Owen Phillips: 1966

Despite the sparseness of material in the Archives for the 1966 season, there is sufficient data that documents its success.   A small booklet, entitled “Playbill,” was published for the 1966 season that contained several pages of advertisements from local businesses, photos and bios of company members, along with the titles of the season’s plays.  Of particular interest is the listing of the theatre staff and their titles. Leo Bernstein heads the list with the title of Producer.  Below his name is that of Owen Phillips, with the title of Managing Director.  (It should be noted that a few years later, during the time of Ed Steele and James Kirkland, these titles become even more confusing).  Other staff names for the summer season include:  Richard Foltz, Stage Manager; Lynn Sams, Technical Director; Designer, Jane Caspar; Costume Designer, Maida Murray Jones; Executive Secretary, Esther Kline; and House Manager, Bob Jones.

The 1966 season opened with a performance of Invitation to a March, and continued the tradition of making the opening night a social highlight for Valley residents as well as for visitors to the area.  One description of this event takes up an entire page of the Hagerstown, Maryland paper, The Daily Mail.  The evening began with dinner at the Wayside Inn followed by the performance at the Theatre.  Guests attending the opening night festivities include former State Department officer, John Begg, Dean of the White House Press Corps, Mr. H. Merriman Smith, Mrs. Estes Kefauver, Ambassador Schurrman from the Netherlands, and James Symington, White House Chief of Protocol, to name a few.  One writer stated that she found the reception “more glittering for four times as many celebrities were there.” She writes that the production was excellent, but added that “our view was myopic.  Our seats were on the first row!” (Powell, L. “Glamour and Personalities ….” TDM. 27 May 1965).  As was the custom on these opening night observances, the audience adjourned to the Inn following the performance, where they enjoyed a bountiful reception.

In addition to the personalities and other the first-night attendees, there was an additional attraction.  This was the appearance of an ‘Art-Mobile’ that contained priceless paintings from the Mellon Collection, “English Conversation Pieces,” housed in the Richmond Art Museum.  The collection was displayed in a large vehicle that was parked on the street just outside the theatre, and visitors could view the paintings in a ‘drawing-room’ like décor during the two, long intermissions (Pennypacker. “Season Opening ….” WES. 23 May 1966).  In addition to the Mellon collection, other works of art, most likely by local artists, were on display in the theatre’s second floor gallery.   At this time, the state of Virginia featured a traveling art exhibit from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond that toured the state stopping at schools and other locations.  One teacher reported that when the ArtMobile appears at her school, “It makes the lesson come alive …” (Buck.  “A Traveling Art Gallery.”  NVD.  12 Apr. 1962).

The fourth production for 1966, You Can’t Take it With You, was directed by Woodstock native and resident stage manager, Richard Foltz.  Before coming to Wayside, Foltz served as the personal assistant to playwright, Edward Albee.  In Dillard’s review of the play, she pays high tribute to the cast and awards special credit to the wonderful set that exhibited “inspiration as well as perspiration … to produce a family room which tells you more about the family than ten pages of lines could do.”  A few days later, the paper published an interview with the star of the play, Lindé Hayen, and her pet cats, Harpo and Groucho, that appeared on stage with her (Dillard. “Owen Philips Directs ….” WES. 6 July 1966).

Regarding the opening night of You Can’t Take it With You, one audience member is quoted as saying that it went off with a “bang,” which is confirmed by the reviewer who stated that he “could not agree with her more” (Paige.  “You Can’t Take ….” WES. 5 July 1966).  But, the question remains, did “bang” refer to the quality of the production or to the impressive fireworks scene in the play?  One wonders.

A very ingenious event took place during the run of You Can’t Take It With You. Phillips invited the cast of Winchester Little Theatre’s production of the same play to attend a Wayside performance.  WLT’s production had taken place July 23, 24, and 25, 1940, on the stage of Handley High School.  Not all of the WLT cast members were in attendance, but those who were pronounced the evening a fun time, adding, “it was too bad that more of the old cast couldn’t have” attended.  The article in the Star listed the name of each of the Wayside actors and followed by the name of the WLT performer of the same role, adding a brief sentence as to their current location (Pennypacker.  “Wayside Director Host ….” WES.  5 July 1966).

The production of Ten Nights in a Bar Room, a play that had been performed two years earlier, gleaned a positive review.  Dillard writes glowingly that the current production is as popular as the earlier version (Dillard.  “Wayside Review.” TWaS. 18 Aug. 1966). 

A change in the 1966 schedule occurred when the rights to the play, George and Martha, became available.  Phillips had toured for twenty-six weeks with this play before accepting the Wayside directorship, and he was anxious to include it in the current Wayside season.  Phillips considered the play to be “an ideal ‘change of pace’ to inject into the Summer program at this time” (TWaS. 14 July 1966).  It replaced the slot where Detective Story by Sydney Kingsley had been scheduled. Dillard praised the entire cast of George and Martha for their comic timing.  At the close of her review, Dillard mention the exhibit of paintings by the Front Royal artist, James Bennett on display in the Art Gallery of the Theatre (Dillard.  “Wayside Review.” TWaS. 21 July 1966). This is a further reference to  the visual arts partnered with a theatre performances, which illustrates the overall mission of the Wayside Foundation for the Arts.

When advertisements for the season closer, Ten Nights in a Bar Room, appeared in the local papers, it was with the announcement that this would be the ideal venue to boo/hiss the villain and cheer the gallant hero.  The production was given high praise by Dillard, who goes to great length to mention the name of each actor and single out some aspect of his work in the performance for a compliment.  She reminds the reader that this play had been performed at Wayside two years earlier. 

The first … was a gay frolic for both the actors and the audience.  It was full of vitality
and fun, and the audience ate it up.  The new “Ten Nights” has the vitality and fun and lovely zaniness in even greater measure but the show is not slap-happy and loosely thrown together; it is stylish elegant, and thoroughly professional ….  Another addition this time is the singing and dancing; the first show had only a little. 

Dillard continues her review by pointing out two outstanding moments in this version of the show.  One was the “lusty rendition of ‘Frankie and Johnnie’ ” by Langhorne Scruggs, which Dillard calls it “the best thing in the show.” The other was the piano playing of Marcie Lavorini,

an accomplished musician from Martinsburg, accompanying the entire production
on the piano which sounded like an old-fashioned nickelodeon. With her third hand, Marcie plays an electric organ, and she has dug up an extra foot somewhere with
which to beat the drum (Dillard. “Wayside Review.” TWaS. 18 Aug. 1966).  

The 1966 season included two shows that required large casts.  Eighteen people, many of whom were listed as apprentices, took part in Take Her, She’s Mine.  This was followed by Carnival, which required several actors to play more than one role.  During the run of Carnival, the theatre scheduled a special performance for the Blue Allee Arts Show that was held across from the Theatre in an un-named location, and was combined with two performances of a puppet show,  Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (“Arts Festival in Middletown ….”  TWaS. 29 July 1965).

A Fall Workshop of acting classes was announced at the completion of the summer season and listed dates and times of the classes along with the names of the teachers.  Actress Lindé Hayen would teach the children and junior high students and Owen Phillips would be the teacher for the high school students, as well as the class for adults.  At the conclusion of the workshop, Cinderella was scheduled to be performed during two weekends in December using members of the Wayside Theatre Workshop as the performers.  Some roles were assigned to the theatre’s apprentices, while others were given to members of the community (Dillard.  “Wayside Review.” TWaS. 18 Aug, 1966).

Two other productions closed out the year:  Hansel and Gretel ran for one weekend at the end of November, and for one in December.  Although no dates can be found for Wayside Yuletide Festival, this work most likely took place in mid-December.  The show began with “Christmas Greeting Dance” followed by the singing of a few Christmas Carols.  The first half included a “Dance Specialty,” and following intermission, The Stolen Prince was performed.  Based on the names in this production, it appears these performers were primarily young people from the area.