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Education Resource Guide

Table of Contents List of Characters

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Synopsis

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About the Playwrights

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George S. Kaufman Edna Ferber Working Together

Meet the Cast

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Meet the Director

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Meet the Real Royal Family

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What Was it Like to be an Actor in 1927?

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Talkies—How the Movies Impacted Live Theater

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Important Dates of the 1920s

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Discussion Questions and Topics

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Theater Etiquette

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PA Academic Standards

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The Characters Fanny Cavendish – Matriarch of the Cavendish family. Mother of Julie and Tony, a talented actress who no longer performs. Julie Cavendish – Daughter of Fanny, mother of Gwen. Middle aged, still very attractive woman and a phenomenal actress. Oversees the family’s affairs. Gwen Cavendish – Daughter of Julie, 19 years old and a talented actress. She is, however, less enthusiastic about theater than the rest of her family. Tony Cavendish – Son of Fanny. A little younger than Julie, he has been working on a movie in Hollywood, but has returned to New York because of some trouble. High-strung and used to having his own way. Oscar Wolfe – The Cavendish Family’s manager. A figure of authority and knows what he wants. Has been working with the Cavendishes for years, making him almost part of the family. Perry Stewart – Gwen’s boyfriend. Athletic, attractive young man from a good family with a bright future. Would like Gwen to leave the stage so they can be together. Gilbert Marshall – Old suitor of Julie. Rich businessman, back in town after almost twenty years to see Julie again. Herbert Dean – Fanny’s brother. Past his prime and having trouble finding acting work. Kitty LeMoyne Dean – Herbert’s wife. Mediocre actress, sees herself younger and more talented than she actually is. Della – The Cavendish’s maid, an efficient woman, capable of keeping up with the many needs of the family. Jo – The houseman, takes orders from Della and helps keep the family happy. McDermott – Julie’s boxing instructor. Pittsburgh Public Theater

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Synopsis The Royal Family follows the life of the Cavendishes, a long-time theater family who make themselves at home on the stages of New York City. Fanny Cavendish, her daughter Julie, and Julie’s daughter Gwen all live in the lavish family apartment in New York City. The three Cavendish women try to balance the commitments of their full-time acting careers and maintaining a private life outside of the theater with some difficulty. When Julie’s brother Tony arrives from Hollywood with some unexpected trouble at work, and Gwen struggles with her boyfriend Perry, the Cavendish family must find a way to juggle the family drama with their already hectic lifestyles. Julie must find a way to manage her daughter’s woes, her brother’s insistence that he must flee the country, her uncle’s demand for a role in her play, and her mother’s ailing health. When Julie’s old suitor Gilbert Marshall shows up in the midst of all of the family drama, Julie must decide whether she will fulfill her role as a Cavendish or leave the stage for love.

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About the Playwrights

George S. Kaufman Source: excerpt from the program notes of The Public’s 1989 production of George Washington Slept Here George Kaufman was born on a Saturday morning, November 16, 1889, at 6230 Station Street, a fashionable street in the East End of Pittsburgh. When he died in 1961 at the age of 72, more than forty of his plays had reached Broadway, and many would become beloved American classics. Along with a prolific playwriting career, Kaufman also wrote movie scripts for Hollywood, as well as countless pieces of humor, verse, and criticism for newspapers and magazines. Kaufman even directed some of his own plays as well as works by other dramatists. Like his idol Mark Twain, he was a great American wit, and although he never considered himself as such, George S. Kaufman remains one of America’s greatest playwrights. Kaufman’s parents, Joseph Kaufman and Henrietta Myers, were married in Pittsburgh on January 17, 1884; both were of German-Jewish descent. Kaufman was brought up in a comfortable and educated household that appreciated the arts. When on business in New York, Joseph Kaufman would attend the new plays on Broadway and tell his family all of the details on his return to Pittsburgh, which no doubt fueled young

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George’s early interest in the arts. As a boy, George played sandlot baseball and was an avid Pittsburgh Pirates fan. He showed some early signs of business acumen when he and a neighborhood friend traveled regularly to Howe Spring on nearby Shady Avenue to fill milk cans with fresh spring water and sell them around the neighborhood. He would often spend his pocket money theater tickets for stock and touring companies and vaudeville shows that came to Pittsburgh. Later in Kaufman’s childhood the family moved to 6102 Walnut Street in a house that still stands. Young George attended Liberty School and religious school at Temple Rodef Shalom, a congregation his grandfather Myers helped to found. He went on to Central High School where he performed in school plays, wrote for school publications and composed his first play, The Failure, at age 14. After graduation in 1907, he enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh to study law. He did not last in college, and for the next several years Kaufman worked at various jobs including the payroll clerk at the Allegheny County tax office. Kaufman often covered stories regarding the theater with Marc Connelly, who had similar responsibilities with his paper, The Morning Telegraph. Connelly, who hailed from McKeesport, Pennsylvania, was also eager to develop a career in the theater. They would collaborate on nine plays from 1921 to 1924. Dulcy, their first effort, was a great success and starred Lynn Fontanne and ran for 246 performances. Kaufman and Connelly had hit upon a successful combination of plot devices and verbal effects that would become the identifying feature of future Kaufman plays. In 1928, Kaufman began to direct plays. He had always held strong convictions about the way a play should be directed and was not always happy with the way his plays were produced. His first effort was The Front Page, a play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. As a director, Kaufman’s excellent sense of timing and knowledge of audience reaction served him well. His skill with language allowed him to work well with playwrights as they made cuts that would achieve the proper tempo for a piece. Just as in composing a script, he paid meticulous attention to details when directing without being overbearing to the actors. In total he directed 44 productions, 24 plays of his own, and was notorious for helping other directors in the rehearsal process. Among others,

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Kaufman directed Broadway productions of My Sister Eileen, Of Mice and Men and Guys and Dolls.

Edna Ferber Source: Ferber: A Biography of Edna Ferber and Her Circle by Julie Goldsmith Gilbert Edna Ferber was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan to Hungarian-Jewish father Jacob Ferber, and Milwaukee-born mother Julia Neumann Ferber. She claimed that she was born in 1887, perhaps because of her infamous vanity, but census documents and an entry in her mother’s journal state that she was actually born August 15, 1885. Her father moved the family to Appleton, Wisconsin when she was 12 years old and opened a general store called “My Store,” but he was often ill and Julia Ferber managed the store most of the time. Young Edna’s home life was not happy, as her mother resented her father for his illness and inability to take care of his family. Because she was the provider, she viewed him as somewhat expendable. Ferber was greatly influenced by her parents’ relationship; many of her female characters were similar to Julia in her independence and thrift, and many of her male characters were patterned after her father’s weakness and dependence on her mother. Yet despite the difficulty of her family situation, she loved her father and paid more attention to him than anyone else in the family—joking with him, reading to him, and going for long walks. When he died in 1909, Ferber had been working outside the home as a journalist for several years. She began working at the age of 17, first at the Appleton Daily Crescent, and then at the Milwaukee Journal, but she suffered a nervous breakdown in 1910 and had to return home to recover from severe anemia. While there, she published her first short story—The Homely Heroine—and the next year she published her first novel, Dawn O’Hara. Her mother, a strong influence on her, was ultimately responsible for the publishing of her first novel, because when the family moved from Wisconsin to Chicago, young Edna intended to burn her manuscript. It was only the quick eye of Julia that saved it from the flames and launched Ferber’s career as a novelist. Ferber’s relationship with her mother was a difficult one. She owed much to her mother’s strength, but once her career really took off, Julia felt threatened and began to Pittsburgh Public Theater

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usurp her daughter’s fame, trying to better her by being even more of a socialite than Ferber. Ferber wrote a short story called “Mother Knows Best” which was published in 1927 about a girl who becomes famous and the actions of her domineering mother. Many people think the story was somewhat autobiographical. However, she continued to support her mother and sister Fanny throughout her career, though she often resented them and relished vacations when she could get away for a little while. Ferber’s career was a long and successful one. She loved to write about the working class people of America, oftentimes choosing to focus on average men and women instead of the elite world she herself was a part of. She won the Pulitzer in 1924 for So Big, the story of a woman raising a child on a truck farm outside of Chicago. Other well known books include Showboat (1926), Cimarron (1929), and Giant (1952), all of which were made into movies. Showboat was adapted into a musical that changed the world of musical theater forever. Until Showboat, musical theater mostly consisted of short numbers that were strung together without a cohesive plot, and the subject matter was largely uncontroversial. Showboat, however, had a plot that addressed issues such as unhappy marriages, bigotry, and gambling. Against the prediction of the producers, people loved Showboat, and the show’s success paved the way for musical theater as we know it today. Ferber was a very exacting woman, but she had a great talent for writing and observing. She loved to sit and watch people, trying to guess what their lives were like, and she used this perceptiveness to her advantage in her plays and novels. After her death in 1968 the New York Times said of her writing: “Her books were not profound, but they were vivid and had a sound sociological basis. She was among the best-read novelists in the nation, and critics of the 1920s and ' 30s did not hesitate to call her the greatest American woman novelist of her day.”

Working Together Sources: Ferber: A Biography of Edna Ferber and Her Circle by Julie Goldsmith Gilbert, and George S. Kaufman: His Life, His Theater by Malcolm Goldstein

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Edna Ferber and George Kaufman met when Kaufman read Ferber’s short story “Old Man Minick” and got the idea of turning it into a play. He wrote to Ferber from London, who was then in Chicago, and asked her to collaborate with him. At first she was hesitant; she did not think her story had enough dramatic appeal. But Kaufman won her over, and they began work on the script. “Old Man Minick” was not a huge success. It had a decent run of 141 performances, but audiences were not thrilled and some thought that it had been miscast. However, much of the difficulty lay in the juxtaposition of the folksy quality of Ferber’s story, and the witty, wise cracking quality that people had come to expect from Kaufman’s plays. However, the two enjoyed working together and planned to continue collaborating. The next show Ferber and Kaufman collaborated on was The Royal Family, which they wrote together from November 1926 to June 1927. It was Ferber’s idea to write a play about the life of actors, and ever since Ethel Barrymore starred in the play Our Mrs. Chesney, which had been based on Ferber’s book, she was entranced by the actress and her dedication to her work. Ferber and Kaufman admittedly based the play on the Barrymore family, but only the character of Tony had any real connection with the Barrymores. The role of Julie was offered to Ethel Barrymore, and Ferber and Kaufman were astonished when she turned it down. She was enraged by the fact that her family had been used as material for a play, and she would have nothing to do with it. Because of that, they had trouble casting the play. The play’s producer, Jed Harris, fired the entire cast after one week of rehearsals because he was dissatisfied with them. However, he eventually hired them back and the show opened as a hit. It went on to a 345 performance run and was made into a movie three years later. Ferber herself starred as Fanny Cavendish in a 1940 revival of The Royal Family, and though she was incredibly nervous and did not think her performance worthwhile, it was a moderate success. Kaufman and Ferber were more than just collaborators: they were also great friends. From the beginning Ferber and Kaufman had a tumultuous relationship; but their friendship was never broken, and they remained good friends until Kaufman’s death.. Ferber admired Kaufman’s work ethic, which was similar to her own, and she enjoyed

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working with him. Some even argue that she fell in love with him, which is possible. She was a spinster all her life, although there were several men who she greatly admired, including Kaufman. She was continually jealous of Kaufman’s wife, Beatrice, and was often rude to her. When they worked together, Kaufman would often roam around Ferber’s apartment when he got restless and look through all the papers on her desk. Once she slipped a piece of paper onto the desk that called him “an old snooper.” Kaufman loved telling stories about Ferber’s driving habits, which by his account were horrendous. At a dinner party once, one of Ferber’s friends told her that she regretted never having met a real hero of American folklore, so Ferber asked Kaufman to dress up like Abraham Lincoln and seated him beside the friend. Both Ferber and Kaufman were members of the Algonquin Round Table, which was a group of playwrights, authors, and actors who met at the Algonquin Hotel in New York to have lunch and banter. Members included Marc Connelly, a Pulitzer prize winning playwright whom had also collaborated with Kaufman, Dorothy Parker, a famous poet and satirist, Harpo Marx of the Marx Brothers movies, and Alexander Woollcott, a well-known critic who was the inspiration for the main character in the popular play The Man Who Came to Dinner. However, things were not always pleasant between the two. Ferber was notorious for feuding with her friends, and she had an off and on writing relationship with Kaufman. She put an end to their professional relationship for a time because she was unhappy that she had not gotten as much credit as she felt she deserved with their play Dinner at Eight. On top of that she did not have as much weight in determining the look and feel of the play as Kaufman did, since he had experience directing. Though Kaufman eventually managed to convince her to do three more plays with him, for the most part she refused to work in collaboration with him.

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Meet the Cast ZEVA BARZELL (Della) has a BFA in Acting and Directing from Ithaca College and an MFA in Acting from the University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign. She also trained in New York City and London. Ms. Barzell has worked Off- and Off Off -Broadway, in regional theater, summer stock, dinner theater, daytime television, industrials, and national voiceover work. Credits include Orpheus and Amerika (Great Lady), Sweeney Todd (Mrs. Lovett), Broadway (Lillian Rice), My Three Angels (Madame Parole), Dennis Cleveland (Bilbo), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Titania), Annie Get Your Gun (Annie), Hello, Dolly! (Dolly), Anything Goes (Reno), Applause (Margo), Annie (Miss Hannigan), Fiddler on the Roof (Golda), Memory of Water (Theresa), and Angels in America (Hannah). ROSS BICKELL (Herbert Dean) last appeared at Pittsburgh Public Theater in The Little Foxes. He has also performed in Public Theater productions of The Gin Game, Arms and the Man, Romeo and Juliet, The Subject Was Roses, Mary Stuart, RolePlay, and The Tempest. He appeared on Broadway in Noises Off, The Iceman Cometh, and A Few Good Men. Off-Broadway credits include the OBIE Award-winning Waste, Remembrance, Privates on Parade, Somewhere in the Pacific, The Crucible, and Down by the Ocean. He also appeared in A Marriage Minuet directed by Tracy Brigden at City Theatre. Regional theater credits include productions for Long Wharf, Arena Stage, Alley Theatre, Huntington Theatre, Hartford Stage, Guthrie Theater, Kennedy Center, Pioneer Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, and Merrimack Rep. Mr. Bickell will appear in the upcoming movie The Fighter and recently appeared on “30 Rock.” Other film and television credits include Airport ’77, Major Payne, “Fantasy Island,” “WKRP in Cincinnati,” and many other canceled series. Mr. Bickell is a repeat offender on “Law & Order” and has also guest starred on Comedy Central’s “Strangers with Candy.” TONY BINGHAM (McDermott/Gunga) feels so lucky to return to the Pittsburgh Public stage, where he appeared last season in a Midsummer Night’s Dream. He was recently seen in Celebrity Autobiography at City Theatre and in The Task for Quantum. Favorite roles include: Martin in The Goat, Tony in Savage in Limbo, Eddie in Fool for Love, Roger in The Missionary Position, Segismundo in Life is a Dream, Proctor in The Crucible, Henry in The Real Thing, Zastrozzi in Zastrozzi, Marat in Marat/Sade, and Dad in The Bingham Family, to name a few. He has Pittsburgh Public Theater

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appeared on “As the World Turns,” in several commercials, and a number of local indies including the feature film Trapped (2009 winner of New York International Independent Film Festival’s Best Crime Feature), starring Tom Atkins and Corbin Bersen. Tony holds a BA from Point Park and an MFA from the University of Iowa. EVAN ALEX COLE (Perry Stewart) is thankful to be joining the Pittsburgh Public Theater family in this wonderful production at the beautiful O’Reilly. He is a native of Atlanta, GA and a graduate of the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. Broadway: A Man for All Seasons (with Frank Langella). Favorite regional credits include: Hamlet, The Three Sisters, Robin Hood, Pericles, The Servant of Two Masters, and The Comedy of Errors. Film: She’s Out of My League and Back When We Were Grownups. TV: Lyon Hunter Stewart on “As the World Turns,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” and “Joan of Arcadia.” Follow or friend Alex @ www.evanalexcole.com. JAMES FITZGERALD (Jo) is most happy to return to The Public after appearing last season in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Other Pittsburgh appearances include five productions for Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre, Quantum Theatre, and Bricolage. As a Chicago-based actor James performed for 16 seasons with Chicago Shakespeare Theater. He made numerous appearances at Marriot’s Lincolnshire Theatre, Chicago’s Second City, ETC., The Royal George, and Apple Tree, among numerous other Chicagoland theaters. Regionally he performed for six seasons at Cape May Stage in New Jersey, Milwaukee Rep, the Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, and North Carolina Shakespeare Festival. He was also a member of the OffBroadway company of Rose Rage directed by Edward Hall. James is the recipient of two Joseph Jefferson Awards (Best Supporting Actor), a Jeff Citation (Best Actor), and Chicago’s After Dark™ Award as the author of “…Two for the Show…” (Best New Work). He is co-author of Every Christmas Story Ever Told!, which will be running in more than 10 cities this season. He recently completed filming The Mercury Men and appeared in the title role of Scapin for the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival. DARYLL HEYSHAM (Gilbert Marshall) is thrilled to work again with Ted Pappas, here at The Public. In 2009, Daryll created the role of Sammy Carducci in Harry’s Friendly Service by Rob Zellers. Recent appearances include Montano in Othello for PICT, Pierre in The Clockmaker for City Theatre, Phil in That Championship Season for The REP, and Juror #3 in 12 Pittsburgh Public Theater

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Angry Men for Prime Stage. Off-Broadway credits include Tony ‘n’ Tina’s Wedding and Much Ado About Nothing. He toured in The Lion in Winter, opposite George Peppard, and played over 1,000 performances of Shear Madness in Philadelphia. Favorite roles include Milo in Sleuth, Bernard in Arcadia, and Biff in Death of a Salesman. He has also appeared at the Walnut Street Theatre, Florida Stage, and Syracuse Stage. An Equity member since 1981, Daryll received his BFA from Ohio State University and is an MFA candidate at Point Park University. LINDSEY KYLER (Gwen Cavendish) is pleased to return to Pittsburgh Public Theater! She lives in New York City and is a proud graduate of the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. Lindsey was seen most recently on the Pittsburgh Public stage in last season’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hermia). Other theatrical credits include: Anne and Emmett (Anne Frank), the world premiere of Legacy of Light (Arena Stage), and the world premiere of Le Grand Meaulnes (Quantum Theatre). She is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association. KAREN MERRITT (Miss Peake) is delighted to be a part of The Royal Family at Pittsburgh Public Theater. Past productions include: The Three Sisters, The Winter’s Tale, Shrew!, and The Comedy of Errors (Unseam’d Shakespeare); Romeo and Juliet, Our Town, and The Music Lesson (Prime Stage); Steel Magnolias (Pennsylvania Center Stage); Quilters, Anne of Green Gables, You Can’t Take It With You, and the biblical books of Ruth, Jonah and Mark (Saltworks Theatre). Education: an MFA in Acting from Carnegie Mellon and the Moscow Art Theatre School, where she appeared in The Lower Depths and The Trojan Women. LARRY JOHN MEYERS (Oscar Wolfe) last performed at Pittsburgh Public Theater in Harry’s Friendly Service (2009), Amadeus (2008), and Gem of the Ocean (2006). Other recent productions include The Task for Quantum Theatre; Crime and Punishment, Jane Eyre, Othello, The Hothouse, and The Room for Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre; and Wild Blessings: A Celebration of Wendell Berry and Glengarry Glen Ross for Actors Theatre of Louisville. This season marks the 30th year Larry has been a part of the Pittsburgh theater family, including productions during 12 seasons for Pittsburgh Public, beginning with A History of the American Film in 1983.

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JENNIFER REGAN (Kitty Dean) appeared with Dame Maggie Smith in Edward Albee’s The Lady from Dubuque (London’s West End), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Broadway), Buffalo Gal (Primary Stages), and Lost in Yonkers (Old Globe). She also worked with Arthur Miller on his Resurrection Blues (Old Globe), Ivanov (Off-Broadway), Girl (Cherry Lane), Alfred Uhry’s Edgardo Mine (Guthrie Theater), The Trojan Women (Old Globe), and A Streetcar Named Desire (Barrington Stage). Television credits include: “Law & Order: SVU” and “Criminal Intent,” “Gravity” (Starz), “As the World Turns,” and “The Guiding Light.” Feature films: The Winning Season, Final Rinse, and Ten Stories Tall (premiered at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, 2010). Training: UCLA Theater, BADA, Oxford University, and the Shakespeare Lab at the Public Theater in New York. HELENA RUOTI (Julie Cavendish) is thrilled to return to Pittsburgh Public Theater where she appeared last season as Regina in The Little Foxes. As an actor in the Pittsburgh region her career encompasses leading roles in over a dozen productions at The Public. Favorites include Ann Landers/Eppie Lederer in The Lady With All the Answers, Adriana in The Comedy of Errors, Jocasta in Oedipus the King, Hannah in The Night of the Iguana, Masha in The Three Sisters, and the title roles in Hedda Gabler and Edith Stein. She has made many notable performances at City Theatre, Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival, Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre, barebones productions, and the Pittsburgh Playhouse, as well as appearances with the International Poetry Forum and the Pittsburgh Symphony. Favorites among these include Maria Callas in Master Class at City and Elinore/Esme in Tom Stoppard’s Rock ’n’ Roll with PICT. She also performed two seasons with the Philadelphia Theater Company. Helena is a recipient of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Performer of the Year Award and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Creative Achievement Award for Established Artist. She was also honored with City Theatre’s Robert M. Frankel Award for outstanding commitment to new play creation and support of the arts. JENNY STERLIN (Fanny Cavendish) last appeared at Pittsburgh Public Theater as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest. Broadway: Major Barbara, Design for Living, and Heartbreak House. Off-Broadway credits include: The Women of Lockerbie, Time and The Conways, Further Than the Furthest Thing, Seagulls, The Art of Success, Wit, East is East, Henry V, and Effie’s Burning/Father. Ms. Sterlin has appeared in numerous plays in the United States, England, and Canada. Roles include Hannah in Arcadia, Dotty in Noises Off, Toinette in The Imaginary Invalid, Judith in Pittsburgh Public Theater

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Hay Fever, Marge in Thatcher’s Women, Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, Mme. Arkati in Blythe Spirit, Gladys in A Lesson from Aloes (Boston’s Critics Choice Award for Best Performance), Maud/Betty in Cloud Nine (Bay Area Theatre Critics Award), Hannah in The Night of the Iguana, Hedda in Hedda Gabler, and Estelle in No Exit. Television credits include: “Gossip Girl,” “White Collar,” Law & Order,” “Hope & Faith,” and “The Guiding Light.” Film credits include: Going Under (with Roger Rees), Nowhere to Go But Up (with Audrey Tattau), and Kleopatra (with Alan Cumming). She is Artistic Director of The Rubicon Theatre Company in New York and a founding member of Appletree Theatre in England. An award-winning narrator of more than 85 audio books, Ms. Sterlin lives in New York. DAVID WHALEN (Anthony Cavendish) is thrilled to return to The Public where he played Oberon/Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He just finished The Pinter Festival with PICT. Prior to that, he played Claudius in Hamlet at the Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C. Pittsburgh appearances include: An Ideal Husband, Doubt, Stuff Happens, Pride and Prejudice, and Julius Caesar, among others, for PICT; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Speak American, and Opus for City Theatre; and Cymbeline for Quantum. He played Padraic in The Lieutenant of Inishmore at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (Kevin Kline Award for Best Actor, 2008) and was named the 2007 Performer of the Year by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. New York credits include The Roundabout, Primary Stages, and others. Regional credits: South Coast Repertory (10 productions), Houston’s Alley Theatre (Angels in America, also in Europe), Hartford Stage, Center Stage in Baltimore, Huntington Theatre, Laguna Playhouse, McCarter Theatre, Arden Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Clarence Brown Theatre, Coconut Grove Playhouse, and Philadelphia Theatre Company, among others. Film credits include: 61*, The Xmas Tree, Black Dalia, My Bloody Valentine 3D, True Blue, Without Warning, and Indictment: The McMartin Trial. Television credits include: “Three Rivers” and “Diagnosis: Murder,” plus recurring roles on “All My Children” and “The Guiding Light.” Next up, the world premiere of The Morini Strad at City Theatre.

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Meet the Director TED PAPPAS (Director) celebrates his 11th season as Artistic Director of Pittsburgh Public Theater and his 18th year of close association with the company as a director. He has staged 34 productions for The Public, encompassing an extraordinary range of styles and periods, including Euripides’ Medea and Sophocles’ Oedipus the King; Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Comedy of Errors, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Tempest; Schiller’s Mary Stuart; Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest; the American premiere of Ayckbourn’s RolePlay; the world premiere of Zellers and Collier’s The Chief; three Gilbert & Sullivan operettas; Kander & Ebb’s Cabaret; Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus; and Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. He has enjoyed a distinguished career as a director and choreographer for some of North America’s great companies including Joseph Papp Public Theater, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Playwrights Horizons, The Acting Company, Arena Stage in Washington D.C., the Canadian Opera Company, Toronto’s Royal Alexandra, Goodspeed Musicals, and New York City Opera under the leadership of Beverly Sills. He has worked on and off Broadway, at the Cannes Film Festival, in Las Vegas, and on television, where he serves as choreographer for NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” For the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, he staged the acclaimed concert The Music of Fred Rogers, featuring Tommy Tune and John Lithgow. A graduate of Northwestern University and Manhattan’s Hunter College, he is a past president of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, the national labor union.

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Meet the Real Royal Family There were several families in New York in the 1920s that were similar to the fictional Cavendish family, but most people agree that Ferber and Kaufman based their play on the Barrymore family, who like the Cavendishes had—and continue to have—a long and glorious history of acting. Anyone who was interested in theater in the 1920s would be very familiar with the Barrymore name.

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Lionel, Ethel and John Barrymore were all great actors, and the three siblings came from a long line of theatrical ancestors. Ethel Barrymore, who is most similar to the character Julie in The Royal Family, was one of the most noted actresses on Broadway. She began acting when she was fourteen years old, and she remained active in theater until her death in 1959. Critics who saw her perform spoke of “weeping from the beginning to the

Ethel Barrymore as a young actress

end” of her plays and audiences loved her regal, queen-like quality. When she performed, the audience was amazed. Once, Ethel was asked what she did when audience members coughed. She replied: “I never let them cough. They don’t dare!” Yet for all her talent and the public’s adoration, Ethel Barrymore was similar to the fictional character of Julie Cavendish in that she had not always wanted to go into theater. As a girl she wanted to be a pianist, but since the family business was theater, she felt like she had to act. Since her mother and father had been famous actors, critics anticipated talent from Ethel, and they were not disappointed.

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Like Julie, Ethel also had a romantic history with a man outside of the theater. She married the board chairman of the United States Rubber Company, and they had three children together. Perhaps it was a reflection of her desire for a quieter life that made her choose someone who had little to do with acting. But even so, Ethel Barrymore never went far from the theater, and after announcing that she was retiring in 1936 to spend her time at home as a mother, it was only a year until she was back on Broadway. The Royal Family may have been more prophetic than anyone realized. Perhaps the most interesting sibling of the three was John Barrymore, whom the character of Tony Cavendish was based on. He began acting in 1903 and played leading roles on the stage, appearing in popular plays such as The Fortune Hunter, The Yellow Ticket, and Kick In. He showed a particular flare for John Barrymore, the debonair film actor

Shakespeare’s plays and played the title roles of

Hamlet and King Richard III. His audiences were thrilled by his performance, but he was a loose cannon on stage as well as in his personal life. He was not afraid to do whatever he wanted with his parts, and he often cut out large blocks of Shakespeare’s text as he spoke his lines, causing critics to be upset. John Barrymore’s personality was a lot like the character of Tony Cavendish. In 1914 he went out to Hollywood to act in movies, perhaps at the insistence of his brother Lionel, and he learned to prefer the moneymaking business of movies to the stage. In one of his movies—Don Juan—he managed to kiss the leading ladies 143 times. Like Tony

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Cavendish, his name was often associated with famous women, such as his affair with showgirl Evelyn Nesbit. When Ethel Barrymore, his older sister, found out that The Royal Family was going to be performed, she demanded a copy of the script. Infuriated at the way her family was being portrayed, she consulted a lawyer, but he told her that the only person being libeled (slandered in print) in her family was John. When she telephoned Hollywood to ask her brother to take action, he refused. Maybe he liked the attention, or maybe he was too busy to care. Or maybe he just thought of the whole thing as a big joke. The Barrymore family continues to this day to be an acting family. Lionel Barrymore was immortalized in his role as the villainous Henry Potter in the 1946 movie It’s A Wonderful Life, and his granddaughter Drew Barrymore is a famous movie actress. She is known for her roles in 50 First Dates, Ever After and other romantic comedies. When you come from a family that takes acting so seriously, success seems to just come naturally. Lionel Barrymore

Sources: Ethel Barrymore obituary (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0815.html) Theater in America, Mary C. Henderson. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York. The Theatrical 20s, Allen Churchill. Allen Churchill 1975.

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What was it Like to be an Actor in 1927? The invention of talkies reached even further than just drawing crowds away from the theaters. Actors and actresses just like the fictional Tony Cavendish began to go to Hollywood instead of Broadway to perform, and the art of acting underwent a transformation. Instead of seeing Broadway as the goal, actors and actresses began to use it as a stepping-stone to Hollywood. If an actress got a start on Broadway, she could then move on to even greater fame in movies, radio, and later television. When The Royal Family premiered in 1927, theater was transforming rapidly, and because of changing values in society and the introduction of “talking pictures” actors and actresses were quickly readjusting their priorities and interests. At the beginning of the century, actors and actresses had a very demanding lifestyle. Like the character Fanny Cavendish, most of them went on the road and toured in cities all over the country. They were used to being flexible when it came to changing cities or performance dates, and they were able to play diverse roles. One of the most popular forms of entertainment was a kind of theater called Vaudeville. Vaudeville began in the 1890s and was the most popular from of entertainment up until the late 1920s, when the emergence of motion pictures brought it to an end. Actors and actresses who performed in Vaudeville traveled from town to town and performed many different types of theater. A typical show consisted of eight acts, opening with an animal act or juggler, moving on through magicians, comedians, acrobats, dancers, singers and short plays. The life of Vaudeville actors was difficult. They traveled nonstop, going from town to town to perform to crowds who threw food and bricks if they did not like the show. The majority of the players stayed in run-down hotels so they could

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keep their acts going. Some, however, became famous from their Vaudeville days. Many actors started on Vaudeville and then moved into films, such as the Marx Brothers, who made slapstick comedy movies such as Duck Soup, or Bob Hope who starred opposite Bing Crosby in the comic “Road” movies, such as Road to Morocco. The actors who played on Vaudeville were masters of playing many different parts. Some played over 400 characters in just a few years. But as the 1920s progressed and films gained popularity, the public began to tire of seeing the same actors in different roles, and directors began typecasting (casting certain actors in similar roles that then became the actor’s trademark). In the late 1800s, actors were paid very little for their work. Some were paid as little as six dollars a week, and the actors were expected to pay for their own costumes and make-up. Some had only a few costumes and had to make them work for any play they were in because they could not afford anything else. An actor was more likely to be hired by a good theater company if he or she had her own well-stocked wardrobe. But as theater became more popular and actors began to work individually instead of in theater companies, actor salaries rose. This is evident in the fictional world of the Cavendish family, who like the famous actors of the 1920s, were paid very well for their work. What was expected of actors in the 1920s was also very different from what was expected 50 years before. As is evident in The Royal Family, the actors had a good amount of freedom in deciding how they were going to work and what their schedules would be. This was a big change from the world of traveling theater companies in the 1800s, when there were many strict rules actors had to follow. For example, if an actor ad-libbed (made up dialogue on the spot) onstage, he or she could be fined for it. There

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was a fine for drinking and swearing backstage, and if an actor tried to refuse a part, he or she could be fired immediately from the theater company. But beginning in the 1920s, actors like Tony Cavendish had more freedom to act as they pleased. This was largely due to the formation of the Actors’ Equity Association. Actors were fed up with the exploitation of producers who set their own pay scale and did not provide compensation for rehearsals or holidays. The National Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (the stage hands’ union) was recognized in 1910, and The Dramatists’ Guild (the playwrights’ union) was recognized in 1912, but the Actors’ Equity Association, though formed in 1913, was not recognized until 1919 when actors went on a strike to demand recognition.

The invention of talking pictures also had a big impact on the life of an actor in 1927. During the 1800s actors were often looked down upon. It was not until the end of the nineteenth century that people began to collect photographs of their favorite stars. Actors continued to gain popularity, but motion pictures sent them skyrocketing into fame. The same year that The Royal Typical attire of a “flapper”

Family premiered, the first “talking picture,” The Jazz Singer was released. As people became more and more excited about the actors they saw on the silver screen, actors’

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lifestyles became more and more glamorous. The life of actors and actresses in the 1920s is so interesting that movies such as Singing in the Rain have been made to show people what the dazzling world of 1920s movie stars was like. The lifestyle of actors—and especially female ones—in the 1920s reflected the changes taking place in society. Because women had gone to work while the men were away during World War I, they did not want to give up their newfound independence. Women received the right to vote in 1920, and they began to wear shorter skirts and cut their hair. Many embraced the term “flapper” to describe their new clothing and style. The lifestyle of the Cavendish family in The Royal Family reflects the appeal of fame, wealth and the general desire to have fun that dominated during the 1920s. Things such as divorce and drinking alcohol no longer had as much of a taboo in society as in the previous decades, and the changing moral standards of the 1920s helped make actors and actresses popular and exotic. Want to know more about theater in the 1920s? Try these books and movies: American Vaudeville, Charles W. Stein. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 1984. Theater in America, Mary C. Henderson. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York. Singin’ In the Rain, film starring Gene Kelly actorsequity.org, informational website about the Actors’ Equity Association

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Talkies – How the Movies Impacted Live Theater Before motion pictures were invented, changes were already happening in the world of the theater. During the 1800s, realism (the idea that instead of presenting an idealized or unrealistic version of a person or event, the actors and director would try to present it as realistically as possible) had taken root in theater. More and more people who were not members of the wealthy elite were able to come to the theater, and because of the increase in audiences, theaters were able to produce a larger variety of performances. It is hard to say who exactly invented motion pictures, because so many were working on the technology at the same time, but Louis Lumiere is usually credited with the invention. He and his brother were the first ones to project moving pictures for a paying audience, using what they called a “Cinématographe.” The first movie theater ever built was called “The Nickelodeon” and it opened here in Pittsburgh in 1905. The length of a motion picture show was around a half hour, and since there was no sound it was usually accompanied by a musician playing the piano.

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Filmmakers moved to Southern California in 1909, hoping to escape the lawsuits that Thomas Edison’s company brought against them, which owned most of the rights to making films around New York. Once the moviemakers were out in California, they never left, and Hollywood was born. The climate in California was perfect for making movies, since the moviemakers never had to worry about weather conditions preventing them from filming; almost immediately the fledgeling community of filmmakers was attracting attention and producing a significant number of movies. By the 1920s, Hollywood was producing about 800 feature films every year—over two a day! The 1920s is still the most productive decade Hollywood has ever experienced. When sound was finally added in 1927, people went crazy over the new phenomenon. The first widely released film with sound was The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson. He was a dynamic performer who played the piano and sang, and the movie was an instant hit, causing audiences to roar to their feet. After a short period of transition—actors and actresses sometimes found it difficult to get used to the idea of speaking their lines into microphones—“talkies” quickly became the only kind of movie people were interested in. The period from the late 1920s through the 1940s became known as the golden age of Hollywood, making stars Al Jolson was one of the first dynamic film performers

such as Clark Gable, Katherine Hepburn and Shirley

Temple famous. Many of the movies made during this period have become beloved classics, such as Judy Garland’s The Wizard of Oz, and Humphrey Boghart’s

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Casablanca. Gone With the Wind, made in 1939 starring Vivien Leigh, is still the top grossing movie of all time. The invention of films changed theater on the stage forever. It was more of a novelty to see a motion picture than to see a musical or a play, and with the advent of talking pictures people flocked to the movie theaters. With movies costing only 65 cents, Broadway found it tough to compete with the new phenomenon. Some theaters tried to incorporate film into their shows, but with the improvements in sound quality and later the invention of television, “talkies” spelled death for many forms of theater, such as the variety acts of Vaudeville. Some people feared that theater would vanish altogether. But movies could not completely take the place of live shows, and while the industry was changed forever, live theater remains a staple of entertainment.

Want to know more about talking pictures? Try these books: Talking Pictures, Richard Corliss. Overlook Hardcover, 1974. History and Film, Maarten Pereboom. Prentice Hall, 2010. When Movies Began to Speak, Frank Manchel. Prentice Hall, 1969.

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Important Dates of the 1920s 1920 1921 -

The 19th amendment is ratified, giving women the right to vote Beginning of prohibition (laws that make it illegal to sell, make or transport any kind of alcoholic drink) March 4: Warren G. Harding is sworn into office as the 29th president of the United States July 2: KDKA, a Pittsburgh radio station, plays first national broadcast, with live commentary of the Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier fight

1922 – Tomb of King Tut discovered in Egypt 1923 – August 2: When President Harding dies of natural causes, Calvin Coolidge is sworn into office as the 30th president of the United States 1924 – First Olympic winter games are held in Chamonix, France 1926 – The musical Showboat opens on Broadway, changing musical theater forever 1927 – – – 1928 1929 -

May 21: Charles Lindbergh flies his airplane, the Spirit of St. Louis, across the ocean in the first transatlantic flight First “talking picture,” The Jazz Singer opens Babe Ruth hits 60 home runs in one season—the record stands for 34 years December 28th: The Royal Family opens Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin Bubble gum and sliced bread are invented May 16: The first Academy Awards are held in Hollywood October 24: Stock market crashes on “Black Friday,” sending the country into the “Great Depression”

Prices in 1927 of… - 7 lb. of potatoes: 25 cents - 1 gallon of gas: 15 cents - Women’s dress shoes: $2.85 - Ticket to a baseball game: $1.00 - Brand new Ford Model T touring car: $380 - New 7 room house in Morris County, NJ: $9,000

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Discussion Questions and Topics 1. How does the play portray actors? How is the Cavendish family similar to or different from this stereotype? 2. In the play, what is important to the Cavendish family? How do their priorities differ from those of Perry Stewart or Gilbert Marshall? 3. Who seems to be more important to the Cavendishes: Della and Jo, or the businessmen who come in? Why do you think the family treats the servants as they do? 4. The life of an actor is often thought of as being glamorous and exciting. In what ways does the life of the Cavendishes support this? In what ways does it challenge it? 5. What was life like for a Vaudeville actor? What was life like for a Broadway actor? How did an actor’s job and lifestyle change from the beginning of the 1900s into the 1920s? 6. How did the life on an actor change once movies were invented? Were actors happy about the changes? What happened to Broadway? 7. At the time the play was written, society was rapidly changing. What was considered appropriate behavior for women? How were their lives different from women’s lives fifty years before? How were they different from women’s lives fifty years later? What changes had just occurred that caused women to act differently than their mothers? 8. Compare what you know of the fictional Cavendish family with the Barrymore family. How are they similar? How are they different? 9. Ethel Barrymore was upset when she thought her brother was being slandered. Is the character of Tony similar to John Barrymore? Why do you think John moved to Hollywood? 10. Think about George Kaufman and Edna Ferber’s relationship. Why do you think their second collaboration was more successful than their first? 11. What caused The Royal Family to be so successful? Why did people in the 1920s like the play?

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Theater Etiquette Things to Remember when attending the Theater When you visit the theater you are attending a live performance with actors that are working right in front of you. This is an exciting experience for you and the actor. However, in order to have the best performance for both the audience and actors there are some simple rules to follow. By following these rules, you can ensure that you can be the best audience member you can be, as well as keep the actors focused on giving their best performance. 1. Turn off all cell phones, beepers, watches etc. 2. Absolutely no text messaging during the performance. 3. Do not take pictures during the performance. 4. Do not eat or drink in the theater. 5. Do not place things on the stage or walk on the stage. 6. Do not leave your seat during the performance unless it is an emergency. If you do need to leave for an emergency leave as quietly as possible and know that you might not be able to get back in until intermission once you have left. 7. Do clap- let the actors know you are enjoying yourself. 8. Do enjoy the show and have fun watching the actors. 9. Do tell other people about your experience and be sure to ask questions and discuss what you experienced.

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PA Academic Standards READING, WRITING, SPEAKING AND LISTENING 1.1- Students identify, describe, evaluate, and synthesize the essential ideas of the text. 1.3- Students analyze and interpret the play based on literary elements (such as melodrama and realism) and devices, dramatic themes, and the use of language. 1.4- In post-show activities students can compose dramatic scenes where they work to construct dialogue, develop character, and outline plot. 1.6- Students listen and watch TheRoyal Family by Kaufman & Ferber, analyze and synthesize the many elements of melodrama and realism, and respond to post-show talkbacks and discussions with Public Theater Staff, teachers, classmates, and students from other school districts. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 3.8- Students will examine and analyze how human ingenuity and industrial resources satisfy specific human needs and the anticipation of an improved quality of life. Students identify and examine the industrial changes of the turn of the century and the influence of advances in motion picture technology and show business. CIVICS AND GOVERNMENT 5.2- Students will observe and evaluate the differences in the essential rights and responsibilities of citizens within various systems of government. Students also encounter the issues of conflict of interest between citizen and government, cooperation or resistance to the law, and participation in government activities. Students interpret the causes of conflict in the society and analyze its resolution. ECONOMICS 6.1- Students will assess the strength of the regional, national and/or international economy and compare it to the 1920s based upon economic indicators. GEOGRAPHY 7.1- Students relate United States geography to events in the play. 7.3- Students examine the human characteristics of geography, especially as they relate to population, demographics, political, economic and cultural characteristics. HISTORY 8.4- Students assess the political, cultural, ethnic, religious, and philosophical impact of the changing society, the impact of women’s rights, the formation of unions, the loosening taboos placed upon society, and the advances in the film industry. ARTS AND HUMANTITIES 9.1-9.4- Students experience the production and performance techniques of professional theater. Students consider the cultural and historical context of The Royal Family. In post show talkbacks, discussions, and writing assignments students are encouraged to describe the various elements of show business, the quality of life in the 1920s, evaluate the play critically and aesthetically, and consider the social impact of the work. CAREER EDUCATION & WORK 13.1- Students will analyze career options in theater arts based on personal interests, abilities and aptitudes through post-show talkbacks with the cast and production staff

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