Gerald Slavet: 1968

While The Garrick Players were still in rehearsals for the opening of Wayside’s 1968 season, Slavet explained his reason for selecting The Private Ear & The Public Eye as the season’s first offering.  “They’re good plays, they’re funny, they went over big in New York and they haven’t been seen here before.  That’s the kind of theatre I want to do this summer - - good theater that you won’t see anywhere else” (“Wayside Theatre Opens ….” TWaS. 4 June 1974). 

The proposed schedule for the 1968 season, printed in an undated issue of the Wayside Inn-Quirer, gives the following titles that were to be performed:

The Private Ear & Public Eye by Peter Shaffer. June 7 - 23
The Fantasticks by Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt. June 24 - July 7
The Brass Butterfly by William Golding. July 9 - 21
The Impossible Years by Bob Fisher & Arthur Marx. July 23 - Aug. 4
Look Back in Anger by John Osbourne. Aug. 6 - 18
The Battle of the Sexes or Happiness is … adapted from Dorothy Parker. Aug. 20 - Sept. 2.

At some point before the season opened, this listing was changed. The actual season is found in the Production Chronology.

Bob Leonard, who was the stage manager for the Garrick Player’s 1968 season, recalls that, when they began rehearsing The Private Ear & The Public Eye in DC, it was with the intention that these plays would be performed in their Georgetown space.  He adds that the move from their DC space to Wayside’s stage required little adjustment in the blocking (Leonard. Interview. 30 Apr. 2015).

Leo Bernstein planned on making the season’s opening night a special event.  The first-night audience was made up of people from DC, along with area residents.  Interestingly, those from the environs dressed formally in black-tie and long gowns, while the DC crowd, thinking they were coming to the country, dressed casually. The DC guest list included the Ambassador to Iceland and a Presidential aide.  The group was scheduled to leave DC at 4:00 p.m. and have dinner at the Inn, before attending the performance at the theatre.  The schedule didn’t quite work as planned.  Instead, the bus broke down, and when they finally resumed their journey, the driver took the wrong road (Pennypacker,  “Exchange Club ….” WES. 22 June 1968).  So much for being on time for opening night!

Another writer describes the opening night journey from DC to Middletown as not being the leisurely journey Bernstein had planned for his guests. The the bus had a flat tire causing a later-than-planned departure which placed the bus in DC’s afternoon rush-hour traffic.  And, to make matters worse, they encountered torrential rains. 

Despite his guest’s late arrival in Middletown, Bernstein made sure they had time for their dinner which delayed the opening curtain by almost 40 minutes.  Commenting on the evening at the theatre, a “tall man agreed with a long-legged friend that the small theatre … didn’t afford much leg room. And when you happen to be sitting under one of the leaking air-conditioning vents in the ceiling, it’s interesting.  If the play’s dull then you have something to amuse you.”  In conclusion, the reviewer could find no flaws with the cast, nor their work, who “provided a couple of hours of entertaining escape from reality” (Powell, J. “Theatre Comes ….” Washington Evening Star. 12 June 1968). 

The Private Ear & The Public Eye that opened the 1968 season was directed by James Waring, who was connected with Olney Theatre, taught at Catholic University, and had served as a consultant for cultural affairs at the White House.  His directing was credited with “play[ing] on the moods of love and jealousy, despair and joy, comedy and tragedy, like an orchestra conductor before the score of his most moving and captivating symphony …. Surveying the entire evening, we are delighted to admit that Wayside Theater does indeed seem to have a hit on its hands” (Eller. “ ‘The Private Ear’ ….” NVD. 14 June 1968).

When listing the entertainment opportunities in the area, Washington critic, Richard Coe, mentioned Wayside’s offerings in his column, suggesting to his readers that they might enjoy spending a weekend in the Shenandoah Valley.  “With Gerald Slavet’s Garrick Players in residence, The Wayside Theater, Middletown, Va., begins its summer June 7 with Peter Shaffer’s “The Private Ear” and “The Public Eye.” The adjoining Wayside Inn has a pool and pleasing dining room …” (Coe, R. “One on the Aisle.”  TWP. 31 May 1968).

Two familiar names were among the actors in the 1968 company: Chris Sarandon, and his then wife, Susan.  The latter only appeared in the season’s opener and spent most of the summer working in the box office.  In the opening show, Eller states that Susan Sarandon and Mickey Hartnett “radiate life and vitality … and project a dynamic and winning degree of stage presence and thus captive their audience” (Eller. “ ‘A Private Ear and ….’ ” NVD. 14 June 1968).   An unknown source expresses the same opinion, stating that in The Private and the Public Eye, Susan Sarandon and Mickey Hartnett “radiate life and vitality.  The golden-tressed loveliness of the one contrasts with the dark-haired beauty of the other.  Yet both women possess the ability to project a dynamic and winning degree of stage presence and thus captivate their audience” (Unknown.  Theatre files). 

Chris Sarandon performed in each of the 1968 productions, including the highly successful production of The Fantasticks, the season’s second show.  North praises Sarandon’s El Gallo, especially his rendition of the song, “It Depends on What You Pay,” stating “it is not to be missed.”  He adds that Sarandon’s portrayal is “a master of texture, walk, timing, method of delivery and other essentials necessary for a convincing characterization of the middle years” (North. “ ‘The Fantastiques’ ….” WES.  28 June 1968).  Another critic loved the production, and after mentioning each member by name, she confesses, “There are many more things we could say in praise of both this truly beautiful play and the fine Wayside production. We can find no flaws in either producing and directing, or in performance” (Eller. “ ‘The Fantasticks’ Vibrates ….”  NVD. 25 June 1968).  And, the well-known Washington critic, Richard Coe, mentions that attending the production of The Fantasticks in Middletown was a bargain, with “a special rate in collaboration with the adjacent Wayside Inn.  $5.50 for dinner, tip and theatre ticket” (Coe. “On the Aisle.”  TWP. 4 July 1968).

The season’s next play was Dracula which replaced the originally scheduled, The Brass Butterfly, and was quite a contrast.  For people immersed in late-night movies on television, North assures his readers that, “The play is much closer to a good, tense mystery play, except that you know ‘whodunit’ from the minute Count Dracula walks onstage.”  He assures that knowing this does not deter one’s enjoyment.  Rather, “from the first moments of the play the tension builds, until the final surprise ending leaves the audience drained, and afraid to move” (North. “Audience Falls Under ….” WES. 11 July 1968).  Charlotte Eller was entranced by the production, observing that the audience “literally went wild after every act.”  She confesses how the play affected her, stating, “… the fact that I refused to park my car in front of the local mortuary on the way to the newspaper office has absolutely nothing to do with “Dracula.”  I just don’t believe in taking chances, that’s all” (Eller. “Blood-Suckers Haunt ….” NVD. 3 Aug. 1968).

The remaining summer plays all fared well with the reviewers, especially the season’s final production, The Battle of the Sexes or Happiness Is.  This was a work Slavet had taken to Germany in 1965 with some of the same actors, performing for U.S. Service Clubs (Soares. Email).  Eller writes glowingly about this title mentioning several numbers in the production.  She praises Chris Sarandon who stopped the “show about two-thirds of the way through with his satire on the teenage pop singer lamenting his convent-bound Catholic sweetheart.”  She further observes,

Frankly there were a few minutes when we thought we must have wandered into
the Shenandoah Valley Music Festival or a Shenandoah Conservatory recital, for
the ‘Cantata’ presented by the company made music history ….  Never have straighter faces sung nor more serious musical compositions presented the words to the fourth class postal mailing regulations with such feeling … (Eller.  “Chris Sarandon Stops ….” NVD.  22 Aug. 1968). 

During this summer season, the Valley papers often contained articles giving background information on the actors and staff along with the regular performance reviews.  In Charlotte Eller’s extended interview with Slavet, she includes information on his background.  Originally from Boston, Slavet had studied psychology at Bowdoin College and confesses that he “never saw a play of any kind until he viewed “West Side Story” in the summer before his senior year of college.  It was “love at first view.”  After a six-month trip to Mexico by motorcycle and a tour with the army, “Slavet joined the Providence Theater in Rhode Island, then began masters work at Catholic University in DC.  He formed the Garrick Player shortly afterwards” (Eller. “Wayside Interview With ….”  Undated).

The Box Office announced a change in procedure for the 1968 season.  For the first time, ticket subscriptions were offered, a staple source of income for any theatre.  Records show that only about 100 subscriptions were sold that year, with the majority of attendees being single-ticket sales (“Wayside Theatre’s Beau Geste ….”  WES. 20 Mar. 1974).  That year was also the first recorded offering of the newly created, Cinema Circus, a new program designed to show films over a three-month period beginning in February.  (SEE:  Appendix) Unfortunately, little information is available to determine whether Cinema Circus was a success.

The 1968 season was no different than any of the previous summers, in that it required the energy and skills of apprentices to do much of the behind-the-scenes work.  An advertisement appeared in early January in an un-named paper announcing openings for apprentices for Wayside’s six two-week productions that ran between June 2 and September 4.  Interns would be kept busy attending classes in acting, stagecraft, production, and would be working with people of outstanding talent.  In addition, they could earn Equity Membership Candidate points for their summer work. The duties could include,

assistant to the director, stage manager, sets, lighting, properties, costumes and
some unglamorous but essential chores, all of which are part of the theatre operation
…. Living quarters and meals are provided near the theatre under the supervision of
the theatre management and the management of the Wayside Inn (“Apprentice Program ….” Unknown. 1978). 

Seeing the above duties for being an intern, one might wonder if this were something they were encouraging or discouraging!