The William Inge Festival

Independence Community College

Independence, Kansas

April 4, 5, 6, 7, 1987

Saturday, April 4

1:00 – 4:00 pm - Registration in the Foyer of William Inge Theatre The William Inge Collection will be open for visitors. College Library, Academic Building.

1:00 – 5:00 pm - A Movie Double Feature – Garson Kanin’s films, Pat and Mike and Adam’s Rib will be shown in the Fireside Room, Student Union. Both films star Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy.

1:30 and 3:00 pm - Tours of Inge’s Independence will leave the Fine Arts Building. Meet in the foyer

7:00 pm - Dinner With Broadway Theatre Legends. Special guests will include actresses Barbara Baxley and Marian Seldes. Award-winning playwrights Garson Kanin, John Patrick, Jerome Lawrence, and Robert Anderson will be present. Special musical entertainment. Guest artist Marcy DeGonge. Independence Country Club.



Sunday, April 5

1:00 – 5:00 pm - Registration in the Foyer of William Inge Theatre. The William Inge Collection will be open for visitors. College Library, Academic Building.

1:30 pm - “William Inge: Penn Avenue to Broadway” A documentary slide show. Fireside Room, Student Union.

2:30 pm - Born Yesterday, The movie, starring Judy Holiday. Fireside Room, Student Union.

2:30 – 4:30 pm - “A Playwright’s Workshop” (Limited to twenty persons, apply to Debby Warner, Counselor at ICC). Playwright Jerome Lawrence will conduct the workshop. FA 1 in the Fine Arts Building.

2:30 and 4:00 pm - Tours of Inge’s Independence will leave the Fine Arts Building. Meet in the Foyer.

7:30 pm - “Two for One” starring Walter Willison and JoAnna Rush in concert. Inge Theatre. $5.00.

Intermission Reception in foyer hosted by Independence Arts Council.



Monday, April 6

8 am – 4 pm - Registration in the Foyer of William Inge Theatre.

The William Inge Collection will be open for visitors. College Library, Academic Building.

8:15 am - “William Inge and the Critics” (What they did to him and for him). Dan Sullivan, distinguished theatre critic for the Los Angeles Times.

9:00 am - “How an Actress Prepares for the Professional Theatre”. Barbara Baxley, renowned actress of the stage and screen whose Broadway credits include Bus Stop, Camino Real, Period of Adjustment, The Three Sisters, She Loves Me. Inge Theatre.

10:00 am – 12:00 Noon Meet Our Award Winning Playwrights Topic: “The Changing American Theatre” – Garson Kanin, author of Born Yesterday and the 1987 recipient of the William Inge Award for Lifetime Achievement in the American Theatre. Responding to Mr. Kanin will be Robert Anderson (Tea and Sympathy), Jerome Lawrence (Inherit the Wind) and John Patrick (The Teahouse of the August Moon). Jackson Bryer, University of Maryland, will moderate the question and answer period. Inge Theatre.

12:15 pm - Honors Luncheon. Members of the Inge Family and distinguished festival and conference guests will be honored. Fireside Room, Student Union. $5.00

Monday, April 6 (continued)

1:15 – 3:00 pm - “A Playwright’s Workshop” (Limited to twenty persons, apply to Debby Warner, Counselor at ICC). Playwright Robert Anderson will conduct the workshop. FA 1 in the Fine Arts Building.

1:15 – 3:00 pm - “Publicizing and Promoting Your Productions”. A workshop for high school and college teachers, directors, community theatre persons and theatre students. Conducted by Wally Cedar, veteran publicist for actors and their productions who has his own public relations firm in Beverly Hills and Rick Miramontez, formerly the associate publicist for the Ahmanson Theatre of Los Angeles, now is directing publicity for the new Los Angeles Festival. Music Hall, Fine Arts Building.

1:30 – 5:00 pm - Conference Theme: “The Family In Modern American Drama And Film”. Jackson Bryer, University of Maryland, Director of Conference. Lecture Hall, Academic Building.

Session I – 1:30 – 3:30 pm - Ralph F. Voss, University of Alabama: “On Writing a Literary Biography of William Inge”. Linda Wagner-Martin, Michigan State University: “Inge’s Men and Episodes of Violence in His Plays”. Michael J. Mendelsohn, University of Tampa: “’Families in Search of Home’: The Plays of Clifford Odets”. Judith Babnich, Wichita State University: “The Role of the Family in Megan Terry’s ‘American Kings English for Queens’ and ‘Goona Goona’”.

Session II – 3:15 – 4:45 pm - Robert A. Martin, Michigan State University: “Life With Father in the Plays of William Inge”. Peggy A. Vaughan, Albermarle High School, Charlottesville, VA: “The Family in Inge: Spiritual Wasteland”. Barry Gross, Michigan State University: “’Poised for Emergency Take-Off’: William Inge’s Walking Wounded”. Respondent: Gene DeGruson, Pittsburg State University.

7:30 pm - A Salute To Garson Kanin. A show featuring the works of Kanin with tributes from his friends. Presentation of “The William Inge Award For Lifetime Achievement in the American Theatre”. Inge Theatre, Admission $5.00

Intermission Reception in Foyer.

10:00 pm - After-Theatre Supper With Garson Kanin, Independence Country Club, $7.50



Tuesday, April 7

8:30 – 11:30 am - Registration in Foyer of William Inge Theatre.

8:30 – 11:30 am - The Conference “The Family In Modern American Drama and Film” continues. Lecture Hall, Academic Building.

Session III – Tuesday Morning Jane Lange, University of California, Barkeley: “Splendor in the Past: Inge’s Family Dramas of the 1920’s and 1930’s”. Kerk Fisher, University of Georgia: “Children at the Threshold: The Role of the Front Porch in American Domestic Drama”. Therese Jones, University of Colorado: “ ‘yet another round of whispering on a bed’: Michael Foucault and Tennessee Williams”

Session IV – Tuesday Morning James F. Schlatter, Bryn Mawr College: “’Some Kind of Future’: The War for Inheritance in Three American Plays of the 1970’s”. Anita Turpin, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale: “Where’s Daddy?: The Plight of the American Family in Modern American Drama”. Respondent: Gene DeGruson, Pittsburg State University.

9:00 – 11:30 am - An Actor’s Workshop. Open to acting students from high school through adults. A rare opportunity to work with Miss Marian Seldes, two-time winner of the Tony Award for Best Actress, now instructor of acting at The Julliard School of Music in New York City.