Passages in the Life of an Unpractical Man
Photo credit: Renee DeKona
one-man play by
Gerry Wright
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36 Perkins St., PO Box 300040, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130-0030
Gerry Wright, Founder and President
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Email:
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Celebrating Olmsted's Legacy:
Louisville, Kentucky: March, 2004:
The Olmsted Play was introduced to the Louisville Olmsted Parks Conservancy in March. Susan Rademacher, President of The Conservancy welcomed Gerry Wright to a luncheon where staff and board members of The Conservancy entered into a "dialogue with Olmsted" and then witnessed some of the scenes from the play. Gerry's response to the dialogue is one of great enthusiasm, as the day before a press conference was held during which it was announced that a sum of $5.2 million had been raised to help support the work of bringing back the parklands with Olmsted's vision as a working principle. A four hour tour of the three major parks designed by Olmsted was the conclusion to an incredible experience. Being guided through the three parks by Susan Rademacher was an experience of "feeling connected directly to the work of Olmsted a hundred years ago and how a group of dedicated citizens, in partnership with an extremely dedicated professional staff, has been able to 'bring alive' the work and spirit of the Olmsted legacy."
Ashville, North Carolina: March, 2004:
The Olmsted Play was presented in Ashville at the Smith-McDowell House, Ashville's first mansion. Attending the performance were members of the staff from Biltmore, where OLmsted's collaboration with the architect Richard Morris Hunt resulted in the incredible creation known as Biltmore. The reception from members of the staff of Biltmore was most heartwarming, as a tour of the property designed by OLmsted with it's uncanny carriage road entrance winding up the hill to the monumental 250 room country estate. As Gerry Wright explained the visit, "my guide, Bill Adam, who has a one person presentation of Richard Morris Hunt, transported me back in history to the time of George Vanderbilt in the 1880s and 1890s when he engaged OLmsted and Hunt for the creation of the largest private home in America with grounds that included a 250 acre wooded park and a forest of 100,000 acres." A meeting with Bill Alexander, the forestry and landscape historian,"created moments when the destiny of Olmsted's life over 100 years ago as the catalyst of American Scientific forestry was experienced as an overwhelming force which has ultimate significance for the future of our world in the 21st century."
Frederick Law Olmsted -- one man play by Gerry Wright
Programs Description Travels to Louisville, Knntucky and Ashville, North Carolina
June 5. 2005 "Leonardo and Olmsted: Reverance for Nature"
December 19, 2004 "Olmsted To Honor Christine"
Teacher Guide, Links and Resources
Friends of Frederick Law Olmsted
Opinion on New York Central Park mission
Copyright © 1999-2007 by Stephen Baird