Pa
Cts Obsession with
characters make
new play work
wo Styles, ||
iety and Sit!
favorite, till
tted individiijl
1.
shape is i
Jet, cutoutan
a brow,
hich the liafj
ing the hath
il the shellrj
gh to
ps thousanii!
files, notonln
jrs, but ofci
i styles the
jd the shapo
, of Franliii
ose of Beau
atio Lord k
e of WellinftiJ
head
1 from anyuiifr*® l years ago already. It ran for a fast
a hat madeii! pfive nights,” he said in an interview
Sa '^ Eduring rehearsals for “Talley's
ised to offer Id IsFolIy.”
wo shades (il« The best known of “Lance” Wil-
J threeofWRon’s plays are “The Hot 1 Balti-
ick, gray orlnBnore,” “The Mound Builders, ” “The
United Press International
NEW YORK — Lanford Wilson’s
comedy “Talley’s Folly,” which
^opened on Broadway Wednesday
.night at the Brooks Atkinson Thea
ter, originated when the playwright
aecame obsessed with his characters
in an earlier play.
He’s already working on a third
play about the Talley family, and
thinking of a fourth and fifth. They
live just outside his home town,
_,ebanon, Mo.
Though Wilson is a popular play
wright whose works are frequently
produced around the country, only
once before has he been represented
an Broadway.
“There was a Broadway produc-
Mtion of Gingham Dog. ’ That’s about
not despaiiilj
passing of tin
iglish scene. I
a future,
past few yet
rent around I*
y could, " he a
ig dressy now.!
the howler ms
he
imers of Eldritch,” “Serenading
: •Louie” and “5th of July.
|j| All, like “Talley’s Folly,” were first
' produced by the Off Broadway Cir-
I cle Repertory Company, which Wil-
jr son and three colleagues founded in
|fl969.
p “Talley’s Folly” is a two-character,
f ipne act play set on a farm near Leba-
l non. (Wilson was born in Lebanon in
|\1937. He now lives in Sag Harbor,
N.Y.)
I, It concerns the 1944 wooing of Sal
ly Talley, a daughter of the house, by
| her future husband, Matt Friedman,
in a decaying boathouse. The stars
i are Judd Hirsch and Trish Hawkins,
.both of them long associated with
• • fpircle Rep. The director is Marshall
f fLMason, a co-founder of Circle Rep
f ■ f /jgwho has directed most of Wilson’s
B The play is an outgrowth of Wil
son’s “5th of July” (1978) but set 33
years earlier.
■ “When I was working on the his
tory of the Talley house for ‘5th of
July,”’ Wilson said, “I realized there
were a lot of things going on. But it
/wasn’t until I was nearly finished that
I knew I was going to do another
play.”
Wilson says all his characters are
ased on people I’ve met, but dis-
so much you’d never recog
nize them.”
‘“5th of July’ came from a couple of
electronic mr
i attracting tl
away front chi
er than newi
ik of no more |
lis consultatioii
research to red
e said. “Suchi
nclucted by soci
n peccable rep
egis of an an \
witih repreg
tional Religions
National Confcparate events,” he said.
ird the U.S,
-ar of the mail
majority of tl
rs are political!
using televisimj
I’d been wanting to write a you-
may-go-home-again play for a long
time. Then I was teaching a course at
; Southampton College and one of my
students was a legless Vietnam
Veteran. He was taking every course
, ,, , ..i he could — afraid to go back into life.
(n ( 0 u pj e b a( j been an English teacher, a
ape 1,11111 l! g ooc l one . H e t 0 ld me that after he’d
stum " l " • J os t }ji s l e g S jjg tried to take a class
1 ' and found the students wouldn’t look
ie conference at him.
loment theowB "At the same time, a friend and his
were “mosth : r w *f e were selling their home,
that, in any®#’ f P ut the two ideas together for
pprehensionsalPfre PW-
right” represesfe 1° "5th of July,” Sally Talley is
ion preachers! w idowed Aunt Sally, who carries
Matt’s ashes everywhere she goes,
looking for a place to deposit them.
The next play in the series already
is a title, “The War in Lebanon,”
d a tentative opening date. But
ilson isn’t sure which way the char
ters are going to take him.
‘It’s getting so complicated that it
ay not be ready on time,” he said,
assume it’s going to be a comedy
unless it fools me. It’s another
alley play, and shows what is going
in the main house at the same
ime that Talley’s Folly’ is taking
ace in the boathouse.
“But the plays have a way of creep-
lig up on you. It may wind up in
1947 or even in the ‘50s.”
A character in “The Mound Buil
ders, which was filmed for PBS, also
[was based on people Wilson has
known or heard of.
“She’s half Tennessee Williams
and half a woman friend of his who
had recently died. He told me about
her while we were working on a TV
production, and I said to myself, T’m
going to use that character.’”
He said there have been few
changes in the script of “Talley ’s Fol
ly” since its first production at Circle
Rep last May and later at the Mark
Taper Forum in Los Angeles.
“We’ve cut a few lines because a
very nice moment was about to hap
pen and the lines were in the way,”
Wilson said.
“But it was the first time I had the
script ready in time — and pre
recorded. For once we have used my
first draft, rather than the fourth or
fifth.
“I wrote it for Hirsch and Trish,
and never gave any thought of doing
it on Broadway with anyone else.
They’re both a part of it. Of course,
we got calls from producers saying
things like, T’d like it for Paul New
man and Joanne Woodward’ — or
some other stars — but we never
considered it.
“I’ve attended all the rehearsals
except the first three or four. That’s
because Marshall starts off by impro
vising the characters, so the actors
can have a strong relationship as a
foundation.
“It makes me very nervous to see
my characters not using my lines or
my play. So I’ve learned over the
years to wait till Marshall says, ‘Now
we re going to start blocking.’
“The rehearsals are the greatest
fun, because it’s such a creative pro
cess. We might agree on changing a
word or two, but a rehearsal is no
time to rewrite a play.”
Though the “Talley” plays have a
common background and characters,
Wilson had never thought much ab
out any common theme to his plays
until he read a thesis on the subjet.
“This young man commented that
all my plays were so different from
each other they could have been
written by different playwrights. I
got mad at first, but then I realized
that there is an overall theme to my
work which I hadn’t noticed before:
they’re all about destruction, people
tearing the past apart.
“It stopped me dead in my tracks
for a while, wondering whether it’s
worth saying, or whether it’s basical
ly what everybody else is saying. ”
While working on “The War in
Lebanon,” Wilson also is thinking
about a rewrite of “The Mound Buil
ders.”
The Circle Rep has been invited to
take it to an Italian international
theater festival, and on re-reading it
he became dissatisfied with its lack of
a strong focus.
Meanwhile, he’s on the board of
the Circle Rep, where he is a resi
dent playwright, is involved in de
ciding which plays will be produced,
attending Friday night play read
ings, raising money for the company.
GIBSON’S
WHERE YOU ALWAYS BUY THE BEST FOR LESS”'
mM
DISCOUNT CENTER
Almanac
United Press International
Today is Friday, Feb. 22, the 53rd day of 1980 with 313 to follow.
The moon is in its first quarter.
The morning stars are Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
The evening stars are Mercury and Venus.
Those born on this day are under the sign of Pisces.
George Washington was born Feb. 22, 1732.
On this date in history:
In 1819, Florida was ceded to the United States in a treaty with
Spain.
In 1879, Franklin Woolworth opened his first “5-cent” store in
Utica, N.Y. Sales for the first week averaged $2.50 a day.
In 1972, President Nixon met with Communist leader Mao Tse-tung
within hours after his arrival in Peking for an unprecedented visit to
mainland China.
In 1973, Israeli fighter planes shot down a unarmed Libyan commer
cial airliner, killing 106 of the 113 people aboard.
A thought for the day: George Washington said, “The basis of our
political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their
constitutions of government. ”
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1980
Police chief choice opposed
United Press International
HOUSTON — Mayor Jim
McConn Thursday nominated B.K.
Johnson as police chief, a selection
opposed by many minority and
homosexual residents.
Several council members said
they would vote against the mayor’s
choice, whose nomination requires
consent of eight of the 15 council
members, but McConn predicted he
had the necessary votes for approval.
Johnson, 48, an assistant chief and
a 26-year veteran of the Houston
force, was chosen to replace Harry
Caldwell, who resigned last week,
effective Feb. 29.
“I think he’s a sensitive person,”
McConn said at a news conference.
“I think he’ll be able to work with all
groups in the city.
“I deny those charges of racism
and sexism,” Johnson said. “I feel
like the people who would make
these charges don’t even know B.K.
Johnson. I feel they will be satis
fied.”
Peace Justice Al Green charged
Johnson “doesn’t know what’s going
on in the heads of blacks” and said his
selection as chief would “send Hous
ton back to the ’40s.”
Councilman Lance Lalor said he
would oppose the nomination and
said there could be “no worse choice
than B.K. Johnson” whom he de
scribed as “overtly racist and sexist. ”
Much of the criticism of Johnson
stemmed from remarks he made last
November about the failure of blacks
to reach the top levels of the Police
Department.
“I don’t know what goes on in the
mind of the black as far as the ability
to study, the ability to know what
he’s supposed to be doing, the ability
to take an exam and score high,”
Johnson said.
Councilman Ben Reyes also said
he would vote against Johnson.
Gay Political Caucus President
Steve Shiflett said he definitely
opposed Johnson’s nomination.
Samaritan helps a traveler
and gets left by the wayside
United Press International
GLENVILLE. N.Y. — A Ver
mont man was treated for tom mus
cles Wednesday — the price he paid
for learning one good turn doesn’t
necessarily deserve another.
Police reported Lawrence E.
Wright of Hartford, Vt., stopped on
Route 50 to assist a woman trying to
change a flat tire on her car. Just as
Wright put on the spare, the jack
slipped and the car fell down on his
left side.
Instead of helping the good Samar
itan, the woman railed at Wright for
letting the jack slip and not finishing
the job.
Police said the woman then re
placed the lug nuts, told Wright “the
hospital is just down the road,” and
drove off. The injured man managed
to get to his own car and drive to Ellis
Hospital in Schenectady.
• High Quality
• NoMadmuuM
NOTICE:
Effective Feb. 25, 1980 the security lockers that are located in the
entry area on both levels of the Texas A&M Bookstore will be
cleaned out each day at 5:00 p.m.
I
All articles removed may be claimed at the main office of the book
store. There will be a $2.00 charge.
\
L
j-4
OVERNIGHT RATES — 44 DURING THE DAY
RedutXions & Dissertations
Collation & Binding&PadtRng
VE HAVE A XEROX 9400 — THE BEST COPYING MACHINE M THE VOMDf
Kinko’s Graphics, Inc.
201 Collesre Main St. 17131846-9508
IS GREAT
Then you'll really love the
GOOD MUSIC - FINE DRINKS -
DANCING - POOL - GAMES -
BACKGAMMON -
ZACHARIAS
GREEN HOUSE
CLUB & GAME PARLOR
E “HAPPY HOUR+L
EVERYDAY IN FEB. TIL 7 P.M. W
9 COVER CHARGE
01 Hwy. 30 (In the Brlarwood Apts.
^ next to Woodstone Center)
1420 TEXAS AVE.
COLLEGE STA.
SALE ENDS SAT.
un,
lents
ias, close toe
tie bus route. |
Station
jolt Course
COORS
12 pac
3.55
SCHLITZ
6 pac
12 oz. cans
1.65
LONE STAR
LONGNECKS
COKE-
TAB
DR. PEPPER
- SPRITE
5.49
a case
plus deposit
6 pac
cans
1.29
ciat
>okii
oftl
ha-
rout
ranc
ideli
e nc
snc<
>ntic
mo
ne f«
lr. I
Now showing: Spring
You’re invited to our special Spring 1980 Preview and
Modeling Competition. Models from Bryan High School and A&M
Consolidated High School will be showing some of our best new
Spring looks and fashions they’ve sewn themselves from JCPenney
fabrics.
Saturday, February 23rd at 1 p.m.
Meet Miss Texas A&M University,
Kelly McElroy. She’ll be helping judge our modeling competition and
chatting with our visitors afterwards.
And save 20% on many of the most exciting new looks.
Like the terrific jacket dresses shown above. Tailored in crisp
linen-look poly/rayon. Choose the shoulder baring dress with
criss-cross straps covered up with a jacket. Or the V-neck dress
topped with a shawl collar jacket. Both in junior sizes. Both regularly
$36, Sale 28.80.Sale ends March 1 st.
You’re invited to our special Spring 1980 Preview.
JCPenney
VISA
Now, two great ways to charge!
This
is
dCPemey
Manor East Mall, Bryan • 779-4710
Shop ’til 9 tonight, 10 to 7 Saturday