

For the musical MAN OF LA MANCHA, space was found somehow for a small orchestra. The audience entered Poulton by ascending an exterior fire-escape and then descending three stories down a darkened stairway. Straw was strewn on landings, and Don Quixote’s fellow prison inmates were seen by lantern light – lying about in chains. The rest of the cast was “asleep” as the audience arrived in Stage One. Philip Santucci, who played Don Quixote, went on to a European career in opera. Andrea Oram, who played opposite him as Aldonza, later taught drama and directed many plays and musicals at Georgetown Day School.

Stage One, in spite of its limitations, and because of them, was a simmering crucible of imaginative student creativity.

—
Donn B. Murphy, Ph.D.
President and Executive Director

The National Theatre
1321 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004
03-524-1616
703-524-1919 Fax
dbm@nationaltheatre.org
http://www.nationaltheatre.org

THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK, THE POINT SYSTEM, AND SAINT GENESIUS

When I became “Moderator” of the Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society at Georgetown in the Fall of 1955, the club was operating in relaxed mode. I was told that after a play closed, members would meet informally over lunch in the cafeteria to decide on their next production. Having just completed my Masters degree in Speech and Drama at Catholic University, I was all about tighter organization and announcement of a full-year schedule in advance. Therefore, we held a short meeting every Monday evening. These get-togethers provided an opportunity for valuable information exchange and coordination, especially when several shows were in rehearsal. Producers and crew heads reported on their progress, and recruited help with scene painting, costume sewing, postering, box-office hours, getting hard-to-find props, etc.

An invitation to the Annual Banquet for members was a coveted privilege of achieving membership. We established a rigorous point system which assigned various numbers of points for major roles, minor roles, crew heads, crew members — and I think for numbers of hours spent on each phase of a production (building flats, hanging lights, painting, sewing, etc.). The Club Constitution, and the Point System were defined in what came to be known as “The Little Black Book” – which was about 3″ by 5″ with a black cover and the M&B Logo in white. We had an enormous number of these printed, and I remember their arriving in a large cardboard box which was in the M&B Office for a number of years. I wonder if anyone still has one, or perhaps one is preserved in the GU Library?

I had created the logo, combining the GU Seal with a mask and a likeness of a jester’s wand I carried in a play as a child.

The annual banquet was always an occasion for theatrical fun dress-up with everything from hoop skirts and smoking jackets to top hats and tiaras, or whatever else the costume room might afford. ”Genny Awards,” named after the Roman actor-martyr Saint Genesius, Patron of Actors, were presented by the club officers for various onstage and offstage achievements. A shrine to St. Genesius exists to this day in St. Malachy’s Church, where Broadway performers and stage hands worship, and the shrine, according to Wikipedia, “serves as a spiritual landmark for the city’s acting community.”

Later, the “Box Office Awards,” were inaugurated, but that’s another story.

—
Donn B. Murphy, Ph.D.
President and Executive Director

The National Theatre
1321 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004

703-524-1616
703-524-1919 Fax
dbm@nationaltheatre.org
http://www.nationaltheatre.org

MURDON and WALDINI

Hearing of my theatrical interest, Sister Mary Camilla cast me as a silent jester in a production at St. Mary College, when I was about 8. The play and the costume are long forgotten, but I can still see clearly the jester’s wand made of a stick and doll’s head by my father, with a red and yellow satin cap and collar sewn by my mother.

There being no theatre of any kind at Sacred Heart School or Immaculata High School, I created, with my friend Conrad Waldstein, a magic act: “Murdon & Waldini.” We bought tricks by mail order from the Johnson Smith Company and Abbott’s Magic Company, both still in business. My father had an elaborate workshop and constructed several pieces of equipment for me, one a box in which a large pair of dice disappeared, and another in which a spectator’s arm was divided in parts. I don’t think I was ever sufficiently appreciative of his carpentry skills. You can view the second illusion here:
http://www.abbottmagic.com/Abbotts-Modernistic-Amputation-ABBmodampi.htm

I secured bookings at the Knights of Columbus and Daughters of Isabella, while Conrad arranged our appearances at the Hadassah and the local synagogue. We were two little boys in sport coats and glasses, and I recall one lady asking, “Which one is the little Jewish boy?” We also appeared at schools and at the Fort Leavenworth Service Club.

Our “big break” came when we were high school sophomores and landed a two-week engagement with a carnival which arrived in Leavenworth. Friends and neighbors passing by stared in disbelief, as Conrad and I stood nonchalantly on the high ballyhoo platform with the snake charmer, the belly dancers (bumping and grinding), and Ramona Ray, the violet-scented hermaphrodite. The Strong Man vowed to protect our trunk of tricks, and we had our own little performance stage inside the sideshow tent. Apparently we were successful because as the fortnight drew to a close, the side-show manager invited us to travel with the carnival to Omaha, where, he assured us, “We will make nothing but money.” (We had been induced to perform free at the time, for the “professional exposure”.) We were indignantly disappointed when our short-sighted parents refused to see the wisdom of two 15-year-old boys hitting the road with the carnies. That crushing career blow kind of took the wind out of the magic act.

THE MIMIC THEATRE

Born in San Antonio, TX, I was brought up, via Chicago, in Leavenworth, Kansas, where my father was President of St. Mary College (now University). He was the first layman hired by an order of nuns to preside over their college. My earliest memories are visual: seeing a cartoon shown in Marshall Field’s department store at Christmastime, and making a drawing of a candy store in red, blue-green and yellow crayons.

I also remember seeing a performance of JANE EYRE at St. Mary as a child. I understood little, but I was captivated by the spectacle. The setting was candle-lit and had three round arches hung with red drapes. I made a miniature cardboard model of the set, with painted drapes and gilt arches, adding birthday candles for sconces.

About that time, I recall, my mother sewed little chasubles for my brother and me, and provided a “chalice” and little vases of flowers — encouraging us to play “Mass”, hoping, I presume, to encourage vocations to the priesthood. No luck on that.

Undaunted, she turned to my evident theatrical inclinations. When I was in the second grade, I received an astounding present. Under the tree on Christmas morning were four beautiful maroon boxes, one containing a script she had written, and the others holding costumes she had sewn.

The play was THE PRINCE WHO FELL OUT OF THE SKY. I played a King, my brother was the prince, and our neighbor, Lois Linck, portrayed the Princess. The prince, an aviator with engine trouble, parachuted into my kingdom and fell in love with my daughter. I clearly recall my cotton burgundy gown with paint-daubed white flannel “ermine” trim, Lois’ blue dress overlaid with panels of lace curtain salvaged from our previous residence, and my brother’s aviator cap.

Having opened these presents, I was led to the basement, where my father had rigged a set of blue curtains (also from our previous home) with pulleys, enclosing a stage about six feet deep and twelve feet wide. Lights on either side – controlled by pull cords – lit the playing space. My mother had sewn a maroon valance, and in bias tape had identified: “The Mimic Theatre.” It was here that THE PRINCE debuted, prior to its triumphant tour to the First through Fourth Grades at Sacred heart School. My future was sealed.

(I should also report that my far-sighted parents gave my brother a hectograph, on which he duplicated a neighborhood news sheet. He then began reporting grade-school basketball scores, and eventually became a newspaper editor in Philadelphia.)

—
Donn B. Murphy, Ph.D.
President and Executive Director

The National Theatre
1321 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004

703-524-1616
703-524-1919 Fax
dbm@nationaltheatre.org
http://www.nationaltheatre.org

Memories of The Mimic Theatre & The Prince Who Fell From The Sky

Born in San Antonio, TX, I was brought up, via Chicago, in Leavenworth, Kansas, where my father was President of St. Mary College (now University). He was the first layman hired by an order of nuns to preside over their college. My earliest memories are visual: seeing a cartoon shown in Marshall Field’s department store at Christmastime, and making a drawing of a candy store in red, blue-green and yellow crayons.

I also remember seeing a performance of JANE EYRE at St. Mary as a child. I understood little, but I was captivated by the spectacle. The setting was candle-lit and had three round arches hung with red drapes. I made a miniature cardboard model of the set, with painted drapes and gilt arches, adding birthday candles for sconces.

About that time, I recall, my mother sewed little chasubles for my brother and me, and provided a “chalice” and little vases of flowers — encouraging us to play “Mass”, hoping, I presume, to encourage vocations to the priesthood. No luck on that.

Undaunted, she turned to my evident theatrical inclinations. When I was in the second grade, I received an astounding present. Under the tree on Christmas morning were four beautiful maroon boxes, one containing a script she had written, and the others holding costumes she had sewn.

The play was THE PRINCE WHO FELL OUT OF THE SKY. I played a King, my brother was the prince, and our neighbor, Lois Linck, portrayed the Princess. The prince, an aviator with engine trouble, parachuted into my kingdom and fell in love with my daughter. I clearly recall my cotton burgundy gown with paint-daubed white flannel “ermine” trim, Lois’ blue dress overlaid with panels of lace curtain salvaged from our previous residence, and my brother’s aviator cap.

Having opened these presents, I was led to the basement, where my father had rigged a set of blue curtains (also from our previous home) with pulleys, enclosing a stage about six feet deep and twelve feet wide. Lights on either side – controlled by pull cords – lit the playing space. My mother had sewn a maroon valance, and in bias tape had identified: “The Mimic Theatre.” It was here that THE PRINCE debuted, prior to its triumphant tour to the First through Fourth Grades at Sacred heart School. My future was sealed.

(I should also report that my far-sighted parents gave my brother a hectograph, on which he duplicated a neighborhood news sheet. He then began reporting grade-school basketball scores, and eventually became a newspaper editor in Philadelphia .)

Donn B. Murphy, Ph.D.
President and Executive Director
The National Theatre
1321 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington , DC   20004
703-524-1616
703-524-1919 Fax
dbm@nationaltheatre.org
www.nationaltheatre.org

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