Diana Presents Edward Albee

Jacquie's Email 
Hello Literary Ladies! We will be meeting this Wednesday, January 18th in the Orr Room of the Library for Diana's presentation on Edward Albee. Small talk begins at 12:30pm - confrontation beings at 1pm. Diana promises loads of drama, but alas, with our masks on, the sloppy drinking will have to be done in private and without an audience.
Here's a little something to whet your appetites. Even though our prior readings have proven our group's excellent acting chops, no one can emote with their forelocks quite like Liz and Dick! On YouTube: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Elizabeth Taylor (Martha), Richard Burton (George)  –  the boxing match scene. 

Christine's Minutes 

On a blustery January 18th, thirteen members of the Literature Club gathered again in the Orr Room of the Hasting library, home to hard uncomfortable chairs graciously made comfortable by Jacquie’s collection of cushions.

President Constance rang the ceremonial bell at 1 pm. There were a few announcements. Joanna, in her library hat, reminded us of the upcoming documentary, The Automat, and discussion to follow, and then wearing her Arts Council hat, she told us about “Drinking and Drawing,” in this very same Orr room with which we are so well acquainted.

Meanwhile, Jacquie made sure that we were recording the meeting for Sharon, who is in Florida. Most importantly, we all welcomed. Gita back from her illness and recuperation – we are all so glad to see her again.

The minutes of our previous meeting were read and accepted. Having recently written a large check to the library, our treasury now holds $129.50. Recommended books included Trust, by Hernan Diaz, The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell, and The Golden Compass trilogy by Philip Pullman.

And now the curtain rises on our much-anticipated program on Edward Albee, by Diana Jaeger. Diana explained that, unlike some past presenters, she had not seen fit to dress as Albee. She did something rather creative and unusual: she placed next to her the perfect prop, a bottle of Maker's Mark, Albee’s favorite whiskey.

Lest anyone was still expecting to hear about Horton Foote, Diana explained that having read through Foote’s oeuvre, she decided it lacked sufficient drama. Additionally, one of his plays had been scathingly reviewed by Stefan Kanfer, husband to our own late member, May Kanfer.

The biographical information in this program comes from Mel Gussow’s Edward Albee: A Singular Journey (2000) Gussow was not only an important critic, but also a good friend of Albee.

We could just glide over the next part, Albee’s almost classic alienated childhood of the artistic son of rich parents, but as has been noted elsewhere, everyone gets their very own particular and peculiar unhappy childhood.

Edward was born in 1928 to a single mother, in Washington DC. The biological father was nowhere to be seen. The babe was then adopted by a wealthy childless couple in Larchmont, New York, the Albees, in need of an heir. They named him Edward Franklin Albee III.

Reed Albee, a successful theatrical producer, was rather short but loved tall women. Frances, his much younger-wife, called Frankie, was six foot two inches, and had worked as a model. Also in the household were Frankie’s alcoholic sister, and her mother.

Frankie, described oxymoronically, as a “genial anti-Semite”, was not maternal. The young Albee did not even eat meals with his parents.

In 1932 the story of the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby gripped the nation. There was no escape from lurid coverage of the event. The young Albee became very fearful and slept with a bow and arrow under his pillow.

In the classic trope of rich clueless parents, Albee was financially pampered, given legions of toy soldiers, tennis lessons, dancing lessons, boxing lessons and lavish birthday parties.

But there were two loving women in his life: Nanny Church, who encouraged his interest in the arts, and took him to museums and Broadway shows. And Grandma Cotter – she lived upstairs in the large house, and was isolated there with her asthmatic Pekinese dogs. She was an Albee play before there was such a thing as an Albee play. And then there was. Albee wrote The Sandbox  –  a 12-minute play –  about her.

But back to the miserable childhood. Albee was first sent to Rye Country Day, though in the winters he was pulled out and sent to a private school in Palm Beach, because his parents wintered there. After failing at RCD, he was sent to Lawrenceville, where he had his first sexual experience. He was tossed out again, and sent to Valley Forge Military Academy. Not surprisingly, he hated it. Lastly, he went to Choate, where he had a successful academic career.

He spent three semesters at Trinity College, before leaving for Greenwich Village, and his real life. By this time, he knew he was gay; he said he had known since he was twelve. Initially he lived at home in Larchmont, but in 1948 he had a serious break with his parents, and left the nest. When he was 21, he inherited money from his grandmother, which gave him $25 a week. It helped, but he still needed to work. He held a series of odd jobs; his favorite was Western Union, where he worked from 1955 to 1958. He said that he liked the flexible hours, the interesting people he met, and lots of walking. He also liberated one of their typewriters in order to start writing plays. And he did. He dashed off The Zoo Story in three weeks, and it was produced off-Broadway in 1959. He was suddenly the darling of the New York theater world. The plays kept coming: The Sandbox in 1960, American Dream in 1961, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1962, A Delicate Balance in 1966. He wrote several plays in the seventies and eighties, but they weren’t his best. Then in 1991 Three Tall Women came out. The play was a huge hit, and Albee won the Pulitzer.

Albee’s first serious love was William Flanagan.

From 1959 to 1963, he had a relationship with Terence McNally, but they split after four years because Albee was unable to be open about his sexuality.

Then, in 1971, Albee met Jonathan Thomas and they were together until Thomas died in 2005.

In 1989, Frankie Albee, his mother, died, having changed her will to exclude Edward. This left him free to write about her. He found his adoption papers and contacted his birth mother. And to exorcise his demons, he wrote Three Tall Women (1990); there were only three characters and they were all variations on his mother.

According to Albee there are only 2 things to write about: Life and Death. Albee died in 2016 at the age of 88.

And now for some real drama: members read selected scenes from A Delicate Balance. This was an excellent choice, as it has six very vivid characters: Tobias and Agnes, a wealthy older couple; Julia, their fourfold-divorced daughter just come home; Claire, Agnes’ alcoholic sister; and their soi-disant best friends, Harry and Edna. In reading certain scenes across the whole play, we felt we had experienced the whole messy, emotional, theatrical, familial show.

Respectfully submitted,
Christine Lehner, Recording Secretary

Frances Presents Oscar Wilde

Jacquie's Email Hello Literary (and Serious and Good) Ladies!
First, I would like to welcome our newest member, Kathy Sullivan, to the group. Kathy, please be prepared for your investiture, which may or may not include a hood and a ride to an undisclosed location... Just kidding, although that is what I expected when I was first introduced to the fabled Literature Club of Hastings-on-Hudson!
   

 

   And now in all Ernest...our next meeting will be this Wednesday, December 14th for an afternoon of Oscar Wilde presented by Frances. Once again, we will be meeting in front of the dramatic backdrop of the Palisades in the Orr Room of the Hastings-on-Hudson Public Library. The doors will open at 12:30pm for pre-show chatter, with the bell to take our seats at 1pm.
   Masks requested but true identities will remain revealed. Fans are optional. Handbags will be checked at the door! xJacquie

Christine's Minutes Ten members of the Literature Club gathered, yet again, in the tried and true Orr Room of our beloved Library, where the chairs may be uncomfortable, or would be but for Jacquie intrepidly schlepping** (note correct use of the word) her cushions every two weeks, but the views are spectacular. Today there were white caps on the Hudson, always a delight to behold.

In the course of introducing ourselves to our newest member – Welcome Kathy Lewis! – we learned a few things about our older members, such as the fact that Fran would like to be called Frances, and Connie would like to be called Constance. Duly noted by your secretary. Kathy is a neighbor of Linda’s, and has lived in Hastings for over twenty years. She is an architect, and has two sons. We are pleased to have her join our select group.

President Constance Stewart rang the bell. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and accepted, with one important correction, regarding the word schlep. To schlep is to carry or haul something along. Schlump was the word used by Joanna, correctly; it describes a slovenly person, which of course Joanna is not, unless she is dressing purposely as a ‘schlump’. Your secretary always enjoys enlarging her vocabulary.

Constance went over the schedule for the coming year. In order to discuss how we would go forward, whether via Zoom, or at the library, or back to some version of normal, a brief Zoom meeting on January 11th was proposed.

Frances then entertained us with an afternoon of Oscar Wilde – who could be wittier? In the spirit of her subject, Frances looked very fin-de-siècle in her black boots, black velvet jacket and red velvet scarf.

But why Oscar? Frances explained that Barbara laid claim to Molière, and Christine scarfed up Stoppard, so quoi faire? We also learned she is possibly the only literate, highly literate, English speaker who has not seen The Importance of Being Earnest.

For the life, Frances referred to Richard Ellman’s canonical biography. Wilde lived in a time of the explosion of literacy, and photography. Frances passed around photos of Wilde’s tomb at Père Lachaise, of Wilde foppishly dressed and splayed upon a bearskin rug, and several other pictures of Wilde, his unenviable wife, and Bosie, his lover.

Nowadays, Wilde is regarded as a homosexual martyr. But naturellement it was more complicated than that, the three trials of Oscar Wilde. The first case was initiated by Wilde. He sued Bosie’s father, the Marquess of Queensbury (by all accounts a violent homophobic brute and philistine) for libel, and misspelling. Queensbury left a card at Wilde’s club, on which he had written that Wilde was a “posing somdomite”. Setting this trial in motion was the first very bad idea. It was Wilde’s younger lover, Bosie, Alfred Lord Douglas, who was eager to see his father humiliated in court. Against all advice and better judgement, Wilde proceeded, and lost the libel suit.

The second trial was launched by the government, accusing Wilde of “gross indecency.” But this time the jury could not reach a verdict – largely because the “rent boys” so vital to the government’s case, did not make credible witnesses. The case was dismissed.

For number three, the government again prosecuted Wilde for gross indecency, and this time they won their case. In 1895 Wilde was sentenced to two years of hard labor. The conditions were dreadful by any standards. After eighteen months, he was transferred to another prison where a humane superintendent allowed him writing paper. Each day he wrote his letter to Bosie, to be later called De Profundis, and each day the superintendent took away the day’s writing. Wilde saw his pages again when he was released.

After two years, Wilde’s life as he knew it was over. He was bankrupt. His wife Constance changed her name, and his two sons – whom he never saw again – grew up as Cyril and Vyvyan Holland.

But back to the beginning. Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854, and died in Paris in 1900, in mortal combat with his wallpaper. “Either this wallpaper goes, or I do,” he said. And we know who went. Wilde’s parents were prominent Anglo-Irish Protestants. He studied at Oxford, and there, having elegantly decorated his rooms, he produced the first of his eminently quotable epigrams: I am finding it harder and harder every day to live up to my blue china.

In London, Wilde was a popular guest at dinner parties, and man about town. To support himself he wrote reviews, gave lectures, whatever he could. Then in 1882 the D’Oyly Carte Company sent him on a lecture tour in the US, to drum up an audience for Patience. One of the characters in the play, Bunthorne, was based on Wilde. In America, he was a great success, and generated publicity, for the play, and for Oscar Wilde, the dandy, the pinnacle of the British Aesthetic Movement. About that time, Wilde was heard to say, “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”

In 1884 Wilde married Constance Lloyd who was, by very good luck for Oscar, wealthy. In 1885 and 1886 their two sons were born.

Around that time Wilde was seduced by the Canadian, Robbie Ross, and became a practicing homosexual. He remained friends with Ross all his life, and it would be the loyal Ross who secured Wilde’s copyrights for his sons, and arranged his burial at Père Lachaise.

From 1888 on, he was immensely productive. The Picture of Dorian Gray came out in 1890. In 1892 Sarah Bernhardt performed in his play, Salomé. Then came A Woman of No Importance, Lady Windermere’s Fan, The Ideal Husband and in 1895, The Importance of Being Earnest.

The plays were all smashing successes. But then came the three trials, and it all came crashing down when he was convicted in 1895.

At last members read four delightful scenes from The Importance, giving us a chance to speak such splendid lines as “I can resist everything except temptation” and “To lose one [parent] may be regarded as a misfortune, to lose two looks like carelessness!” And Algernon regarding his aunt: “Ah! that must be Aunt Augusta. Only relatives, or creditors, ever ring in that Wagnerian manner.” And here is Lady Bracknell remonstrating Jack Worthing: “Mr. Worthing! Rise, sir, from this semi-recumbent posture. It is most indecorous.”

And one last one, just because: “All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That is his.”

Respectfully submitted,

Christine Lehner, Recording Secretary

Joanna Presents Richard Nelson

Jacquie's Email
Hello Literary Ladies! I hope you all had memorable Thanksgiving holidays with very little unnecessary family drama. I was home with the flu (and missed Thanksgiving at my mother-in-law's on Long Island) while the rest of my sisters and their families celebrated in Chicago. I have so far heard one sister's account of the weekend and the various little dramas that occurred, many of which she instigated. (Politics! Driving skills! Appropriate container size for leftovers!) I can't wait to hear from the others. Life really is the stuff of drama. It's going to be a veritable Rashomon!
   And what a perfect segue talk of family gatherings is for Joanna's topic for our meeting this Wednesday, as she will be presenting on playwright Richard Nelson. Since there have been more Literature Club firsts in the past few years than we can count, I wouldn't put it past Joanna to have us all prepare a meal as she presents!
   Once again, we will be meeting in the Orr Room of the Hastings-on-Hudson Public Library at 12:30 PM, with curtain at 1 PM. For all who wish to join us on Zoom, please let us know you will be tuning in, so we know to simulcast the presentation.
   Hoping I'll be joining you in person on Wednesday! -cough-cough-sniffle-sniffle-Jacquie

Christine's Minutes

Ten members of the Literature Club gathered in the Orr Room, where we had an excellent view of the pouring rain. We were joined again by Kathy Sullivan, as a guest. President Constance Stewart rang the sacred bell at 1 PM. Due to the recording secretary’s dereliction of duty, there were no minutes read. Due to the treasurer’s absence, there was no treasury report.

We were all pleased that Gita was able to join us via Zoom. Jacquie suggested that her emails announcing each upcoming meeting, should contain a link to the minutes. We discussed, not for the first time, what should be our Covid-careful protocol over the winter. Whatever we do, it was agreed that there will be no lunches served. Obviously, this remains a very sad thing.

The first words from the day’s presenter, Joanna Reisman, were: “I am not dressed like a schlump.” In fact, she was, untypically, dressed rather schlumpily. But this, she explained, was in homage to several characters in the Rhinebeck plays of Richard Nelson, her subject.

Richard Nelson was born in Chicago in 1950. His family moved a lot. Among his 45 listed plays, ten were produced at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the first in 1975. From 2005 to 2008 he was chair of the playwrighting department at the Yale School of Drama. Working with Russian translators, he has translated and produced several works of Chekhov. Nelson has won several awards. He has also written screenplays. Since the 1980’s he has lived in Rhinebeck. We could just walk down the hill and get on a train and visit him this very afternoon.

Joanna’s presentation focused on the Rhinebeck plays, known as the Rhinebeck Panorama. There are four plays about the Apple family, three plays about the Gabriels, and another 3 pandemic plays, written to be performed on the Zoom medium, revisiting the Apples, and then two plays about the Michaels. Nelson’s style of theater has deep roots in Chekhov. He strives for what he calls verisimilitude. All the plays are staged in the round, in a kitchen, and sometimes a dining room. There is lots of cooking and eating. Real food. A real refrigerator door opens and closes. There are adults, who could be you or me, speaking naturally, about personal experiences, politics, very current politics.

Each play begins with a dark, bare stage. Then the actors enter, bringing in the furniture and props, and setting the stage while the audience looks on.

In Nelson’s plays, there is minimal conflict; his characters do not try to impose their views; there are no great ‘reveals”. The characters already know everything – the drama exists in the audience becoming aware.

Nelson generally works with the same actors, to the extent that they feel like a ‘troupe”. Most notably, MaryAnn Plunkett and Jay Sanders, who are married in real life, appear variously as siblings, or as in-laws.

The actors wear no makeup (or if they do it is damn hard to tell), and they wear casual, often sloppy clothes, – hence we have Joanna’s un-characteristically schlumpy attire today.

The plays require a special very sensitive sound system, involving lots of tiny dangling microphones, so the actors can speak in normal voices.

Members read from Oscar Eustis’s insightful introduction to a collection of the plays.

(Meanwhile, in contrast to the warmth of cooking food in the Apple kitchen, outside the Orr room, the bare branches are whipping in the wind, and the flagpole is issuing an eerie screech in sync with each gust.)

Then, Joanna introduced us to the cast of characters in the first Apple Play: Richard Apple, a lawyer in Albany, his three sisters, Barbara, a teacher in Rhinebeck, Marian, also a teacher, Jane, a writer from the city, Tim, Jane’s boyfriend, an actor slash waiter, and Uncle Benjamin, who was formerly a well-known actor, but recently has had suffered a heart attack and has memory loss.

Members read from scene one, which opens on November 2, 2010, and is called “That Hopey-Changey Thing”.

Scene two is “Acting and Forgetting”. Scene three is called “American Manners.” The last scene ends with Uncle Benjamin reading a Walt Whitman poem, The Wound Dresser.

The third Apple play, called Sorry, occurs on the November 2012 elections. Barbara and Marian, now living together, are taking their Uncle Benjamin to the nursing home because they are unable to care for him any longer.

Members read a short scene.

(Meanwhile, the wind outside is still wailing for her demon lover…)

We also read from the fourth Apple play, Regular Singing. This one is set on the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of JFK, November 22, 2013. We learn that Marian’s husband, Adam, from whom she separated after the tragic death of their daughter, is now dying, somewhere in the house. He remains offstage.

Then Joanna turned to the Gabriel family; these plays take place only months apart. But as in all the Apple plays, each play takes place in a single day. Again, members read a passage from Oskar Eustis’s introduction to the plays. Then we read sections from Boxes, and The Buzzards.

Following the Apple plays came the pandemic Zoom plays, and then the “modest” two-part drama about the Michaels.

Joanna ended her presentation with the program notes from the Apple plays. After which we all had to leave the warm upstate kitchen, and return to the blustery day in Hastings.

Respectfully submitted,
Christine Lehner
Recording Secretary

Lori Presents Anne Washburn

Jacquie's Email
Hello Literary Ladies! It's time to line up for more great drama! Our next meeting is this Wednesday, November 9th at 12:30 PM at the library. Lori will be presenting on the playwright Anne Washburn.
   If you'd like to join us via Zoom, please let our tech crew... I mean Sharon know. They're not the best seats in the house -- sometimes only partial view -- but certainly worth the price of admission! Sadly, for me, I will not be with you all this Wednesday, but I'll see you next time. Thank goodness for season tickets! Have a joyful Thanksgiving! -- Jacquie

Christine's Minutes
(Written from Laura Rice’s notes)

Eight members of the Literature Club, plus one guest, gathered in the Orr Room of the library on November 9th. The bell was rung at 12:55 PM. Linda introduced her neighbor, Kathy Sullivan. In Christine’s absence, Connie read the minutes. Lori reported that our treasury contains $389.

Linda noted that she has been having trouble with her email. Kate Atkinson’s new book was recommended, and Sharon told members about Plays for a Plague Year.

The day’s program was presented by Lori Walsh, on Anne Washburn. Right off the bat, Lori announced that there would be few biographical details, as they are scarcely available. Her age is nowhere listed, but we can assume she is “our age.”

To prepare us for Mr. Burns Post-Electric Play, Lori reminded us of the old days of TV, when a family might gather round the television in the living room and share the experience. She noted the way that certain episodes, in The Seinfeld Show, or The Simpsons, can become cultural touchstones easily referred to, and how they can connect people.

Anne Washburn was born Berkeley, California; she frequently acted in school plays, and also wrote poetry. She went to Reed College and studied theatre and literature. After college she wrote some radio plays, with success. She moved to New York City and attended NYU’s Dramatic Writing Program.

Washburn is considered an experimental playwright. She has co-founded the theatre company, the Civilians, and received many awards, including a Guggenheim and a PEN theatre awards. She is a risk-taker.

Her play, Ten Out of Twelve, was a love letter to the theater; it consists of direct quotations from tech rehearsals.

Mr. Burns was first produced in 2012 at the Woolly Mammoth Theater, in Washington. In 2013 it came to New York’s Playwrights Horizons, and received rave reviews. Members read aloud from reviews in The New York Times.

Washburn sets Mr. Burns Post-Electric Play in a post-apocalyptic time, after a great nuclear melt down. There is no electricity and people are wandering around, searching. There are three acts, covering 75 years. The first act takes place after the nuclear meltdown. The second act is seven years later, and the third act is seventy-five years later.

Lori then passed out copies of the play and assigned parts. Washburn has explained that she created the first act by inviting a group of actors to remember Simpson episodes, and she made a transcript of their talk. The importance of The Simpsons in American culture – our shared memory – was discussed. The episode that Washburn uses in the play is the “Cape Feare” episode from Season 5 of the The Simpsons.

 Lori played a recording of Washburn discussing significance of the episode.

The second act of Mr. Burns Post-Electric Play contains lessons on capitalism and the nature of art. It is seven years after Act One, and the strangers we met earlier have now formed a theater group which travels around performing Simpson episodes. The troupe has become well known for the quality of their commercials.

Members read several scenes.

The third act is about how cultural mythologies grow, and how they are framed. It is now eighty-two years after the nuclear meltdown. The retelling of the Simpson episode is now presented as a Greek tragedy. Mr. Burns is conflated with Sideshow Bob, as a mythic villain. The play is transformed into a musical, with songs from Britney Spears and Eminem, and of course, Simpsons theme music.

Members read various scenes.

Lori ends by explaining Washburn’s conviction that it is storytelling that will allow us to cope, and even survive the unthinkable.

Respectfully submitted,
Christine Lehner (from notes by Laura Rice)
Recording Secretary

Jacquie Presents Wendy Wasserstein

Jacquie's email: Hello, Uncommon Women All!!
I don't know about you, but I am SO excited it is finally almost Wednesday, October 26th when I will be giving my presentation on the plays of Wendy Wasserstein -- not just because I think it's going to be a lot of fun, but because after almost two years I will finally make my deadline! 
If the weather cooperates (I'm ever the optimist) we will be meeting in Sharon's lovely backyard at 12:30 pm. If the weather looks bad, we will meet at12:30 pm in the Orr Room of the Hastings-on-Hudson Public Library. Even though Broadway houses, and now the opera and the ballet, will be allowing audiences to be unmasked during performances, numbers are starting to tick up, and it seems like a good time to see if our library option is a comfortable one. (That said, if you have a seat cushion or two you can bring along, that might help make the library's stacking chairs a bit more comfortable. I can bring 11.)
Please look for my email on Wednesday morning for the final decision on where we will be meeting. In addition, carpooling might be helpful for avoiding limited parking options.
Again, if anyone would like to listen along on Zoom please let me know and we'll send you a link. Until then, Jacquie

Christine's minutes: In yet another first in these seasons of firsts, thirteen members of the Literature Club gathered in the Orr Room of the Hastings Library, and Lyn McLean joined us from North Carolina, via Zoom. The day started out foggy and remained weirdly warm and threatening throughout; but we enjoyed magnificent views of the Palisades all dressed up in colors, just for us.

President Connie Stewart rang the bell at 12:50. (I had 1:50 in my notes, but that can’t be right.)

The minutes were read and accepted. Lori, our treasurer corrected last month’s report. We actually have $389.50

There was an effort to keep our discussions brief, knowing that Jacquie had a grand program awaiting, and we did not want her to curtail it in any way. Still.

Sharon reported that she has a list of desired books from Debby Quinn, the Head Librarian, and she noted that they are all – but one – written by white men. The books are already ordered, so that is a done deal. Nor is this to say they are not good books, but the fact remains that women, of all colors, are woefully underrepresented. We all agreed this is an important issue, one that we can easily discuss at great length; it was decided that we will put it on the agenda for our annual meeting in March.

Laura asked what is our policy regarding inviting people who do not live in Hastings? There seems to be a tacit policy that all members either live in Hastings, or originally lived in Hastings (e.g. Louisa, Carla, Laura). Someone who lives in Laura’s building in Ossining has expressed an interest in coming. It is Catalina Danis, who lived in Hastings for decades, so we all agreed that would be fine.

In the spirit of Show & Tell, Diana announced that she has found the most wonderful small, portable light for reading in bed – and she showed it to us – it looked quite fetching draped over her shoulders.

The latest news on Gita: she has been living with a daughter in Long Island, but would like to return home. She does not expect to be attending this year, but that may change.

Now, at last, the lights go down, the chattering stops, cell phones are silenced and the play begins.

It was no surprise to anyone that Jacquie approached her topic with enthusiasm and imagination. She said that upon reading Wendy’s first play, Uncommon Women and Others, she became concerned that this play about the first world concerns of a group of Mount Holyoke alums, could seem, well, trivial, when lined up next to climate change, the war in Ukraine, the Dobbs decision, and the rise of nationalism and xenophobia.

But not at all. Jacquie plunged into Julie Salomon’s biography, Wendy and the Lost Boys (which she recommended highly) and began to see that the plays must be read in the context of their time and place, and also that – Derrida be damned – an understanding of the playwright, described as “complicated, fascinating, amusing, frustrating, intuitive, completely open yet enigmatic” could be, if not essential, an important key to understanding and appreciating the plays. In Jacquie’s view, the plays are not “classics per se”, but sociological studies reflecting the Baby Boomer experience, in real time, aging along with the playwright, reacting in real time. But do they still entertain us – which is, according to Tom Stoppard, the main task of theatre? Oh, indeed they do. We were well entertained all afternoon.

Before delving into the plays, we learned a bit about Wendy’s remarkable life. Beginning at the end, with the memorial service in 2006, attended by everyone in theatre, when Wendy was praised for her talent, her bravery – she had a child, Lucy Jane, at the age of 47, on her own – and her truth telling, as well as her invention.

Wendy Wasserstein was born in 1950, to Morris and Lola. And as was often remarked, she was “born into great material.” The family euphemism for death was that the deceased had “gone to Europe.” Hers was a family of über-achievers, who kept their secrets well. While Morris was a ‘decent, hardworking’ father, tiny Lola was the mythmaker. Wendy the playwright, Bruce the billionaire, and Georgette known as Gorgeous, only learned in adulthood of the existence of another brother, Abner, institutionalized since his childhood.

Wasserstein Brothers was a successful ribbon manufacturer in Brooklyn. While Wendy would describe her childhood as Camelot, her much older sister who was also her cousin, Sandra, experienced the hardscrabble childhood of recent immigrants. Wendy attended Yeshiva in Brooklyn, then Ethical Culture, and then Calhoun in Manhattan. She is described as a mediocre student. Still, she entered one of the Seven Sisters, Mt. Holyoke, in 1967 – just when college life was on the cusp of radical change. After college she returned to New York, studied with Israel Horowitz and wrote her first play, Women Can’t. In 1973 she went to Yale School of Drama where she met William Ivey Long, Christopher Durang, James Lapine, all of whom became fast friends and colleagues. Her play about Mt. Holyoke students, Uncommon Women and Others, had a production at the Phoenix in 1977 and was a great success. Next came Isn’t it Romantic. Then The Heidi Chronicles, her greatest and most indelible success. It opened on Broadway in March of 1989 and closed the following year after 622 performances.

The Heidi Chronicles is a brilliant history and send-up of 25 years in the life of Heidi Holland, art historian, and 25 years of women keeping up the struggle for some kind of equality.

Members were handed copies of the book, and assigned roles, as we would read pivotal scenes in the play. Act one, scene one features a high school dance, and awkward conversations between Heidi and a certain boy. Scene two in another dance, with Heidi and Scoop Rosenbaum.

It must be pointed out that every scene was accompanied by a song, appropriate to the period: we were treated to Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Aretha Franklin, and so many others.

Scene three is set in a church basement, where a women’s consciousness-raising group is meeting. Your secretary enjoyed the chance to read the part of potty-mouthed Fran. Jacquie summarized the next few scenes, each one emblematic of its era: a protest in front of the Art Institute in Chicago; we learn that Nixon has resigned, Peter, now a doctor, comes out, and Scoop is clerking for the SCOTUS; a wedding at the Pierre where Scoop married Lisa Friedlander; Heidi lecturing on art; and onward until Act 2. We read Act 2, scene 3, where Heidi is being asked to consult on a movie about contemporary women. And finally, the last scene in Heidi’s new apartment, with the now very rich Scoop, whom she chose not to marry.

As Jacquie said: “That particular paradox – of being better than everyone else but not good enough – [would become] a recurrent theme in Wendy’s life and in her work.”

Respectfully submitted,
Christine Lehner

Recording secretary

Barbara Presents Moliére

Google Doodle: Celebrating Molière (google.com)

Jacquie's email: Hello Literary Ladies!!! Wednesday's forecast calls for sunny skies with a high of 69°, so that should make it fine weather to meet outdoors in Carol's lovely garden to hear Barbara's presentation on Molière. As before, the house will open at 12:30pm, with curtain called for 1pm. À bientôt! Jacquie

Christine's minutes: Thirteen members of the Literature Club gathered in Carol’s back yard for our first proper presentation of this year of drama. And it was as proper as any play by Moliere could possibly be.

Your recording secretary arrived late, and quite possibly missed the day’s most exciting news, but alas. She immediately read the minutes of our previous meeting.

Our treasurer, Lori Walsh, reported that the amount in our treasury remains the same, but will soon be lessened by the $275 we will donate to the Hastings Library.

The idle chatter that followed was hardly idle, pertaining, as it did, to the theatre. Sharon loved the new production of Top Dog/Under Dog. We touched the subject of how enormously a play read to oneself from the written page differs from a play performed on stage. We assume that this subject will return in various forms throughout our year.

President Connie Stewart rang the bell at 1:25pm; the lights dimmed, the curtain opened, and the play began. (Brief pause to thank our gracious hostess for her lovely garden setting.)

We might almost say that Molière dominated the stage that afternoon, but not entirely, because our presenter wisely began with Richard Wilbur, the translator par excellence of Molière.

A recent piece in the NYRB inspired Barbara, our presenter, to choose Molière as her topic, using the magnificent Richard Wilbur translation.

Wilbur was born in 1921, and died in 2017, by which time he had won almost every possible award for poetry. Members read selections from Geoffrey O’Brien’s review of his complete translations. We also read from Adam Gopnik’s introduction to the Library of America edition of the plays.

Molière wrote in rhyming alexandrines, a poetic meter of 12 syllables, usually split into two 6-syllable lines. Wilbur transformed Molière's classic French verse (French being a language in which it is notoriously easy to rhyme) into English iambic pentameter. Not only did he also create brilliant rhymes [heaven’s eyes with compromise; pupil with scruple], but he kept the edgy spirit of Molière alive in every play.

Molière, the pen name of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, was born in 1622 (almost 300 years before Wilbur), into the France of the Sun-King, Louis XIV. His father was an upholsterer to the court, but Molière had no interest in his father’s trade, and went directly into the world of theatre. In 1643, he co-founded the Illustre Théâtre, and wrote his first plays. From the beginning, the target of his biting humor was extremism of every kind. He was a poet of common sense. His first success in Paris was Les précieuses ridicules, a comedy of manners satirizing the social climbing of the middle class and their salons. It was so popular that the company was able to move to the Palais Royal in 1660.

Molière was constantly busy writing, directing, acting and perhaps most significantly, staying in favor with Louise XIV. But the power of his ridicule and wit bothered and outraged many clerics, courtiers and other playwrights. Tartuffe was initially banned when it came out in 1664. The ban was lifted in 1669, and since that time it has been regarded as one of Molière's greatest comedies. Moliere was active on the stage until the day of his death, literally. After playing the part of Argan in Le Malade Imaginaire, his last comedy, Molière collapsed on stage and died the same day, at the age of 51. The church, stinging from his criticism, refused to grant him a holy burial. However, in 1804, with great fanfare, Moliere’s earthly remains were translated to Père Lachaise, where he enjoys the company of La Fontaine, Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, Marcel Proust, Marcel Marceau, and Abelard and Heloise.

Members read from George Meredith’s 1877 essay “On Comedy”, in which he commends Molière for his “unrivalled studies of mankind in society”, and from Eric Auerbach’s book, Mimesis.

And then to the plays. First, members read from Le misanthrope, written in 1666, and according to Wilbur, “a study of impurity of motive”. Alceste, the main character, is an aristocrat who truly longs for the ‘genuine’, but at the same time he is terribly jealous and critical. We read scenes between Alceste and his friend, Philinte; between Alceste and Celimene, the object of his love; and between Celimene and Acaste, another of her lovers.

On to Tartuffe. The central character, Orgon, is a bourgeois of middle age, with grown children, and a second very attractive wife, Elmire. We learn from Dorine, the maid – and the servants are often the ones to offer common sense explanations in Molière's plays – that recently Orgon has been behaving foolishly, and is compensating with extreme religiosity. At which point he discovers Tartuffe, a brilliant hypocrite and manipulator, who moves into the house and swindles the family.

Members read scenes between Orgon, his brother-in-law Cleante, and Dorine the maid; between Orgon and Elmire, his wife, and a later scene when Orgon learns that Tartuffe has been making passes at Elmire. For our grand finale, we read the famous farcical scene in which Orgon hides under a table in order to spy on Tartuffe’s slimy attempted seduction of Elmire. Finally, Orgon’s eyes are opened.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:45.

Respectfully submitted,
Christine Lehner
Recording secretary

The Curtain Rises

Jacquie's Email: Hello Literary Ladies!
   Roll out the red carpet! Turn on the klieg lights! Wednesday, September 28th is opening night of the 2022-2023 Season of the Literature Club of Hastings-on-Hudson -- Drama!!!
   Our premier will be held at Joanna's open-air theater, and there has been a change to your programs. This week we will be reading Act I of Top Girls by Caryl Churchill, compliments of Christine. Barbara will present on Moliere at our next meeting. Doors open at 12:30 pm. Curtain goes up at 1pm.
   For those unable to make it in person, Sharon, aka tech crew, would be happy to make the reading available on Zoom. Just let us know if you would like to attend virtually, and she will provide a link and the time it will be live.
   Let's get on with the show!!!

Christine's Minutes: Ten members of the Literature Club gathered dramatically in Joanna’s lovely sunlit garden for the first and exceptionally dramatic meeting of our 2022-2023 season, in which our topic will no doubt be Drama.We missed our esteemed President Connie Stewart, but she was off in Scotland making sure Great Birnam Wood was still moving with deep drama towards Dunsinane Hill.

Our esteemed corresponding secretary, Jacquie, sprinted across highways, through backyards and forests in order to retrieve The Bell, so that Vice-President Joanna, acting as President, could most dramatically call the meeting to order.

The minutes of our May 18th meeting were read and accepted, most undramatically.

Our treasurer reported that the coffers are full with $394.50. There was a brief but dramatic discussion of our donation to the Hastings Library, but it was decided to await the return of our president.

Laura Rice said that the Hudson Valley Music Club, of which she is a member, will be performing on Mondays at 1 pm, at the Irvington Presbyterian Church. The first program on October 24th will feature works by women composers.

Because of scheduling changes there was no official program, which is also why there will be no official minutes.

In lieu of said officiousness, Props-person and Stage Manager Christine arrived with a kimono, a cowboy hat, a papal miter, and a Bruegelian helmet (tea cozies), and several highlighted copies of the first scene of Caryl Churchill’s 1982 play, Top Girls. The first American production was presented at the Public Theatre in 1982, and featured Linda Hunt as Pope Joan.

The casting was done arbitrarily, that is, in alphabetical order, so that anyone whose part did not include costumery should not feel personally neglected. But it will be noted that such a slight will never happen again.

Absent any rehearsal, members read their parts brilliantly: Marlene, the newly appointed Managing Director of the Top Girls Agency; Isabella Bell, the intrepid traveler, naturalist, and explorer; Pope Joan, who inhabited the chair of Saint Peter from 854-856 CE, and ended rather badly; Lady Nijo, a Japanese courtesan and later a Buddhist nun; Dull Gret, also known as Mad Meg, who streaks across the eponymous painting by Bruegel leading a crowd of women through Hell; and Patient Griselda, the pathologically obedient wife we know from Chaucer’s “Clerk’s Tale”. All these women came alive, most dramatically, in our bucolic circle in Joanna’s backyard.

Lee Strasberg would have been proud. The neighbors would have been stunned had they known what shady characters were cavorting in their midst.

Although the casting was in fact done arbitrarily, if dramatically, Linda announced that the fact of her being cast for the role of (the possibly apocryphal) Pope Joan was serendipitous indeed. It turns out that her great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great-grandfather was the one and only Jewish King of Poland.

The meeting was adjourned at 3 pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Christine Lehner
Recording Secretary


Below, photos from the meeting. Top to bottom, left to right: Christine hands out props and costumes; seated left to right, Linda, Laura, Sharon, Jacquie, Lori; Joanna studies her part (second Lady Nijo); Jacquie and Lori, as Dull Gret and Patient Griselda; Carol; Carla; Laura practicing (first Lady Nijo); Sharon slightly miffed she didn't get the kimono (but was over it in 3 minutes); Linda, Laura and a more cheerful Sharon