KH Cultural Arts Center and Theatre

[dreamer]

GREAT NEWS

Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center and Theatre
Posted by Ann Nyberg on April 15th, 2008 at 10:30:58 am, 291 views


showing ANGEL one of Nerweneil's You Tube videos

I am thrilled to be telling you about this news! As a member of the Board of Trustees of the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center and Theatre an Executive Director is on duty. Following a nationwide search we found a guy you are going to love. His name is Chuck Still and he has left sunny Florida to head up the only theatre in the country to be named after Connecticut's own legendary actress, Katharine Hepburn.

Chuck spent the last 10-years as Executive Director for the wildly successful Riverside Theatre in Vero Beach. Chuck's duties now will to be to help finish up the facility on Main Street in Old Saybrook (Kate's old stomping grounds) and get the art center opened by the end of the year. The Cultural Arts Center will be housed in the old Town Hall which now has National Historic Landmark Status. The residents of Old Saybrook and many around the state will be proud of what's being accomplished. Starting up a non-profit 501(C)3 theater is a huge amount of work,so many did so much work before I hopped on board a year and a half ago. Myself and 9 other board members so far are carrying the dreams of so many forward.

The venue will also have a museum dedicated to the 4-time Academy Award winning actress, who spent her weekends and some of the best moments of her life in the Fenwick section of Old Saybrook, some of those adventures at her former summer home are legendary.

We are working on a new web site for the theatre, until that is up and running we have this one on line.
www.katharinehepburntheater.org

We plan to have theatre,music, caberet, children's summer camps, comedy nights, lectures,film festivals, outdoor movies for the kids you name it. It is our hope that this is a real destination spot for the state and perhaps for those from beyond its borders.

Chuck has a small office for the time being in the First Selectman's office,he'll have bigger digs once the theatre opens. Not only is he helping to finish up the building but he's looking at programming and trying to get himself acclimated to New England. I'm sure his head is spinning around and this is only his second day on the job.

To read more about Chuck and his former theatre read below:
www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/mar/20/30gtriverside-director-exits-stage-left-for/
www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/mar/31/monday-chat-chuck-still/
www.riversidetheatre.com/web/guest/home

To many Katharine Hepburn was and "still" is the greatest Hollywood actress to grace the screen.

If you have ideas concerning the theatre and or its Katharine Hepburn Museum contact me.
[e-mail]

wtnh.tv/blogs/index.php/anchors/2008/04/15/katharine-hepburn-cultural-arts-center-a

A great thank you to Sherry for sending me this link

[martha]

Apr 15, 2008 20:40:32 GMT -5 dreamer said:

We plan to have theatre,music, caberet, children's summer camps, comedy nights, lectures,film festivals, outdoor movies for the kids you name it. It is our hope that this is a real destination spot for the state and perhaps for those from beyond its borders.

[snip]

If you have ideas concerning the theatre and or its Katharine Hepburn Museum contact me.
[e-mail]

uh .. YEAH .. destination and YEAH I'll start a little email correspondence with Ms. Nyberg right now.

How exciting!

[dreamer]

Would you mind telling what you wrote to Ms. Nyberg?

[dreamer]

Would somehow be great if the members of KtG forum all signed a mail to her with ideas!

What do you think of that idea guys?

Any ideas?

[martha]

Apr 17, 2008 1:16:29 GMT -5 dreamer said:

Would you mind telling what you wrote to Ms. Nyberg?

well, i paused .. then liked your idea of a group note to ms. nyberg .. then, well, i'm stymied about what to say other than "rah rah" and "what can we do to help" ..

so .. i'm supportive yet (oddly, uncharacteristically) wordless ..

[Hep]

K so havent commented on this yet
gotta say im mucho excited for this ;D

they should totally have a Kath night like the night they open the theatre; its only right.. and id definetly be there.

[martha]

idea for the museum:

inspired by listening to various recordings of judy garland's amazing and infectious laugh .. and hearing her tell stories .. i am reminded of what OUR judy here on this board often reminds us about (or is dismayed when biographers or playwrights neglect this detail) ...

kate's humor.

i would love to see an exhibit among the changing exhibits in the museum dedicated to the sights and sounds of kate laughing or inspiring laughter. in character (think of tracy lord playing at being fey "South Bend, that sounds like dancing" or susan in BUB "i was born on the side of a hill" or anything in the playroom from HOLIDAY) OR as herself --- sequences in loops (invoked by touch screens or in side projection rooms) of kate telling stories .. cavett alone provides a day's worth ... then images (still and otherwise) of kate's out of control smile ... that mouth! those lips! ... and laugh .. we have many among the the many threads here.

so nomination one ... HIGHLIGHT HEPBURN'S HUMOR

[Hep]

I second that Martha !

[dreamer]

Her Laugh - her humor - that is truely something that most writers have missed desribing when her.

Wouldn't it be great if they interviewed some of her friends (Anthony Harvey and those who were at the readings at NY library) - and then used these tape recordings/video clips with and about Kate along with photos of Kate smiling laughing to show that?

[Hep]

AHH these ideas are amazing ! ;D

[HollywoodHepcat]

Not only was she genuinely HILAR, but she was also impractical, contradictory, illogical, etc... it's endearing, man.

A boy in my theatre class last semester said that Kate was a mean, old lady that wouldn't share her hard candy with him. HAHAHA. What a dum-dum. But, I guess that's the feeling some people get from her. A section devoted to her hilarity would be a good cure for that.

[martha]

another evolving idea for the museum: colleagues from the worlds of performance (stage and screen) and design and politics ... reflecting on kate's style (of thinking, of performing, of living) and how it affected or didn't affect them.

i realize that any interviews with anyone touched by kate (style wise, performance wise, .. whatever wise) should get to some kinds of reflectios of this kind .. but think with me here. i'm inspired in this idea by the amazing documentary BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE by Rick McKay (get yourself a copy of this DVD immediately people .. anyone who cares anything about theatre in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s) ... note that several sequels are in the works with additional filmed material already in the can, to address subsequent decades ...

as mckay held his conversations (starting in about 2000 and for several years after that) with stars who were there in that stunning broadway era .. 1940s, 1950s, 1960s .. an era of a broadway heyday .. his intent was to capture those reflections before people passed on. to capture the reflections of those who were there .. and many have passed away since this doc came out a few years ago ... gwen verdon, fred ebb, jerry orbach .. well, i get teary just starting this list so i'll stop myself. but here's the deal .. almost to a person, the scores of people interviewed mentioned two women who transformed their perceptions of what was possible on a stage ... two pivotal, true, performers

laurette taylor and kim stanley.

its not my intent here to educate those here who DON'T know about these two amazing stage actors (who did little on film) .. [again .. get the documentary .. read up on these women .. you need to know about them] but the point is .. the role they played for an entire generation of performers. hearing established performers getting all gushy and riveted (and frankly riveting) describing little bits of character stage business and their emotional connection to performances they observed sometimes decades before (marian seldes on watching laurette taylor's performance in GLASS MENAGERIE .. i believe she says seven times .. is a case in point here ... i understand this passion .. i saw AUGUST OSAGE COUNTY in chicago last summer five times before it went to broadway .. i couldn't NOT go back to see it again) .. well, GREAT movie making.

i'll bet my bottom dollar that individuals would reflect on kate in this same way. on individual performances. on little physical choices (how she picked up the creamer in ADAM'S RIB .. whatever) ... how core and essential they are to who kate is .. and how she is appreciated by the informant/interviewee. i could see this kind of material as being part of an archive .. and part of a changing exhibit with written reflections, film loops, etc.

o.k. .. that's ramble number two for me on ideas for the museum ...

[martha]

so the center officially has been opened .. an 'open house' was held this past weekend. did any members of the board attend? i saw some beautiful images from the completed theatre and public spaces posted by ann nyberg on facebook .. i'll see if they're "share-able" here .. i haven't been yet but regional trains travel to old saybrook from philly regularly .. i'm scheming a fall adventure . i'll just have to see what's playing at "the kate" ...

[martha]

ah, on the kate blog! pics and everything ..

www.katharinehepburntheater.org/blog/katharine-hepburn/so-much-to-see-at-the-kate-open-house/

[babytheleopard]

I just noticed the new website. They put up Nerwienel's YouTube video on the homepage! Looks pretty cool ;D