In the summer of 1997, I had a unique experience. I got to meet one of my theatre heroes--African American director and Dean of the School of Drama at Yale, Lloyd Richards.
That year, I was fortunate to be accepted into the Yale Summer Conservatory program. It was one of the most engaging academic pursuits of my life and certainly of my career. We went to class at 8 am and studied until 11 pm, then it was off to our rooms in the Hall of Graduate Studies to do homework and try to capture a few moments rest.
My room at Yale was select. It was directly across from the common bathrooms and had a window seat with mullioned windows that opened onto the Dean's accommodations. There was a huge overstuffed chair in front of a fireplace with a large bookcase on either side. I could very happily have lived there for much longer than one summer!
In any case, we were engrossed in Voice, Directing, Design, Stage Management, Lighting, Acting...just about every possible venue that theatre has to offer, and to be honest the schedule albeit exciting was grueling.
To give us a break, the theatre professors arranged for the class to go to The Eugene O'Neill Center in New London, Connecticut. It was to be a pleasurable time for us and my group of companions took to it with relief. Being one of the few who had a vehicle, I drove my van up the coast of Connecticut with my friends. Just blowing off steam and classes for awhile was worth the drive but at the end of it, we had an experience to end all experiences.
The O'Neill Center is above all else a theatre research facility. There are several performance venues, three that I can think of, and they were all busy that day. Each had a production in the works--mostly works in progress from their new playwrights fellowship. Several new playwrights are selected each year and workshop their writing using a company of stock actors that live in a house on the grounds for the term. Some productions get a staged reading in the barn, others are give a full production at the outside stage that lies adjacent to the barn. There is also a little amphitheatre with scaffolding for seats that could house a theatre-in-the-round style production.It was in the latter that I met Lloyd Richards.
Mr. Richards had retired from Yale some years earlier, in 1991 I believe, so that he was in residence at the O'Neill Center at this time was pure coincidence and pleasure. He was a striking looking man and even though his years must have been advanced by then, one could hardly say he was in his dotage.
We were scheduled to work with our voice instructor in the amphitheatre. Having spent the morning on the rocks watching the sea and sharing confidences about family and theatre with my Friends, we were all quite willing to put in a little work--we were learning Cecily Berry's techniques, which was new for most of us. As we entered the theatre, there Mr. Richards sat. He was dressed all in white, and he looked cool as a cucumber, although the day was somewhat warm.
I had long admired Mr. Richards for his work with one of my favorite playwrights, August Wilson. Those of us fortunate enough to be early to class that day, had the opportunity to hear him speak about working with Wilson, discovering the play Fences and all manner of information and reminiscences of his days at Yale. He spoke for close to an hour and impromptu as it was, he was eloquent and completely held us in his thrall. To say that the voice lesson took second place to this opportunity would be an understatement. I know we had one, but I can't remember a thing about it and I would dare to say the rest of the class could not either. Mr. Richards dominated our thoughts for the rest of the day.
We saw a strange production that evening, I don't think it ever got beyond that workshop phase, although I looked for it many times. I suppose it could have taken on a completely new identity after the O'Neill Center work. We ate with the actors in the house and chattered excitedly about all we had learned from Mr. Richards.
It was one of those completely amazing days.
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