Electra Off-Broadway
- Title
- Praise for Electra
- Creator
- (anonymous)
- Date
- February 15, 1959
- Subject
- McIlrath, Patricia (1917-1999)
- Evelyn, Judith (1909-1967)
- Kansas City Star
- Newspaper clippings
- Kansas City, Missouri
- New York, New York
- off-Broadway theater
- Description
- The article praises the production of Sophocles' Electra directed by Dr. Patricia McIlrath. It highlights the skill of the actors, but speaks negatively with a show which accompanied Electra, Harlequinade.
- Publisher
- The Kansas City Star Company
- Type
- Newspaper article
- Coverage
- Kansas City, Missouri
- New York, New York
- Source
- Kansas City Star, volume 79, number 151, page 72
- Rights
- Copyright Kansas City Star 1959
- Item sets
- Patricia McIlrath
- Title
- Sophocles in N.Y. Solemn Affair
- Creator
- Walter Kerr
- Date
- February 17, 1959
- Subject
- McIlrath, Patricia (1917-1999)
- Evelyn, Judith (1909-1967)
- The Gazette
- newspaper clippings
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- New York, New York
- off-Broadway theater
- Kerr, Walter (1913-1966)
- New York Herald Tribune
- Description
- The article criticizes the off-Broadway production of Electra which was directed by Dr. Patricia McIlrath. It speaks more positively on Harlequinade, which accompanied Electra.
- Publisher
- Montreal Gazette
- Type
- newspaper article
- Coverage
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- New York, New York
- Source
- The Gazette, 181st year, page 15
- Rights
-
Published in the Montreal Gazette, a division of Postmedia Network Inc
Copyright Undetermined
- Item sets
- Patricia McIlrath
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In 1958, Dr. McIlrath brought actress Judith Evelyn to KCU to star in an academic production of Electra, the ancient play by Sophocles. Judith Evelyn was a moderately popular film, theatre, and TV actress at the time.
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Evelyn’s appearance in the KCU production of Electra led to a great deal of local publicity! The Kansas City Star and other local newspapers ran laudatory articles and interviews with Evelyn. A local car dealership even lent her a Buick Electra for her time in Kansas City!
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The play was hugely successful in Kansas City, with Dr. McIlrath writing that they had had to turn away “hundreds” of prospective audience members because the theatre was already sold out.
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Judith Evelyn was so excited by the production that she worked to move the production to an off-Broadway theater in New York. However, the majority of the cast and crew did not go to New York for the new production. Instead, according to Dr. McIlrath, Evelyn cast "her friends". The costumes and sets were also completely new. Dr. McIlrath visited New York to direct the new production, and Tom Buckley, a KCU student who had played Orestes in the university production, also performed in the off-Broadway production.
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Dr. McIlrath reported during rehearsals of the off-Broadway production that “everything (was) going fine” and that although she “had to trim the original production because of more limited stage facilities” it would “be a minor revision.” (Newspaper article February 1, 1959) Unfortunately, years later Dr. McIlrath said that she felt that she had not had “full controls of production and direction.” (Letter July 10, 1964) Dr. Felicia Londre stated that Dr. McIlrath had difficulty standing up to the New York producers, who “insisted on all kinds of last-minute changes.” (Dr. L 2007 speech)
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The production was not well received in New York, and according to Dr. Londre, Dr. McIlrath felt that she had let Kansas City down. Dr. McIlrath wrote that she was “frankly appalled by production conditions Off-Broadway" which led her to want to work towards the “decentralization of theatre.” (Letter July 10, 1964) Dr. McIlrath felt that it was her responsibility to “rebuild the good reputation of KCU Theatre” and prayed at sacred sites throughout the world for help from God.
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The negative experience of bringing Electra to New York ultimately motivated Dr. McIlrath to work towards founding the Missouri Repertory Theatre.