| | MEMORIES OF BETSY CARPENTER  Betsy Carpenter, director, teacher, theatre artist and Founder of the Clauder Competition, died on December 10, 2006 after a long illness. A memorial service was held at Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline on Sunday, January 14, 2007. Memories and testimonials were shared which we have reprinted here along with a notice from Maureen Shea, Emerson College.
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From Maureen Shea, Emerson College Betsy Carpenter, director/teacher/theatre artist and Founder of the Clauder Competition, died Sunday evening, December 10, after a long illness. Betsy taught graduate playwriting at Emerson College for over fifteen years, first in the Department of Performing Arts, where she also served as the first Artistic Director of Emerson Stage's New Play Festival, and later in the Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing. For Emerson Stage Betsy also directed Rod Parker Award winning plays such as David Valdes Greenwood's BRAVE NAVIGATOR in 1995. She was the Thesis Advisor for this year's Rod Parker Award winning play, Kelly McCabe's LIFT. She was a mentor to young playwrights everywhere and the namesake of the Betsy Carpenter Playwriting Award established in her honor at Emerson in recognition of her Directorship of the Clauder Competition. For many of us she was a cherished friend and collaborator in the Boston theatre community.
Betsy was known professionally primarily as a director and dramaturge, devoted to the development of new plays since having had the good fortune to work with David Mamet on the premieres of several of his early plays. She acted in the original, author-directed production of SEXUAL PERVERSITY IN CHICAGO and stage-managed THE DUCK VARIATIONS (St. Nicholas Theater/Vermont and Boston Tour). She was Mr. Mamet's Assistant Director for the world premiere of THE WOODS (with Patti Lupone and Peter Weller at St. Nicholas Theatre/Chicago and at the Second Stage in NYC) and was Ulu Grosbard's Directing Associate for the Broadway premiere of AMERICAN BUFFALO (with Robert Duvall).
She made her directing debut at the Goodman Theatre, where she was Assistant Artistic Director and Literary Manager, with the world premiere of SCENES AND REVELATIONS (winner of the Audrey Wood playwriting prize).
Betsy directed a number of important world premieres in the Boston area, including Adam Bock's SWIMMING IN THE SHALLOWS (cited as one of the top ten productions of 1999 by The Boston Phoenix)) for Theatrics!/Coyote, David Mamet's DODGE for the Boston Theatre Marathon and in 2001 she directed 7 AFFIDAVITS ON AUTHORITY before taking it to the 2002 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it won the dramatic writing prize from the Fringe Report.
She had also collaborated as director/dramaturge with author/actress Melinda Lopez on the creation of MIDNIGHT SANDWICH/MEDIA NOCHE, which opened at the Women on Top Festival, was selected for development by New York Theatre Workshop, and was presented at the Lyric Stage and Shakespeare & Company before its three-month run at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami, Florida. The show was cited as one of the top ten productions of 1999 by The Boston Globe, one of the top five by The Boston Phoenix and was awarded the Boston Theatre Critics Award for Outstanding Solo Performance.
She served as the Director/Judge of the Clauder Competition (New England's most prestigious playwriting competition which offers a full production at a major regional theatre, such as Trinity Repertory Theatre, The Huntington Theatre, Shakespeare & Company or Portland Stage) for more than twelve years.
Donations may be made to Betsy Carpenter Playwriting Award, Emerson College, 120 Boylston Street, 7th floor, Boston, MA 02116-4624. Make checks payable to Emerson College with a notation that the gift is for the Betsy Carpenter Playwriting Award, or to Dana Farber Cancer Institute, 10 Brookline Place West, 6th Floor, Brookline, MA 02445-7276. notice December 12, 2006
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Tributes to Betsy Carpenter
January 2007 ------------------------------------------------------------------
Amy Merrill My experience with Betsy Carpenter was not so much teacher to playwright as partner and pal. With Bets (and Sophie and so many others), we had theatre girl power. Us against the theatre establishment. So while, I cherish Betsy's insights into my work, what is miss most was fighting the good fight and having someone to fight it with. Most of the big theatre opportunities I had were suggested by Betsy: directing Virginia Scott's BOGUS JOAN (with Deborah Fortson as Joan of Arc!) in 1994 as part of a new play search led by Betsy and Sophie; doing Theatrics! from 1996-1999; bringing 7 AFFIDAVITS to Edinburgh in 2002. All had their challenges. All, especially the Edinburgh adventure, were life-changing. Love and Work. And Fun, whenever it was humanly possible. That's what is was all about. About plays and playwrights, Betsy always used to say, "I know how to pick 'em". She sure did. Thank You, Betsy.
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Melinda Lopez Betsy was dramaturg for Melinda's play GOD SMELLS LIKE A ROAST PIG, (won Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Solo Performance, 2000) and Director for MIDNIGHT SANDWICH/ MEDIANOCHE at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, Miami. Some things I know about her. Her hair went to her waist, and she wore it in braids that she would play with, and sometimes tie in a knot on top of her head. She loved her dog, her husband, and her writers. She loved to snorkel and laugh and eat sushi. She was a terrible driver and a very good friend. She was generous. When she worked with me, she gave me everything-- including chairs, a table, a beach blanket for props to use in the play. She fed me, and treated me like a movie star. That's what she did for everyone who worked with her. When she called you on the phone she would always say, "It's that nice Betsy Carpenter." She was. She loved. And was much loved. -------------------------------------------------------------------
Rebecca Kaiser Gibson My own work, my writing and my teaching has been, I realize, a slow, time-released approach to what Betsy's quick insight into what seemed unreachably avant-garde to me- had to offer. It was Betsy who understood with a kind of vast perspective, informed by ancient work, the most cataclysmic new forms, and embrace them and made them tangible for me and for the audience that came to see her work. -------------------------------------------------------------------
Alexander Danner Your [playwriting] class changed the entire direction of my professional life. In that one semester, you not only taught me to write a play, but also gave me back my confidence in my own ability to write. I felt like a writer again. By my second semester, I had changed my degree track from an MA in publishing to an MFA in writing. By the end of my first year at Emerson, I saw my first play produced, and had my first taste of working in theatre- and loved it. I still love it. It's where I want to be, and you're the one who brought me there. -------------------------------------------------------------------
Laura Harrington Your vision was so bold. Why didn't I help you more? Oh, the old writer thing of I've got to protect my writing time and I've got a family and I'm teaching and, and, and … I still wonder why I didn't help you more. You had the kind of vision that those kids in NYC at 13P have got. Band together. Produce each other's work. Take charge. I didn't really get it then. I get it now. I get what you were trying to do. You were changing the paradigm. I wish I'd been able to get it then. Thank you for inviting me along and also, for somehow forgiving me for not quite getting it, or for being too selfish, or too caught up in my own work and my own life. Maybe next time you'll knock me over the head. Please do. Writing this letter and thinking about these events I realize that no one else in Boston has done half what you have done for local writers. Not the big guys, not the little guys. Nobody. Just that nice Betsy Carpenter. -------------------------------------------------------------------
Kate Snodgrass I don't think you know or can even comprehend the repercussions of that passion you have for the theatre -- all the many, many people you have affected with your intellect and your clear judgment on stage and with your grace. You're the proverbial butterfly's wing -- that's you. It begins with someone (you) encouraging someone else to do her best, to tell the truth in everything -- as a writer, as an actor, as a director -- and to be kind and compassionate to everyone in the process. But that's you, Betsy. That's what I remember about you, and I know it is still true because you were never anything else but those things. -------------------------------------------------------------------
Sara Carey Betsy, you have been one of the most influential people in my life. You have inspired me to become a playwright and you opened my eyes to the world of theater. From the first moment I met you, up until now, you have continued to bring such energy and passion when you talk about the theater. You have made your playwriting class at Emerson so interesting and by far one of the best classes offered at the college…You were always willing to go that extra mile or take that extra step when you didn't have to…I want to thank you for all your hard work and believing in me as a writer…You personality and your wit and your humor are one of your great attributes as well as your love and passion for the theater. Most of all, I will miss you. -------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeff Van Dreason Coming to Emerson was the first real decision I felt like I made as an adult, and I was terrified. For one of the first times in my life, I took pride in the fact that I was making a decision that I really felt good about, a decision that I myself had made on my own and for my own good. But there was a new and unfamiliar city to deal with, and another level of education and expectations. Plus, my studies would be focused on my own writing, which I was clearly self-conscious about. What if I'd made a mistake? Because of you, I didn't. From your first class, I felt that I'd made the right decision. It's true, I haven't always been the most confident person in the world, but the beauty about how you teach a class is you find how to fill your students with confidence. You focus on their strengths but you're incredibly honest about what you expect them to improve. You take everything that you've learned in theatre and in life and push it into the classroom, holding nothing back, almost like a performance, allowing everyone fortunate enough to witness the beauty of a sharply intelligent woman who truly and thoroughly lived her life with creative passion and vigor. I don't have enough words to tell you how much of an impact you have on my life. As a teacher, I look to you as a mentor; a vibrant presence in the classroom with a wicked sense of humor; a tremendously creative, talented and wise leader with so much knowledge about theater that, at times, it seems like you're looking at everyone and everything from the eye of a tornado; deceptively calm but allowing nothing to escape your vision and analysis, even as the storm circles you with incredible violent force. Betsy sees all. -------------------------------------------------------------------
Rick Park It's funny -- we only worked together one time, on Swimming in the Shallows, and yet that is one show that I speak of the most often! You were the first director I worked with in Boston who treated her actors with utmost respect and loyalty. You showed me, by example, how, as a director, I could be friends with my actors and use the mutual respect and comradery to make the show better. Your loyalty to your actors made us feel that you were right there with us, every step of the way, and that you had as much a vested interest in what was presented on that stage as the actors who were out there presenting it. We always felt that, even after the show opened, that you were right there with us at all times. You showed us complete support which allowed us not only to feel comfortable with you, but allowed us to support each other. Just by working with you on that one show, you managed to teach me things about theatre, about acting and directing, and about myself that I continue to use to this day, over 10 years later. What a wonderful and wondrous gift you have given me, Betsy, and I wanted you to know how grateful I am for being the lucky one to receive it. You are a star in my eyes. -------------------------------------------------------------------
David Valdes Greenwood That Nice Betsy Carpenter, as she always announced herself, is the person who taught me what a real revision is. After a reading a play of mine, in my first playwriting course ever, Betsy told me how much she liked it, believed in it, and believed in me, and then floored me by saying, "Now that you know all these wonderful people and understand their story, put this draft aside and write the whole thing from the beginning again." And I did. The ability to know that a play's true life existed beyond the pages in hand was a great gift of Betsy's and gift she gave to me. She later wrote a recommendation for me in which she professed amazement at how thoroughly I revised my work -- she didn't seem to realize I never possessed that attribute before knowing her. I have recently published a book and, in it, I thank only four teachers out of the many I've had; I listed those I felt were most responsible for my life as a writer. Of course, Betsy is one of them. The book came out two weeks after she passed and I'm sorry that she didn't she see my thanks. But at least a few readers will see her name and know just one small part of the creative legacy she left. -------------------------------------------------------------------
Adam Bock When I think of Missie Betsy C it is of course with a huge smile on my face and memories of how she helped SWIMMING IN THE SHALLOWS jump off the pier - giving it its world premiere in Boston - sitting on the rehearsal floor with me listening to Cher and laughing and laughing - always making jokes and holding my hand and letting me know that this was worthwhile and fun. What a gorgeous friend to every playwright she has impacted - I look back and consider SWIMMING the play that really started my professional career humming. Betsy is one of the people I credit with giving me the courage to write for theatre. She is one of the people who let me know that I wasn't doing it on my own but that they'd be there to hold me up while I do it. I love her.
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Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro Betsy made an enormous impression on all the playwrights she prodded and encouraged - when she took an interest in you it was as if the spotlight had found you. Theater took on a greater meaning and luster whenever Betsy was involved. It wasn't just the Clauder but countless other ventures, large and small. She directed a reading of one of my one-acts in a 1998 Theatrics! (a company she started with Amy Merrill) festival titled, Duets in Love & Happiness + Death. The exclamation point and the title of the festival say a great deal about Betsy's passion for theater and other large issues. She was always trying to link people up - "You should try this director - you'd really get along." "There's a last minute opening for this playwright development weekend. I'll get you in." Boston theatre has lost one of its great spirits. -------------------------------------------------------------------
Stanley Richardson When I look back at my work on new writing for the theatre there is a lot to be sardonic about, a lot that made me a premature curmudgeon, a Roman Candle, etc. Betsy Carpenter was part of what made all of that bearable and exciting. She had an ear. She had an eye. She had taste, yes taste, sound subjective/objective taste. She had unselfish ambition for the art form. She was an over-soul. She had no fatigue if a play had to be retyped, rewritten, rehearsed, talked up, or worked through. She was the Clauder Competition in Playwriting as much as any one else. Personally as a dramatist, I owe her a tremendous amount. Were there rows? There are always rows where I was working. There are always rows where passion, conviction, and faith labor in art. That was my sense of Betsy Carpenter. It still is. Liebst Kameradin, What thou lovs't well, shall not be reft from thee. -------------------------------------------------------------------
updated January 17, 2007 |