THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING UNION OF THE UNITED STATES . Fostering Global Understanding Through a Global Language washington dc area branch SUMMER 2001 News & Announcements PRESIDENT Mr. A. Graham Down SPEAKING OF SHAKESPEARE FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT Mr. Frederic W. Schwartz, Jr. WITH ACTOR MICHAEL YORK TREASURER Mr. C. Braxton Moncure One of Britain’s most recognizable exports, Michael York is best known to American audiences for EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR the scores of film and television productions that have made him famous on both sides of the Dr. John F. Andrews, OBE Atlantic. His movie credits include the leading role in Bob Fosse’s Oscar-winning Cabaret, as well VICE-PRESIDENTS as key parts in Accident, Something for Everyone, The Three Musketeers, Mrs. H. Dunscombe Colt Conduct Unbecoming, Logan’s Run, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Fedora, Mrs. William L. Ritchie and A Knight in Camelot. He played Basil Exposition in two Austin Dr. Marjorie J. Williams Powers farces, and Stone Alexander in The Omega Code. Meanwhile DIRECTORS he appears regularly on TV, with The Forsyte Saga, Space, and Fall Mrs. Gwendolyn Alexander from Grace among the programs his admirers recall most fondly. Mrs. Louise Armstrong Mr. William Fitzgerald III But of course Mr. York is also highly familiar to theater-lovers, with Mrs. Joan Healey Broadway triumphs that include the premiere of Outcry, by Tennes- Captain Macauley Howard see Williams, and the National Actors Theatre revivals of The Cruci- Mr. Ian McDonald Ms. Susan Merritt ble and Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me. Mr. Phillip H. Miller Mr. York was a founding member of Britain’s National Youth Ms. Gillian B. Quinby Mr. William Renfro Theatre, and during his years at Oxford he enacted one of the title FRIDAY, JULY 27, 2001 Mr. F. Mark Wyatt roles in a Romeo and Juliet that toured Israel. A few years later he Program 6:30-7:30 ADVISORY BOARD played Tybalt in Franco Zeffirelli’s lyrical film of that tragedy, an Buffet Reception 7:30-8:30 Mr. Eric W. Beshers experience that resulted from Mr. York’s 1966 screen debut in Hon. Robert A. Brand Zeffirelli’s Taming of the Shrew, a romp that caught Richard Burton THE WASHINGTON CLUB Hon. Clement E. Conger 15 Dupont Circle NW Hon. Rockwood H. Foster and Elizabeth Taylor at the height of their tempestuous romance. ESU Members and Guests $40 Hon. Phillip L. Gore In addition to the work for which he is usually recognized, Mr. York is Mr. Gilbert M. Grosvenor Non-Members $45 Dr. Richard H. Howland, OBE an educator (serving as Chairman of the California Youth Theatre) Mrs. Alexander C. Liggett and a prolific narrator, with more than sixty audiotapes, among them Mrs. Jane P. Plakias a Treasure Island that was nominated for the Grammy Award and a Fencing Master that earned him Dr. Stephen Joel Trachtenberg an Audie. He is also the author of two captivating volumes, Accidentally on Purpose, an autobiography, OFFICE ADDRESS and A Shakespearean Actor Prepares. Through special arrangements with BORDERS BOOKS & MUSIC, 1526 New Hampshire Avenue NW both titles will be available for purchase and for inscription by the gifted artist who wrote them. Washington, D.C. 20036 TELEPHONE (202) 234-4602 Please join us for a special excursion to the INTERACT THEATRE COMPANY’s FACSIMILE charming production of the Gilbert & Sullivan classic (202) 234-4639 E-MAIL ADDRESS The Pirates of Penzance [email protected] WEB SITE SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2001, AT 2:00 P.M. IN THE FOLGER THEATRE www.esu-dc.org See back panel for further details and for an order form. of The Shakespeare Theatre. During one of the most amusing moments of his discussion with the Guild’s President, John Local News Andrews, Mr. Sabin noted that it was he who had provided George Burns with one of his most quoted remarks, an obser- A LOVELY GARDEN RECEPTION IN vation that had actually come from Broadway legend Alfred Lunt: “The secret of successful acting is sincerity; once you’ve APRIL AT THE BRITISH EMBASSY learned to fake that, you’ve got it made.” For many ESU stalwarts, the most memorable event on any A few weeks later, on May 8, we enjoyed a vicarious journey to year’s calendar has always been the party that takes place in the the Emerald Isle. Our guide was Dr. Christina Hunt Mahony, spring at the British Embassy. It’s a delight to report that 2001 Associate Director of the Center for Irish Studies at the Catho- proved true to form, because on April 19 His Excellency Sir lic University of America. Our venue, appropriately, was the Christopher Meyer and Lady Meyer hosted a sprightly reception Irish Embassy on Massachusetts Avenue, where we savored a in the Ambassador’s residence on Massachusetts Avenue. delicious assortment of wines and hors d’oeuvres that had been prepared by a new catering service under the aegis of our Nearly 300 members of the English-Speaking Union and their former Executive Director, Diana Nicholson, and her husband guests were on hand for this charming affair. Thanks to support Peter. Dr. Mahony, who had received the ESU’s 2000 Helene from such generous underwriters as Grosvenor International Gladstone Williams Scholarship to support her research in Ltd., represented by Mr. John Flavin, and ESU sponsor Mr. Dublin, spoke about autobiography as a genre with particular William F. Huneke, not to mention the helpful assistance our appeal to contemporary Irish writers. branch derives from more than a score of loyal Patrons and Benefactors, we netted more than $9,000 in funds that can be On May 22 the ESU joined forces with the RSA (acronym for applied to a broad range of cultural and educational endeavors. the Royal Society of Arts, a British organization that was founded in the mid-18th cen- This was a point that was fervently emphasized by our current tury as the Royal Society for President, A. Graham Down. In response to the Ambassador’s the Encouragement of Arts, witty greetings to a cheerful gathering, Mr. Down recognized Manufactures, and Com- several recent recipients of the ESU’s beneficence. He singled merce), the British Council, out actor Cameron McElyea of The Shakespeare Theatre, who’d and The Shakespeare Guild, been awarded a $2,500 ESU Acting Fellowship (made possible for WORLDSPEAK: A Forum by a generous donation from Mr. Walter L. Wright), literary on the Globalization of the historian Nikolai Slywka, who’d been selected for a $5,000 English Language. Through Helene Gladstone Williams Scholarship to attend the Univer- the magnanimity of Blooms- sity of Cambridge and further his studies on Edmund Burke and bury Publishing, whose Chief the Romantic poets, and Janet L. Rodkey, who’d won a $4,000 Executive, Nigel Newton, was Shakespeare Teacher Award that will enable her to spend here for the festivities, every- several weeks at the Globe this summer in London. one who came to The Washington Club for this stimulating dialogue received a complimentary copy of Encarta World A RICH ARRAY OF ATTRACTIONS FOR A English Dictionary, history’s first lexicon to convey our lan- guage in all of its multicultural diversity. BUSY SPRING IN THE NATION’S CAPITAL Organized by Penny Egan, Executive Director of the RSA in In the last few weeks the English-Speaking Union has offered its London, and Lynn Broadbent, who coordinates the work of constituents and friends a chance to meet – and engage in fasci- the RSA in the United States, WORLDSPEAK brought us an nating conversations with – some extraordinary personalities. internationally renowned television interviewer, Sir David Frost, as moderator, and it featured such superb panelists as On March 29, for example, we gathered at The Washington Kathy Rooney and Anne H. Soukhanov (Encarta editors for Club for our annual Evelyn Wrench Lecture, an event that the U.K. and the U.S., respectively) and popular London bears the name of a visionary British statesman who founded the broadcaster Sandy Chalmers. Fittingly, the first question from English-Speaking Union in 1918. This year’s speaker was Profes- the floor came from Vinton G. Cerf, “Father of the Internet.” sor Stuart Sillars of the University of Bergen in Norway. He The following day, a number of ESU attendees were also at a edified an appreciative audience with a lively and informative noon symposium at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture presentation on “The Novel and Its Illustrators.” Garden, co-sponsored by the RSA and the Smithsonian Associ- On April 9 we returned to The Washington Club for another ates. In this setting Sir David Frost explored timely issues with installment of SPEAKING OF SHAKESPEARE, a series the ESU has computer guru Tim Berners-Lee, “Inventor of the World been co-hosting with The Shakespeare Guild since September of Wide Web,” and Georgetown sociolinguist Deborah Tannen, 1998. Our guest for this chat was actor David Sabin, a mainstay author of such titles as You Just Don’t Understand. 2 ESU News & Announcements Summer 2001 Our final gathering of the spring season took place at The Wash- atlases to each of the students, and to Mrs. Alexander C. ington Club on June 8 when J. Kenneth McDonald, who had Liggett, a former President of our branch, who underwrote the served for a decade and a half as Chief Historian of the Central stipends for our four Washington-area winners. Intelligence Agency, assessed the security implications of “The We’re also indebted to Ms. Gwendolyn M. Alexander, a Pearl Harbor Syndrome.” One of the highlights of this provoca- respected educator and a member of our Board of Directors, tive evening, which owed its success to the endeavors of Dr.