FROM THE FOOTLIGHTS - September 1997

BACK TO SCHOOL WITH "THE CHILDREN'S HOUR"

On Wednesday, September 17, we begin a series of plays about children & childhood with Lillian Hellman's "The Children's Hour" (1934). Based on a true story, the play concerns the devastating effects of a child's malicious claim that 2 of her teachers have a lesbian relationship. After seeing "The Children's Hour" critics compared Hellman to Ibsen and Strindberg. Robert Benchley called the play "finely and bravely written," while Brooks Atkinson praised it as "straightforward, driving drama."

We will meet at Luna Books, 1633 P St., NW (3 blocks E of DuPont Circle) (202-332-2543). Dinner begins at 6:30 & our discussion at 7:45. Make reservations by e-mail to [email protected] or by calling Mark Gruenberg at 202-638-0444.

You can find "The Children's Hour" in the book "Six Plays by Lillian Hellman" at Super Crown, 11 DuPont Circle & 5110 Nicholson Lane (White Flint Shopping Center) & for a special Footlights discount at Olsson's, 1307 19th St., NW & Politics & Prose, 5015 CT Ave., NW. Backstage Books, 2101 P St., NW, has the acting edition for around $6.

Through September 27, you can see "The Children's Hour" at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. Call 800-511-SHAW for tickets & further information.

ROBIN HELPS SHEPARD LEAD US TO "BURIED CHILD"

On Thursday, October 16, our "children" series continues with the Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Buried Child" (1979) by Sam Shepard, "the best practicing American playwright" (The New Republic). Footlights member Robin Black, who has written extensively on Shepard, will lead our discussion.

FAMILY NEWS

Congratulations to Debbie Minter Jackson, whose play "Josie & Marilyn" won the 1997 H.D. Lewis Award for New Play Development at the 1997 Washington Theatre Festival. Footlights members Debbie Jackson & Jean Sinclair Symmes are both profiled in the September issue of Washington's original arts-news magazine, The Review, available for free at local theaters.

Thanks to Phyllis Bodin, Clifford Finch, Alex Naimon, & Edna Small for their generous contributions. To help defray Footlights expenses, make checks payable to our treasurer John Glynn & mail to John at 3741 Yorktown Village Pass, Annandale, VA 22003.