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RAT Links to brief history of Philadelphia & the birthplace of the play "The Insanity of Mary Girard"
Y'all
Especially for those coming to the RAT Conference, here's are links to
some pretty good brief histories of Philadelphia. Lots of
performance/play material there. Give you some reasons for the "flavor"
of the city.
http://mcmcweb.er.usgs.gov/phil/philhistory.html
http://www.ushistory.org/philadelphia/timeline/index.html
I should also mention that Nick has been planning simultaneous, multiple
route, guided tours on Saturday -- from the South Street area up to
midtown, where the Director's in Community sessions will be held. This is
primarily intended for the Lincoln Center Director's Lab folks -- to give
them a sense of the Philadelphia community, but if there are enough
guides I'll bet we can sneak in a few more people, eh Nick?
Mary Girard
One stopping place on one of the tours will be Pennsylvania Hospital,
home of the U.S.' first insane asylum. The play "The Insanity of Mary
Girard" (by Lainie Robertson, and published by Samuel French, in the
"Best Short Plays" series, a favorite of high schools, and originally
directed by yours truly as a fairly scary "environmental" theater piece)
is based on an event at this institution. It seems that the richest (and
reportedly, ugliest) man in colonial America, Stephen Girard, got tired
of his wife, Mary, and had her incarcerated for life by simply signing
his name. The room in which she spent much of the rest of her life is
still part of the hospital. Part of the problem may have been that
Stephen, who made his fortune on rum smuggling and slaving, spoke no
English -- despite the fact that he had lived in Philadelphia for many
years.
Cheers,
Cat Hebert
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