Thursday, December 27, 2012

Letters from Alvina Krause: December 1978

Context
Krause's 1978 Christmas card.

Letter
Merry Christmas wherever you are!
This morning was three hours of brilliant Shakespeare. I think JG's [a recent addition to the Bloomsburg class -- DD] work has sparked the group. She knows how to work (remarkable!) and she works. Her work glows. This morning she was a Juliet, truly Shakespeare's Juliet created for J! Young, glowing, "natural", responsive to all living things. I felt I were seeing Juliet for the first time. And S played Romeo, not as brilliant as her Juliet, but a truly responsive Romeo.
X and Y still agonize. Z did a Launcelot Gobbo that was absolutely brilliant. Not one trace of Z struggling. Easy as if he had played clowns all his life. Z has been working hard and it is paying off. T still has problems. She is tangled up in personal complications and cannot give her talents the concentration due them. The other day I ordered her to get her personal life in order and come to grips with what is important. She does an excellent piece of work one day, then nothing for weeks.
Are you insisting on voice training for actors. B could be terrific if she had a voice equal to her talents. As it is her voice is her enemy. She is aware of the need, but I can't give time to voice!
Did you know Vera Ward and Muriel Bach [former Krause students -- DD] approached Dean Wood with a project to raise funds to have my name somewhere in the new building? He was cool to the idea and they dropped it. It seems I am still "controversial". I don't mind: I feel no link to the present School, but isn't it ridiculous? Is he afraid of me? After all the School once stood high nationally and internationally for excellence. Is that evil?
A.K.

Footnote
Lucy once said to me, "She's always complaining about the school, but all the flowers she plants are purple and white". [Northwestern University's school colors -- DD]

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