HALF-SPEED SALUTES FOR SELLARS’ NATIONAL PLAN

Peter Sellars’ plans for his new American National Theatre project at the Kennedy Center have been welcomed with a certain restraint by his colleagues in resident theater.

Megan Rosenfield of the Washington Post reports that Sellars’ plans were “generally hailed” by other artistic directors. But some expressed reservations about dubbing any single theater as America’s national theater.

Robert Brustein of Boston’s American Repertory Theater said, apparently in the same breath: “I wish him the best of luck. National theaters are not created at press conferences. There is a national theater and it consists of a network of nonprofit theaters throughout the country.”

Joseph Papp of New York’s Public Theatre applauded without reservation: “It’s a very important move for theater in this country.” Liviu Ciulei of the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis was also positive: “I think the time is ripe for the birth of an American National Theatre . . . There is only one danger: that it gets very official and dusty. But I think we have a good 25 years to wait for that.”

Peter Zeisler, head of Theatre Communications Group, representing some 150 American theaters: “I wish people would stop talking about a ‘national theater.’ Otherwise, I think it’s really great. I love him (Sellars) not taking as gospel what was true 20 years ago.”

What would Zelda Fichandler say? Fichandler founded and still leads Washington’s Arena Stage, one of the flagship theaters of the resident-theater movement. She put her feelings very delicately:

“Peter’s goals for this new project are both noble and inspiring. Everyone, I am sure, hopes that the culture at large can provide the means for realizing them. From our three decades of experience, we know that the price tag on his dreams will be high, but worth it.”

The price tag for Sellars’ project is around $6 million, with $2.5 million to be raised “from the private sector.” Meanwhile, Washington’s second-ranked resident theater, the Folger, is about to fold because of a $210,000 deficit.

The Folger is part of the Folger Library, one of the world’s leading centers of Shakespearean research. Both the library and the theater are administered by Amherst College, whose board of directors has announced that it can no longer finance the theater.

It will close its doors June 30 unless another source of support can be found. A committee called Folger Audience has been established to do just that. It is headed by Elizabeth Dole, secretary of transportation, and Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D.-N.Y.). Another member is Judith Martin, a k a “Miss Manners.”

Donations are being accepted, too. Write to Folger Audience, c/o the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington, 633 E St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20004.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK. “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”