Mr. Kenneth Harold Washington

KENNETH HAROLD "KEN" WASHINGTON Birth: 26 Oct 1946, Arcadia, Bienville Parish, Louisiana Death: 26 Nov 2014, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota Age: 68 Cause: Kidney failure ***** Remembering Ken Washington By James Houghton, Richard Feldman & Kathy Hood February 2015 [The following tribute is excerpted from a letter from the Drama Division administration to the division community and friends letting them know about the death of Kenneth H. Washington, 68, a longtime member of the Juilliard community and the director of company development at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. He had been battling kidney disease, according to several newspaper reports. Born in Louisiana, he was educated at Talladega College, Syracuse University and the University of Utah, where he earned an M.F.A. and completed coursework on a doctorate.] A beloved member of the Juilliard Drama Division community, Kenneth Washington died at his home in Minneapolis on November 26. He had most recently been at Juilliard this fall, when he directed the third-year production of In Arabia We'd All Be Kings. He was also a relentless advocate for young artists throughout this country. Ken first came to Juilliard during the 1991-92 school year as a project director, and for many years thereafter in that very important capacity was a pillar of the training. Working with the first- and second-year students, he was that rarest of things—a true teacher as well as a fine director. He brought his unique blend of incisiveness and kindness to such widely diverse projects as Six Characters in Search of an Author (1994), Blues for Mister Charlie (1998), The Crucible (2001), and The Grapes of Wrath (1995) and undertook with characteristic equanimity and skill such challenging projects as Marat/Sade (1992) and The Devils (1997). When he worked, his method was to ask questions rather than give answers. He was patient but always had the highest demand for the truth of the human experience on stage; in total he directed 11 plays at Juilliard. Ken was a quiet force, never bringing attention to his efforts but rather focusing on how to nurture the growth of young artists, one at a time. For the past several decades, he generously dedicated his life to crossing this country searching for young passionate artists who had something to say and then doing all in his power to give them voice. From Juilliard and N.Y.U., where he had a home in the graduate acting program, and the Guthrie, where he helped create both a joint B.F.A. program with University of Minnesota and a summer training program, Ken guided young artists with a selfless generosity we all aspire to and modeled for us all the power of a life dedicated to the arts and its potential. He leaves behind a great legacy; his teaching lives on in a whole generation of students. Before his return this fall, it had been a long time since Ken had been at Juilliard, though that wasn't for want of trying. Just about every year we would ask, but Ken's work at the Guthrie kept him busy. So we were very, very happy to have him back with us in September, and he had recently written to us about working on In Arabia, "It was a most refreshing and rewarding and fulfilling time for me (aside from all the things one wishes one had done differently, sooner, not at all, or otherwise!! ... always good though to keep one forever learning!)." We certainly were blessed to have him with us and see his beautiful work on that heartbreaking play. If our lives are measured by those we touch, then Ken and his deeply rich life knew no bounds, for all of those touched by his gentle light will carry his legacy for years to come. http://www.juilliard.edu/journal/1502/obituary/remembering-ken-washington?destination=node/40234 ___________________ Celebrating the Life of Ken Washington Thur, 11 Dec 2014, Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, Minnesota A Celebration of the life and work of Guthrie Company Development Director Ken Washington at a memorial service at 3 p.m. on 11 Dec 2014 on the Wurtele Thrust Stage at the University of Minnesota's Guthrie Theater. Watch the video of the Guthrie Theater's Celebrating the Life of Ken Washington here: http://new.livestream.com/GuthrieTheater/events/3644908 _________________ Memorial article for Kenneth H. Washington Publication: Star Tribune Date: 27 Nov 2014 Author: Rohan Preston, Staff Writer Edition: Metro Page: 03B Copyright (c) 2014 Star Tribune: Newspaper of the Twin Cities [Minneapolis & St. Paul, Minnesota] [http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/stageandarts/284112951.html] KENNETH H. WASHINGTON, A TEACHER, MENTOR AND GURU AT THE GUTHRIE THEATER [Minneapolis, Minnesota] HAS DIED -- From Utah to New York to the Guthrie, he helped guide acting careers. He was 68. Kenneth H. Washington's title at Minneapolis' Guthrie Theater, director of company development, did not begin to describe the outsized role he played in the lives of scores of American actors. A guru-like figure with a lilting, much-imitated accent that bore the pleasing cadences of his Louisiana roots, Washington helped many performers discover their true calling. Washington, 68, died Wednesday [26 Nov 2014] at his apartment in Minneapolis. He had suffered kidney disease and was due to start dialysis on Monday, according to theater officials. "He single-handedly changed the direction of my life," said Broadway actor Santino Fontana, who starred in "Cinderella" last year in Times Square and also played Hamlet at the Guthrie. "I was 17 when I first met him at a scholarship competition in Florida. Ken was one of the judges. I was set on going into music at the University of Michigan. He told me, 'I think you're making a mistake.' He guided me as my mentor, my friend, my role model ever since." Guthrie actor Lee Mark Nelson had similar memories. He first met Washington 27 years ago at the University of Utah, where Washington earned his doctorate in theater and was head of the BFA actor training program and Nelson was an incoming student. "I was 18, and trying to figure out what to do with my life, and he was my guide," said Nelson. "But Ken was much more than a mentor or teacher. He was family. We were expecting him to come over for Thanksgiving." Washington came to the Twin Cities shortly after Joe Dowling's tenure began in late 1995. Washington had built a reputation as a choreographer and director of dances and plays on the regional circuit, including August Wilson's "Fences" and "Two Trains Running." But he was quickly becoming best known for working with young minds. About 15 years ago, Washington started the Guthrie's summer training program, which yearly brings a cohort of some of the best performing arts graduate students to the Twin Cities. He also taught juniors and seniors in the joint BFA program between the Guthrie and the University of Minnesota, a program that he was instrumental in establishing. And he had long directed and taught at both Juilliard and New York University. He did similar mentoring and teaching at Utah, which in 2011 gave him a distinguished alumnus award. It was at Utah where he started training students in a style that Fontana described as one part Socrates, one part Yoda. "He would prod you or provoke you or just go silent so that you could figure it out," said Fontana. "And you do. He has a way of pulling things out of you that you don't know you had in yourself." Many of his students would follow him across the country to New York, where he had long-standing teaching and directing relationships, and to Minneapolis. One of those whom he influenced was Randy Reyes, artistic director of Mu Performing Arts. "I first met him in Utah — I was a 17-year-old kid, and he accepted me on scholarship into his program," said Reyes. "He was more than a teacher or mentor to me. He was my father figure and his death is a great personal loss." Washington was born in Arcadia, Louisiana, to English teacher mother, Pearl [Pearl Barbara Crawford Washington, 24 Jan 1913 - 14 Mar 2000, age 87], and school principal father, Tracy [Tracy Harold Washington Sr., 10 Sep 1910 - 26 Mar 2005, age 94]. He graduated early from Southside High School in Ringgold, Louisiana, then attended Talladega College [Talladega, Alabama]. He later studied broadcast communications in Syracuse [New York] before going to the University of Utah [Salt Lake City, Utah] to work on a doctorate in dance. It was through ballet that he entered theater. Director Marcela Lorca worked closely with Washington at the Guthrie, both as a director of the summer graduate students' work and a teacher in the BFA program. "He was singular, one of a kind," she said. For his part, Dowling has an abiding memory of Washington, whom he called "one of the most brilliant minds" he has ever met. "Ken was always so gentle, so quiet, which could be mistaken for something else," said Dowling. "When I met him the first time to talk about this new department we were creating around him, I outlined at great length what I thought it should be. Ken never said a single word. I thought I'd blown it. But I realized afterwards that Ken only spoke when he had something significant to say. ... I grew to appreciate the fact that whenever Ken talked, you got a lot of jewels and very little dross." Survivors include siblings Winifred Eloise [Washington] Nelson, of Raleigh, NC; Ronnie Washington, of Houston [TX]; and Connie [Washington] Hampton, of Arcadia, LA. Funeral services are pending. A memorial service is being planned at the Guthrie. [He was predeceased by his mother and father, and older brother Tracy Harold Washington Jr, 15 Nov 1932 - 18 Dec 1932, age: 1 month] ____________________ Guthrie Theatre (https://www.facebook.com/guthrietheater?fref=photo) post about Ken Washington: "Last week we shared that our dear friend and colleague Ken Washington passed away. A public memorial service to celebrate the life and work of Ken will be held at the Guthrie on Thursday, December 11 at 3 p.m. on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. A livestream of the service will also be available; details will be posted at www.guthrietheater.org in the coming week." ____________________ Memorial services announced for Guthrie Theater guru Ken Washington, Twin Cities Star Tribune, 3 Dec 2014 by Rohan Preston under Theater http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/blogs/284622171.html There will be three memorial services next week for Kenneth H. Washington, the Guthrie Theater's beloved director of company development who died Nov. 26. He had been diagnosed with kidney disease. A mentor, teacher and guru, Washington influenced the careers of scores of actors across the nation. Before coming to the Guthrie 19 years ago, he taught at the University of Utah, where he earned a master of fine arts degree and headed the school's actor training program. Washington was instrumental in the launch of the Guthrie's joint BFA program with the University of Minnesota. He also started the Guthrie Experience, a summer training program that annually brings a cohort of some of the best graduate students in theater to the Twin Cities for training and real-world experience. He also instructed students at Julliard and New York University, where he directed regularly. Washington was born in Louisiana and educated at Talladega College, Syracuse University and the University of Utah, where he earned an MFA and completed coursework on a doctorate. A quiet man with a lilting accent informed by his Southern heritage, he was known for "not speaking much but when he did, it was meaningful and important," Guthrie artistic director Joe Dowling said last week. The services will be held in Salt Lake City, Minneapolis and Manhattan. On Monday, Dec. 8, the University of Utah theater department will hold its service at 4 p.m., in the Babcock Theatre, 300 S. 1400 East, Salt Lake City. Also on Monday, a cohort of former students, mentees and colleagues in New York have organized an East Coast memorial to be held from 7-10 p.m. in New York University's Atlas Room, 111 2nd Avenue, 3rd Floor, New York. The following Thursday, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis holds its memorial for Washington organized by colleagues and friends Marcela Lorca, Randy Reyes and Michelle O'Neill. That event is at 3 p.m. Dec. 11 on the Wurtele Thrust Stage, 818 South 2nd St., Mpls. 612-377-2224. ____________________ IN MEMORIAM, DECEMBER 1, 2014 The Guthrie Mourns Father Figure Kenneth Washington BY AMERICAN THEATRE EDITORS http://americantheatre.org/2014/12/the-guthrie-mourns-father-figure-kenneth-washington/ MINNEAPOLIS: Kenneth Washington was more than just the director of company development at the Guthrie Theater. To his coworkers, students and friends, he was like another father. For those lucky to know him, it was a somber Thanksgiving weekend with Washington's passing on Nov. 26, following a battle with kidney disease. He was 68. With his death, Washington leaves behind a mourning theatre family and many students who attribute their acting careers to him and his out-of-the-box teaching methods. "I was 17 when I first met him at a scholarship competition in Florida, and Ken was one of the judges," Broadway actor Santino Fontana told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune; Fontana played Prince Topher in Cinderella on Broadway last year and played Hamlet at the Guthrie. "I was set on going into music at the University of Michigan, and he told me, 'I think you're making a mistake.' He guided me as my mentor, my friend, my role model ever since. He singlehandedly changed the direction of my life." A native of Arcadia, La., Washington entered the world of theatre while attending the University of Utah for a doctorate in dance. It was in Utah that he began molding young performers—a mission he continued at the Guthrie when he arrived in 1995 there with a reputation for his choreography and direction in resident theatres. Soon after starting at the Guthrie, Washington established the theatre's summer training program, which brings in a group of the best performing arts graduate student to the Twin Cities. He also took on a teaching position at the University of Minnesota, teaching the junior and senior BFA acting classes as a part of the partnership between the Guthrie and the university. In the 19 years Washington was with the Guthrie, the theatre embraced him wholeheartedly. He was the quiet observer at the Guthrie who never said a harsh thing about anyone, and sometimes nothing at all—which could be mistaken for aloofness, said Joe Dowling, the Guthrie's artistic director. "When I met him the first time to talk about this new department we were creating around him, I outlined at great length what I thought it should be and Ken never said a single word," Dowling told the Star-Tribune. "I thought I'd blown it, but I realized afterwards that Ken only spoke when he had something significant to say, and I grew to appreciate the fact that whenever Ken talked, you got a lot of jewels and very little dross." ____________________ Kenneth H. Washington, University of Utah Distinguished Alumni 2011: a video collage of plays he directed at the University of Utah's Babcock Theatre. http://youtu.be/h00l-jykyVk ____________________ University of Utah graduates remember Kenneth Washington, a professor who wasn't just about acting By Ellen Fagg Weist, The Salt Lake Tribune Updated Dec 02 2014 08:57 pm http://www.sltrib.com/news/1898832-155/university-of-utah-graduates-remember-kenneth http://www.sltrib.com/home/1898832-155/u-graduates-remember-kenneth-washington-a 1946-2014 Graduates remember lessons taught by Kenneth Washington. A celebration of Kenneth Washington, an influential theater professor who shaped the University of Utah's Acting Training Program, will be held on Monday [8 Dec 2014]. Washington, who was currently director of company development at Minneapolis' Guthrie Theater, died of kidney disease on Wednesday, Nov. 26. He was 68. Washington, who was raised in Louisiana, attended college in Alabama and New York before he came to the University of Utah seeking a graduate degree in dance. At the U., he discovered theater, earning an MFA degree in 1984. He began teaching U. theater classes in 1976, and went on to direct the Actor Training Program, which he shaped over the course of more than 20 years. He was hired by the Guthrie Theatre in 2006, where he launched a summer training program and co-founded a joint bachelor of fine arts program at the Guthrie and the University of Minnesota. He also taught and directed shows at Julliard and New York University. In 2011, he was lauded by the U. as a distinguished alumnus. "So many theatre artist and teachers across the nation began their serious study of acting with Ken," says Gage Williams, chair of the U. theater department. "Everything he did was instinctual," says Anne Cullimore Decker, a longtime colleague and close friend. She laughs remembering the nightly phone calls from Washington to discuss ideas to inspire individual students. "He was just so terribly creative in his own way." Over the years, Washington mentored hundreds of actors across the country, but it was at the U. where he began developing the distinctive teaching style that one student characterized as "one part Socrates, one part Yoda." Washington had "mysterious Buddha-like qualities," agrees David Kranes, who first met Washington in his playwriting class. Washington went on to direct a handful of Kranes' new works at the U. and other Salt Lake City theaters. "I felt totally permitted to be the creative voice, the theatrical voice, with Kenneth involved," Kranes says. For Kranes' 1979 play "Nevada," Washington drafted a music school colleague to write a haunting country-western score for the playwright's lyrics. For the 1981 play "Horay," about a brilliant high school football star, Washington enlisted a local cheerleading squad and pep band to play before the show, "like 'Our Town' in the Pac 12,' or something," Kranes recalls. As a teacher, Washington's gift was to see "the beautiful potential in people," says Randy Reyes, a U. graduate who is the artistic director of Minneapolis' Mu Performing Arts, a pan-Asian company. "Everyone felt important when they were talking to Ken." As a Southern black man teaching in Utah, Washington dealt with racial issues in a very human way, says Reyes, who is Filipino. At 17, Reyes was planning to attend a community college in California when — on the strength of his high school teacher's recommendation and a videotape audition — Washington offered him a scholarship to the U. "Any kind of talk about race was a talk about humanity." Washington posed questions, and patiently waited for answers. He spoke in a memorable falsetto voice, and the rich cadence of his sentences would be filled, just as distinctively, with pauses. "Everyone who knows Kenneth will do his voice," says Robert Scott Smith, founder of Salt Lake City's Flying Bobcat Theatrical Laboratory, who studied with Washington at the U. in the late 1990s. "When people get together and talk about him, they will talk like him. It's beautiful." Washington employed those pauses to compose his thoughts, as well as to confirm the speaker was finished. "Those pauses were pretty profound," Reyes says. "That's the maturity of your relationship with Ken, in your relationship with those pauses. You start to enjoy those pauses, because you realize he's processing." In the last week, scores of Facebook posts have offered tributes to Washington's life-changing impact. "He basically changed the trajectory of my life," says former student Maria Elena Ramirez, a Utah native and U. graduate who made it to Broadway with "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" in 2010, and recently toured in the national production of "War Horse." She met Washington while she was at Judge Memorial High School auditioning for a theater scholarship. After graduating from the U., she went on to attend graduate school at New York University, where her former professor continued his mentoring. "At lot of what he gave me was about details, and making the inner life of characters really rich," Ramirez says. "Through a series of questions, he allowed you to get to know yourself in order to inhabit other characters." If he were alive, Washington would be rolling his eyes, embarrassed, by the tributes. "He never wanted the attention on him," Decker says. "When you'd try to praise him, he would just brush you off." "He never would have wanted that," agrees Reyes, who says he has used examples from Washington in every professional talk he's ever given. "He wanted his students to be in the spotlight, and he loved watching them. He meant the world to me." ____________________ University of Utah College of Fine Arts March 2011 Newsletter http://newsletter.finearts.utah.edu/March2011.html Honoring our Great Alumni This month we celebrate our amazing Alumni! The 30th marks the College's 3rd Annual Assembly where we honor Distinguished Alumni from the College. We also have updates from recent grads that are excelling in their fields! We could not be more proud of them. College Assembly Please join us in Kingsbury Hall for this entertaining, inspiring and exhilarating morning event. The list of the honorees is impressive... Kenneth H. Washington, '84, Theatre Director of Company Development and on the faculty of the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater B.F.A. Actor Training Program and is the artistic associate of the Graduate Acting Program at New York University. ___________________ Ken Washington directed the play THE BAKKHAI by Euripides for the annual Classical Greek Theater Festival of the University of Utah with four performances in late September and early October in 1995 at Red Butte Gardens & Arboretum just above the University of Utah's Research Park. http://www.westminstercollege.edu/images/greek_theatre/THE%20BAKKHAI1995.pdf ____________________ From the Educational Theatre Association (EdTA) website: http://www.schooltheatre.org/publications/news/kenwashington Ken Washington, EdTA leader December 1, 2014 Kenneth H. Washington, veteran member of the Educational Theatre Association's Board of Directors, died on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving at his Minneapolis home. EdTA leaders and friends joined a chorus of theatre colleagues paying tribute to Washington, who was described in a newspaper obituary as "a guru-like figure" whose title at the Guthrie Theater, director of company development, "did not begin to describe the outsized role he played in the lives of scores of American actors." "Ken was the calm voice of reason, compassionate, soft-spoken and engaged in the support and love for arts education," said EdTA Board President Jay Seller. "His dedication and service will be greatly missed." "All of us in the leadership of EdTA are grateful to have had a chance to work with Ken, and for his years of service on the board," said Executive Director Julie Woffington. "He was a role model, gentle, wise, dedicated, caring, and intelligent." Washington, sixty-eight, was appointed to the EdTA board in 2009. ____________________ An 2002 article BY Kenneth Washington at the Alliance For Inclusion In The Arts website: http://inclusioninthearts.org/projects/national-diversity-forum/opinion-pieces/kenneth-h-washington/ KENNETH H. WASHINGTON – Director of Company Development, Guthrie Theater (2002) I welcome the occasion of this discussion for it is a discussion that is vital for the American theater and for the health of the American nation. It is not my aim to provide answers to the complexities of questions surrounding these subjects, but I would like to offer a context and framework for at least some of the questions that need to be discussed and ultimately answered. I begin by quoting a statement of introduction that was attached to a picture/resume that recently came to me in the mail: I am hopeful that the long overdue focus on true and inclusive multiculturalism will finally take hold in the theatre community. It has been extremely disheartening to learn through casting director workshops right here in New York City that racist stereotyping still persists in the casting and selection of plays which are produced. The use of the term "traditional" and "non-traditional" casting makes a mockery of everything this country is supposed to represent in this post-September 11th – 21st Century reality we are now living in. I have been wondering why it has been acceptable to state that the theater community's position on "tradition" is to cast only White actors if the play is being done in its actual time period. It is ironic that other countries, which come to the United States to perform their works, have long integrated their casting process although significant work remains to be done in that area. I was born in Germany and raised here and travel abroad a great deal. I have been amazed at how far behind America is in multiculturalism in the depiction of images as opposed to some other areas of the world which have come through racist and oppressive regimes. One would expect America to be the leader in that area. There has been an intentionally hurtful deletion of the majority of the rest of the world in order to maintain a cultural superiority. Many actors such as myself would appreciate a fair opportunity to gain theatrical experience which is not restricted to so-called "Black" musicals and plays. Why is it that I am not permitted to act in a production of my favorite playwright, Tennessee Williams' plays unless there is an all "Black" cast? I do not wish to be cast as a token passing silently in the background of a scene as has become the fashion on many television sets. That is not real inclusion. It has been continually frustrating and demeaning to be faced with the disdain of New York casting directors who expect actors such as myself to have valid theatre credits while knowing, and admitting that many theatre producers are "not ready" to deal with multi-racial casts of good plays. To add insult to that, our soap opera and television credits are dismissed, meanwhile those are the areas in the entertainment business who will hire us!" It is my fondest hope that there may finally be concrete and real movement toward change. We live in a global, international society and it is time that America begins to reflect that in the theatrical community." This statement in many ways crystallizes the dilemma of many actors of color in this country as the United States continues to explore its definition of what it is to be a "multicultural" society. It is a good time to acknowledge here that along with the ambivalences of many audience members about non-traditional casting, there are undoubtedly many actors of color who have no interest in performing the "western classics" – and with both scenarios, for many reasons. For sake of discussion, consider these generalizations: 1) Does the U.S.A.'s brand of multicultural society mean many distinctive groups of people living equally but separately under one large umbrella?; or 2) is it one large group of heterogeneous humans living homogenously together with a common set of values that define "American"? or 3) is there a dominating culture which sets the standard and tone and defines what it is to be American – meaning that of the Europeans who came to this world in the 17th C. – to which all others are meant to emulate? In many ways this country seems schizophrenic when it comes to matters of race and culture. One only has to note the continued insistence by many that this nation is a "religious" one, "under God," where "prayer should be a natural part of the school day" as the debate rages over the idea of separation of church and state and faith-based initiatives. The dilemma we face on this subject nationally is the same dilemma that the theater faces. The reflection is no accident. An example: It is not too long ago that African American students in many of the country's actor training programs had to insist on opportunities to explore a larger range of work in their training than that of the European classics, and their "mainstream" American successors. In fact, students of color were being courted and recruited in the name of inclusion, diversity, multiculturalism with expectations that they would become a part of the mainstream (undefined) "multicultural" society – presumably the latter of three generalized modes mentioned above. In one respect, these students were being trained for a world that was largely non-existent; for the reality awaiting beyond the classroom had limits on "integration" that did not exist in school. As one recent graduate of a well-known program explained, he had trained primarily in Chekhov, Strindberg, Ibsen, etc., and now felt he had to learn now how to speak an August Wilson play. The dynamic relationship of training programs to the profession, however, is another discussion. I note it here as part of a larger confusion and dilemma in terms of the "goal" being sought – preparing students for what? For what kind of marketplace? It is my experience that theaters around the country are genuinely seeking to deal with this dilemma of the nation that is inherently a dilemma of the profession. The economics of the mass media further aggravate the situation. My work, that includes many years in the academic world, has also been reflective of this larger society. One of my responses to the world I lived in was to make sure that students explored work related to their own ethnic background, along with work involving another heritage. It was perhaps my naïve way of dealing with the multi-ethnic soul of the country. I have continued to find significant pedagogical usefulness of this strategy for the actor personally, and for my larger goals in teaching characterization that I was pursuing as a teacher. Is there perhaps a usefulness of such assignments pedagogically and sociologically that is unrelated to that of the profession? One colleague sums up the dilemma in theater terms as "the tyranny of realism." Indeed one of the ironies of verisimilitude in the theater is the notion that this is the place where we get to see BENEATH the surface of the human characters in motion onstage. My perception of the current climate, current attitudes and current opportunities overall is one of confusion. However, I do find that in my workplace as well as the places where I spend working in guest stints, that there is genuine interest in pursuing the challenge versus ignoring the challenge. My guess is that that is the same at other large, mainstream, institutional organizations. I find that the workplace in general is also searching for ways and means to interest people of diverse backgrounds – indeed of all backgrounds – in employment in the theater. To me, the primary remaining barriers of achieving inclusion are firmly embedded in the society's ambivalence about race and culture, including factors of diversity and inclusion. Who can/should/be allowed to do what (play what roles)? (direct what plays)? (design what shows)? Also, one cannot overlook the audience's relationship to the larger society in terms of taste and degrees of openness, tolerance, debate, discussion, comfort and the organization's dependence upon finding, keeping, renewing an audience. The audience mirrors the society. The Guthrie early in its history has the story of a production of The Dance of Death that included the casting of a family that was played by two white actors (the parents) and an African American son. At the time, 1966, I am told that many patrons could not understand or accept the idea of such casting. Sir Tyrone Guthrie, a colleague remembers, challenged the audiences to recognize that all of the people onstage were playing someone else. It seems a simple notion; but a theatrical performance is perhaps always experienced in the context of the time and place in which it is done. (In the very first show at the Guthrie, in 1963, an African American actor played Horatio. Interestingly, the 1966 story shows that there were limitations on that earlier idea of casting.) Former artistic director Garland Wright insisted that casting reflect the world we live in and indeed the country we live in, and that early notion of "non-traditional" casting got a new life. Current artistic director Joe Dowling has continued a practice where diversity and inclusion are given the highest priority in both programming and casting and employment, while allowing directors to respect the assumed demands of realism as it relates to verisimilitude. The initiatives of recent years: 1) the establishment of a new literary department with a major additional emphasis on the inclusion of and the development of relationships with "living playwrights" along with the theater's mission dedicated to the classics, and 2) the new actor training programs – A GUTHRIE EXPERIENCE FOR ACTORS IN TRAINING and the UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA/GUTHRIE THEATER B.F.A. Actor Training Program – assure a new diversity as they inherently and by design embrace the faces of our contemporary society. Inclusion and diversity are the very cornerstones of these programs As for my own personal stake in all of this: Ultimately in consideration of these matters I am left with my own history as a child when the joys and wonders of "playing pretend" had NO BOUNDARIES in terms of whom I could pretend to be. I can never forget the absolute freedom of that time. However, I have learned the naiveté of that freedom. And the memory tugs strongly when I see multicultural groups of young people, such as the founders of MUD BONES, for example, a group of highly-trained actors driven by a shared desire for opportunities to perform the great classics that they find rarely available to them, organizing to create their own opportunities. And so we find yet another kind of offshoot and reflection in reaction to the theater's and the larger society's dilemma. Finally, I feel strongly that this country's history is fantastically rich in stories that reflect the wonders of its unique history and ambitions – both the positive and the negative – and I, for one, long for the day when we can collectively, bold-facedly, embrace and accept it all, as a prerequisite for defining our future and the ideas of inclusion, diversity and multiculturalism. I truly believe that the theater has a huge role to play in that process! http://inclusioninthearts.org/projects/national-diversity-forum/opinion-pieces/mimi-kenney-smith/ ____________________ Book: Acting in Person and in Style: Fifth Edition" By Jerry L. Crawford, Catherine Hurst, Michael Lugering Foreward by Kenneth H. Washington There's no way to copy and paste Ken's Foreward here, so you'll have to go to this link: https://books.google.com/books?id=CccSAAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1478608390 ____________________ From the BroadwayWorld Minneapolis website: http://www.broadwayworld.com/minneapolis/article/Guthrie-Theaters-Kenneth-H-Washington-Dies-at-68-20141128# Guthrie Theater's Kenneth H. Washington Dies at 68 November 28, 2014 Guthrie Theater's Kenneth H. Washington Dies at 68 According to The StarTribune, the Guthrie Theater's director of company development, Kenneth H. Washington, has died. He was 68. "A guru-like figure," according to the report, Washington died in his Minneapolis apartment on Wednesday after a battle with kidney disease. "He single-handedly changed the direction of my life," said Santino Fontana, who acted at the Guthrie as a teenager. "I was 17 when I first met him at a scholarship competition in Florida. Ken was one of the judges. I was set on going into music at the University of Michigan. He told me, 'I think you're making a mistake.' He guided me as my mentor, my friend, my role model ever since." The GUTHRIE THEATER (Joe Dowling, Director) was founded by Sir Tyrone Guthrie in 1963 and is an American center for theater performance, production, education and professional training. The Tony Award-winning Guthrie Theater is dedicated to producing the great works of dramatic literature, developing the work of contemporary playwrights and cultivating the next generation of theater artists. With annual attendance of nearly 500,000 people, the Guthrie Theater presents a mix of classic plays and contemporary work on its three stages. Under the artistic leadership of Joe Dowling since 1995, the Guthrie continues to set a national standard for excellence in theatrical production and performance. In 2006, the Guthrie opened its new home on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, the Guthrie Theater houses three state-of-the-art stages, production facilities, classrooms and dramatic public lobbies. ___________________ "Ken Washington was a good friend with me and my then undocumented spouse Larry Robinson in the very late 1970s and early 1980s in Salt Lake City, Utah. We lived just a short distance from him and the University of Utah where he was a theater professor and accomplished actor trainer, director and choreographer. We occasionally had him over for Sunday dinner, and Larry reminds me that Ken treated us to a home cooked Sunday dinner at least a couple of times; Larry remembers one food item Ken prepared that he has never seen elsewhere: chicken livers wrapped in bacon. I never took a class from him or was ever in a play directed by him. But he did invite me to participate in a special class on Saturdays where we discussed and read scenes from the script of the play Vieux Carre by Tennessee Williams. And I saw quite a few of the productions he directed at the Babcock Theatre at the University of Utah. He also visited me in San Francisco during my hunger strike there for laws protecting gay and HIV+ people from discrimination in early 1989; he rented a car and drove us to the Russian River. [I had never known Ken to drive a car before.] We ended up at it's outlet into the Pacific Ocean. I remember vividly how profound an impact the sight of the end of a journey for a river going back into the ocean was like a life empties back into the universe at it's end. [You had to be there, and a bit hallucinating from a long period of starvation.] When I moved back to Salt Lake City broke in mid-July of that year, after a disastrous month living with a brother, Ken invited me to live with him until I could find a job and save enough money to rent an apartment of my own. I only lived with him a couple of months before getting a job at the University of Utah and was able to afford an apartment of my own. He would reserve two tickets for me at the plays he directed at the Babcock Theatre, but we grew apart. My fault -- with mental illness, paranoia and depression, taking more and more of a toll on me. Sorry, Ken, but thanks for everything." --Stuart McDonald https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=858829114139002&l=47b1c98aaa ________________ FindAGrave.com Memorial for Ken: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=139859813 Tributes.com Memorial for Ken: http://www.tributes.com/obituary/show/Kenneth-Harold-Washington-102281359