On opening day of the Playwrights Conference in 1965, George addresses the attendees. Seated on his left are Fred Grimsey and Anne Row, Waterford residents, and playwright Marc Smith.

The general opinion was to continue, but the cry was to move from talk to action. Not only to produce plays, but to do so with Broadway professionals. Once again, it must be emphasized that the American Regional Theater Movement was in its infancy; young playwrights from the off-Broadway or the off-off-Broadway coffee houses were forced to make do with minimal facilities and inexperienced actors, and the call for “Broadway professionals” was actually a plea for experienced professional talent to work with young playwrights on their plays. Quixotically, I agreed to select two plays and try to procure the actors, designer, director, and producer of the playwright’s choice.

The Amphitheater

The fall of 1965 and the winter of 1966 were spent raising $350,000 to renovate the mansion, the barn, and to build an amphitheater. Additionally, efforts were made with the designer David Hays to secure funding from the federal government to fund a National Theater of the Deaf, an idea suggested by director Arthur Penn and actress Anne Bancroft after their success with THE MIRACLE WORKER. Hays had long nurtured the idea, and now had a place receptive to harboring it.

One of the two plays selected was THE BIRD, THE BEAR, AND THE ACTRESS by John Glennon (a drama about the late years of designer Edward Gordon Craig). The playwright’s choices were Franchot Tone as lead actor, director Fred Rolfe, designer Kim Swados. I was given an option to choose the producer, and asked David Black.

The second play was BEDFORD FOREST, an epic 54 character drama of the Civil War, by Joel Oliansky. Here the choices were Joseph Wiseman in the title role, James Edwards as the antagonist, Lloyd Richards (director), Peter Larkin (designer), and I selected Leonard Soloway as producer.

The miracle of the entire process was that, despite the fact that I personally knew none of the choices, I was able to secure all but the services of Joseph Wiseman.

The original plan was that the playwrights of the previous year’s conference would observe the summer production process. Were they to have done so, it probably would have resulted in general frustration. It was therefore decided to hire a small company of actors and two young directors to present readings of plays brought to Waterford by the previous year’s playwrights.

In preparing for the summer, Betsy and I were able to secure, between loans and gifts, the funds for the necessary building renovations and support for the productions, as well as a matching gift necessary to insure U.S. government financing for a deaf theater program with David Hays as director. By late June of 1966, we had mostly completed the physical needs. The barn was transformed into a theater in the round. This renovation was overseen by renowned puppeteer Rufus Rose; it now bears his and his wife’s names as the “Rufus and Margo Rose Theater Barn”. The amphitheater, designed by Hays and a Waterford local, C. Fred Grimsey, awaited decent weather for completion. I hosted a series of beer and pizza parties for local college students who volunteered to work with Grimsey and me. We taught them the necessary masonry skills as we went along.