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AARON SORKIN ' 83 Broadway Brat
rticles about the Broadway courtroom drama, A Few Good Men, tend to focus on its playwright, newcomer Aaron Sor Akin. But he's only half the story. Ina year when producers are playing it safe by mounting revivals like Gypsy, the eagerness to produce Sorkin's 21-character piece and the speed with which Hollywood snapped up the story were, well, dramatic. Broadway patrons flocked to Sorkin's 63- scene play. No less than six powerful produc ers brought Sorkin's show to Broadway for a price tag of more than three-quarters of a mil lion dollars. Among them are film producer David Brown (Jaws) and members of the Shubert Organization. Critics have showered the show with praise. "The greatest courtroom drama since The Caine Mutiny Court Martial," said one. Another pronounced it the best American play of the year. Masterful performances by Tom Hulce, Stephen Lang, and an ensemble cast guarantee recognition when the Tony Awards are announced this spring. Sorkin makes his job sound simple. He told James Servin of the New York weekly Seven Days, explaining his blueprint for the ideal script: "Somebody wants something. Something stands in their way of getting it, and somehow the obstacle must be over come. It's the Aristotelian principle." Sorkin's own Aristotelian ascent was by no means instantaneous. He came to New York in 1983, fresh from Syracuse with an under graduate degree in drama. At first he was a runner for the TKTS booth on Times Square, then a theater bartender. In the latter job, Sorkin would keep an eye out for produc ers enjoying a gin and tonic during intermis sion, then unabashedly pass them his latest script. Little came of that. Then Sorkin happened upon a fellow booze-slinger who worked by day at a casting Six years out ofco llege, playwright Aaron Sorkin is one of Broadway's few good men. agency. Shrewd Sorkin pressed her into duty and got an early play, Removing AI/ Doubt, to a into the tale. They worked at honing the story A Few Good Men is meticulously crafted, a major theatrical producer. The project elicited line. Its tryout at the University of Virginia's larger-than-life story about men living under some interest but it was eventually dropped. Culbreath Theatre elicited mixed reviews, a code of honor that precludes any othe r A few false starts later, Sorkin penned A but Sorkin continued to polish (30 rewrites in moral standards. Drawing on the almost Few Good Men, based on the case of two all). T he play's original ambiguous ending robotic manner of soldiers, the play examines Marines accused of killing a fellow soldier in was revised to include a jury verdict and clear the fragility beneath the bravado--and the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He found Don Scar cut finale. Sorkin received raves for a mount contradictions therein. Sorkin creates multi dino, an actor-turned-director (Days and ing at the Kennedy Center in Washington, dimensional characters that resist stereotyp Nights ofMolly Dodd), who helped breathe life and A Few Good Men was ready for Broadway. ing and evoke sympathy even when so
4 • SYRACUSE U N IV E R S I T Y MA GAZ I NE Published by SURFACE, 1990 1 Syracuse University Magazine, Vol. 6, Iss. 3 [1990], Art. 3
harshly drawn. While the show possesses a The firm employs 60 and gross sales certain brashness informed by youth, its for 1989 topped $6 million. energy and professionalism are undisputed. Recently, though, the Tways sold As Tri-Star Pictures readies the film ver Woodmere to pursue other interests. sion of the Broadway show-screenplay by Patricia, the 1989 chairwoman of the Sorkin-the young playwright has another Design Group of the American show, Making Movies, opening just off the Ceramic Society, still writes a Great White Way this season. -lAY BwrcHER monthly column for Ceramic Industry. Her newest project is a business com PATRICIA TWAY G ' 7 4 munications firm, through which she plans to syndicate a weekly newspa Full Plate per column addressing problems in the workplace. hen Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter Tway consults for Woodmere sit for dinner at their fishing cabin China, though, and last March she in northern Georgia, the sauteed attended the presentation of the Wchicken and rice pilaf arrive on Carters' fly-fishing china collection. some of the most exquisite and She shared dinner with the former unusual china in the world. For president and his family. The entree get delicate flowers or soft geometric designs. was trout, naturally, served on Wood- The Carter's ivory dinnerware sports Carter mere. - M ARY ELLEN M ENGUCCJ green trim and a colorful assortment of feath Richard Carbotti knows how to throw a bash. ered fishing flies-yes, trout lures. Patricia Tway, whose Woodmere China firm RICHARD CA RBOTTI • 7 I York and the Fifth Dimension played," says produced the unique dinnerware, says the Carbotti. "We created delicatessens and the former president was interested in a pattern Puttin' On the Ritz Brooklyn Bridge and had the Statue of Lib that captured the spirit of his favorite sport. It erty built. I turned hallways into France with seemed appropriate that Tway, an ardent fly he first inkling was the invitation: a French cafes, and built the Arc de Triomphe fisher herself, create this special order. passport. to scale. I created a Via Veneto in Rome, the Designing and manufacturing special The next clue was Customs. Six Colisseum, Trevi, Then we turned the huge order china is not out of the ordinary for the Thundred guests were led through faux atrium of the hotel into China, with Chinese company that Tway founded 14 years ago customs as they arrived at the Inn at the gates and pagodas and oriental kites." with her husband, and recently sold. Wood Crossings in Warwick, Rhode Island. Carbotti is the owner of Perfect Surround mere has created specialty dinnerware for This was to be no ordinary party, but a fan- ings, a special-event design and production such places as Lutece in New York, the Har tastic, imaginary journey through five firm based in Newport, Rhode Island. The vard Business Club, Chicago's Conrad Hil nations- a journey created by party planner company produces approximately 50 events ton, and Disney's Epcot Center; and for such extraordinaire, Richard Carbotti. per year, ranging from small weddings to very individuals as the former King of Saudi Ara "We transformed the ballroom into New elaborate corporate and nonprofit events. bia and, before her legal difficulties, Most are held in Newport or nearby, although Le0na Helmsley. the firm has done work in New Orleans, Borne china companies are too large Washington, D.C., and Florida, as well. "In to process small or special orders, says New England we really are one of few people Tway, who received her Ph.D. in who do what we do," says Carbotti. anthropological linguistics from SU's Perfect Surroundings creates an ambi Maxwell School in 1974. "We fill a par ence, transforming space around a theme. ticular need," she says. "We're very Carboni is a designer and coordinator, often small. We have fast tum-around from working with florists, caterers, and musicians the time we take an order to the time to create the event. Depending on the scale we deliver it. We have extremely high of the event, Carbotti's services generally quality because we're tiny and can range in price from $5,000 to $40,000. devote the time necessary to produce a Perfect Surroundings rents an airplane good piece of ware." hangar where it stores props collected over Tway got involved in the business the years: yards of fabrics, fountains, balus in a roundabout manner. As part of her trades, motorcycles, an entire diner- "any doctoral studies at SU, she began thing you can imagine," says Carbotti. researching workplace dialects, by A Long Island native, Carbotti attended chance, in a china factory. After two the Parsons School of Design for three years years of studies, Tway realized she before transferring to SU's College of Visual knew enough about the industry to set and Performing Arts, where he studied up her own operation. advertising and graphic design. After gradu Since its humble beginning in a ating in 1971, he was drafted into the Navy spare bedroom of the Tways' home, and stationed in N ewport, where he Woodmere has grown to occupy a remained after his discharge, pursuing a 15,000-square-foot manufacturing career as a free-lance graphic and interior space and a 20,000-square-foot ware designer. house in New Castle, Pennsylvania. China manufacturer Patricia Tway andhappy client Jimmy Cotter Over time, he was hired by corporate eli-
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ems to help plan their special events. Then he was asked to work with the royal designer on a party the British America's Cup syndi cate hosted for Prince Andrew. "We trans formed the Beachwood, Carolyn Astor's estate in Newport," says Carbotti. "We did fa'
Published by SURFACE,6 • SYRACUSE 1990 UN I VERS I TY M AGAZ I NE 3 Syracuse University Magazine, Vol. 6, Iss. 3 [1990], Art. 3
She currently co-stars in the NBC sitcom The Hogan Family as Mrs. Poole, next-door neighbor of Sandy Duncan. Mrs. Poole bursts weekly into the lives of the Hogans-the bubbly, chubby, fruity-voiced loon who pro vides many of the show's best laughs. "I just don't like the neighbor-as-trouble maker or unwelcome-guest label," McClurg once said. "I see her as having a great deal of positive energy, with her only fault being that she gives too much. She sacrifices but it's her own choice." The real Edie shares little with Mrs. Poole-McClurg looks younger, her voice is lower and saner-other than her upbeat view of the world. "I don't set out to create goofy characters. I consider how women survive and succeed in this society, how it's built and structured in degrees against them. These are the brave souls oflife." McClurg developed her vocal talent in her first career as a public radio broadcaster and teacher in Kansas City. "Working in radio, you get used to dissecting the sound of people." She graduated in 1970 with a master's degree in television/radio from SU's Newhouse School. While attending SU, she was in demand as a narrator and, on occasion, a mimic. "I was constantly performing and producing on my own and it gave me a great deal of confidence." Chester Soling's gallery serves discriminating tastes in nautical mtmatures. After several years in public radio in Kan sas City, McClurg moved to the West Coast. says. The improvisation experience served It caters primarily to international business Her brother encouraged her to audition for an that role for McClurg. tycoons, many of whom own full-size ships to improvisation company to which he belonged. She performed with Pee-wee Herman and match their models. She did, and beat out 150-plus competitors Robin Williams early in their careers, and "I think there is something romantic for a spot with the troupe. Five months later, appeared in a slew of television series, films about the models," says Soling, a 1954 gradu the group had failed, but McClurg stayed in (Ferris Bueller's Day Off), stage productions, and ate of SU's School of Architecture. "Most Los Angeles, her sights set on acting. specials before Mrs. Poole and The Hogan Family. boys dream of going to sea. I love the sea and "I find that people need to see you mak McClurg's schedule is tight-she has I did a lot of sailing. And I found out it was a ing people laugh. They need to see you suc refused several films due to her series com lot easier to buy models than to build them." ceeding in an audience situation before they mitment-but she would like to interest a Soling has bought plenty. In addition to will take the chance of hiring you," McClurg pay-cable service in producing a comedy spe the models for sale at the gallery, he owns a cial for her. "I don't use bad language, but I private squadron of 22 ships-ranging from get a little political. I know that won't be an elaborate modern yacht model to a toy acceptable [on network television]. I don't steamship. His personal favorite is a whaling take cheap shots at people who have no ship that he bought several years ago in Nan choice about the way they are. I take shots at tucket. "It's an absolutely perfect reproduc people who have a choice, usually people in tion of a whaleboat, down to the little hatchet the White House." ---{JwRcE L owERY that chops the line attached to the boat harpoons." C H ES T E R SO LI NG '5 4 Soling, who works full-time as a real estate investor, purchased the gallery four years ago Ships Ahoy! and moved it from San Francisco to New York. As much as he delights in having the hester Soling began building ship tiny vessels so near, Soling says the gallery models when he was 18. "It used to has taken some of the joy out of collecting for ( take me two years and a lot of money him. When, for instance, a new clipper that to build a boat," he says. Today he particularly catches Soling's fancy comes into buys his models and that takes only the gallery, his staff sells the ship quickly five minutes. before he can lay claim to it. And if a customer Soling owns the San Francisco Ship is looking for a model that Soling owns in his Model Gallery-located not in California, private collection, the gallery staff will twist but on Madison Avenue in New York City. his arm to sell it. "Now models are considered The gallery, considered New York's premier trade goods," he says. minimarina, harbors a flotilla of schooners, Indeed they are. The precisely scaled Actms Edie McClurg cruisers, yachts, whaling ships, and clippers. ships range in price from less than $10,000
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each to more than $50,000 for antiques. They maintain my practice, which had then be are considered such treasures that they often come full-time," he says. He also continued come into play during corporate takeover bat supervision of psychiatric residents at the tles. In an average month, Soling estimates University of Southern California College of that 1,000 customers visit, call, or inquire Medicine, as a clinical associate professor. about what's new at the gallery. Business is so Since earning his law degree in 1982, he good, Soling opened a second gallery in has concentrated on forensic matters. He is Savannah, Georgia, recently. either in court or giving depositions almost Ship models, says Soling, are a great pres weekly. "Cross-examination is the Moment ent for someone who has everything. "If you of Truth in the life of the forensic psychia ever see a picture of an important person-a trist," says Robinson. "Each attorney has governor, a senator, a business executive done his medical homework and demands of there is always a model on the breakfront the physician creditable medical basis for his behind them. It's a great decoration for an conclusions." office. It's a perfect little thing." Robinson believes legal psychiatry will -MARY EUEN M ENGUCCI satisfy him for the remainder of his career, "except for the urge to travel and see how the HERBERT ROBINSO ' 50 Forensic psychiatrist Herbert Robinson rest of the world meshes psychiatry and the law," he Says. - R ENEE GEARHART L EVY Expert Witness subjects of legal proceedings-his first expe rience with forensics. After completing his ALB E RT OR S T E I N '33 man is strung out on cocaine. He gets medical training, he worked for 25 years as a into an argument with his wife, and in mental health administrator in California, Experiment in Peace his frenzy stabs her, nearly killing her. most of that time with the Los Angeles AThe man is charged with attempted County Department of Mental Health, and n the International Day of Peace last murder. His lawyers claim that maintained a part-time private practice. He fall, Albert and Miriam Ornstein because of his drug use he was men retired from the county in 1978 as deputy attended a United Nations cere tally incompetent and cannot be held respon medical director, chief of the second largest 0mony at which they were among a sible for the crime. A psychiatrist is called to mental health program in the nation, operat handful of dignitaries presented make an evaluation. ing an annual budget of $120 million. For with the U.N.'s prestigious Peace The case is hypothetical. The role of the more than 10 years, he served on the nation Messenger award. The Ornsteins accepted it psychiatrist in the legal process is not. As a wide American Psychiatric Association's Mal on behalf of the Experiment in International forensic psychiatrist, Herbert Robinson has practice Committee and is now on the Living, a citizen-exchange program that they served as a consultant on psychiatric evaluation Southern California Psychiatric Society's have served as volunteers for more than 25 and an expert witness in cases ranging from per Ethics Committee. years. sonal injury to bank robbery and murder, with In 1979, Robinson enrolled in law school, T he Experiment, designed to promote an expertise in medical malpractice evaluation. "juggling classes, days and nights in order to peace through international citizen exchange, Forensic psychiatry is a sub-specialty of the medical profession, requiring training beyond that of the usual psychiatric resi dency, generally through a forensic fellow ship program. Robinson is an exception, having entered the field of forensic psychia try by obtaining a law degree. "In a criminal case, I'm generally trying to determine the person's competence to stand trial or their state of mind at the time of the offense," says Robinson. He does not make legal decisions, but provides evaluations, opinions, and testimony to assist the court in determining if the defendant understands the charges against him and was legally sane at the time of the crime. In civil cases, such as workman's compen sation claims and personal injury litigation, Robinson is often called upon to assess a person's physical and emotional well being and the compatibility of each. "This de mands a continuing awareness of physical medicine," says Robinson, "and for the psy chiatrist to remain cognizant: 'physician first, specialist thereafter."' A 1950 College of Arts and Sciences grad uate in psychology, Robinson became a staff Albert and Miriam Ornstein (right) accepted a United Nations award on behalf ofth e Experiment in member of a New York placement school for Intemational Living. With them is Dr. Abbelahav Gamal El-Din, chairman ofth e U.N. s Supreme Council delinquent boys, many of whom were the for Youth and Sports.
Published by SURFACE,8 • S YRA 1990CUS E UN I VE R S I T Y MA G A Z I NE 5 Syracuse University Magazine, Vol. 6, Iss. 3 [1990], Art. 3
was started in 1932 by Dr. Donald B. Watt, a former SU administrator. Watt arranged for 23 American youths to live in Switzerland and travel throughout Europe. T hey stayed with Swiss families. Many organizations have sponsored stu dent exchanges since then, while the Experi ment has evolved into a federation of programs in 27 countries. In any given year thousands of people cross nearly 100 interna tional borders on Experiment exchanges of one kind or another. What's more, the Exper iment has created the accredited School for International Training, which grants bachelor's and master's degrees in intercultural fields. The Experiment provides language-training programs for students and professionals. And to help meet the needs ofThird World coun tries, the Experiment has established relief projects: refugee orientation, teacher train ing, and on-site technical training in health, agriculture, and small-business fields. During the last 10 years, the number of "Experimenters" in a single year grew from 6,000 to 30,000. People who get involved with the Experiment are as diverse as the programs offered, says Albert Ornstein, who graduated from SU's College of Arts and Sci ences in 1933 with a degree in political sci ence and sociology. "Everyone from high school and college students to older adults and American and foreign professionals par Boast Collegiate's officially licensed sportswear combines classic good looks with the ticipate in our programs." wearability and quality from today's leading clothing manufacturer. What attracted and maintained the Ornsteins' interest is the Experiment's mis A. 100% cotton mesh-knit shirt (white/ navy, white/ red, white/ royal) $37.50 sion to promote peace in the world. T hey dis B. Tennis short (white) ...... $34.50 covered the Vermont-based Experiment C. Unisex nylon jacket w/ terri cloth lining (white , navy , red , royal ) . . $59 .50 when their daughter Julia, a 1961 SU gradu D. Mens pleated golf short (navy, white , light blue ) ...... $64.50 ate, received a scholarship for an Experiment E. 100% cotton unisex crew nec k sweatshirt (grey, navy, white ) . . . . $45.50 homestay in Ire land. The Ornsteins were F. 100% cotton unisex V-neck sweater (white , navy) ...... $53.50 · All emblems G. Pleated tennis sk irt (white, light blue , pink) ...... $56.50 are emb roidered impressed with the program's efforts and vol unteered to help. They have assisted in the establishment I I of Experiment exchanges in Alaska and Can 1 TO OROER : Use the order Univers ity Attended ------I ada. For the past 10 years, they have served as 1 form or you can order by I 1 telephone. Simply call us Name the Experiment's representatives to the I at 1-800-446-7660 , 9am 1 Address ______Box/ Apt. No_ _ _ I United Nations. As such, they sit on commit 1 to 9pm , EST Monday tees for many non-governmental organiza I 1 through Friday. Please City ______State _ __ Zip ___ _ I tions at the U.N. Primarily, says Ornstein, 1 have your Visa or Master- I "we're supporting the U.N. wherever possi 1 Card number handy . Daytime Telephone No. (___ ) ______I ble in topics relevant to the Experiment." L _J Ornstein, a semi-retired attorney and real I Order No. Color Size Qty. Description Price Each Total Amount I tor, has a long history of volunteerism. He and t I his wife, Miriam, served as a Peace Corps vol .. ----1 unteer in Ghana, West Africa, in 1967-68. L I They are nongovernmental representatives I I of Oxfam America, which works to relieve r Mail order form to : BOAST COLLEGIATE Sub Total l poverty and suffering worldwide. And they 5700 Columbia Circle, Mangonia Park, FL 33407 I serve as volunteers for the local Catholic dio Method of Payment: 0 Check 0 Visa 0 Money Order 0 MasterCard Shipping and I cese, teaching English to foreign adults. Account Number Expires___ Handli ng I "We do it because we love it," says Orn Signature 6% Tax stein. "And opportunities such as accepting Fla. Res. ; an award on behalf of the Experiment on the Shipping/ Handling Charges: $50 .01 to $100.00 . 0.. $4 .00 I Under $50 .00 ...... $3 .50 $100.01 andover . 0. $4 .50 International Day of Peace sustains our pride TOTAL I Please allow 3-4 weeks for delivery. THANK YO U FOR YOUR ORDER . I in the Experiment." - M ARYEu..EN M ENcuccJ I Boast Collegiate pays a royalty fee I to your Umversity I ~------~ https://surface.syr.edu/sumagazine/vol6/iss3/3 6