Former BTF Director Dunlap dies at 81

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Richard Dunlap with one of his Emmy Awards during the 1970s. (Photo Courtesy of the Berkshire Theatre Festival)
MONTEREY — Richard “Dick” Dunlap, 81, director and producer of more than 1,000 television shows and former artistic director of the Berkshire Theatre Festival, died Monday at Fairview Commons in Great Barrington. The BTF announced the death of the veteran director, producer and author, who had served on its board of trustees since 1985 and was its artistic director from 1987 to 1992. He had been in failing health since a heart bypass operation in 1996, according to those who knew him. "In the business of theater, there are few who manage to carry on such esteemed careers as Dick Dunlap and still wear the banner of ‘one of the most wonderful people on the planet’” Kate Maguire, BTF executive director said in a statement e-mailed to The Advocate yesterday. “Dick Dunlap was not only greatly admired by his staff and our trustees for his extraordinary skills, but he was well loved by everyone in our community for his graciousness, integrity and his dedication to our theater,” she added. “He was a lesson in the good old-fashioned and best sense of the word ‘gentleman.’ We shall remember him with great fondness and will remain inspired by his artistic legacy to the Berkshire Theatre Festival's venerable history." Dunlap, a resident of Monterey, where he had lived with his partner, actor William Swan, since 1982, directed the annual Academy Awards telecast from 1960 to 1972 and spent three years as director and producer of the acclaimed “Kraft Television Theater. He retired to the Berkshires after 42 years in television, becoming a BTF trustee in 1985 and succeeding Josephine Abady as artistic director in 1987. He wrote “Stars of a Summer Night — a Seventy-Year History of the Berkshire Theatre Festival,” published in 2001. While working in television, he was and director and associate producer of “Omnibus” with Alistair Cooke for three years. His extensive directing credits included one year on “Search For Tomorrow,” four years on “As The World Turns” and eight years on “The Young and the Restless,” for which he won two Emmy Awards for best director of a daytime drama in 1974 and 1977-78. Dunlap was born in Pomona, Calif., on Jan. 30, 1923, son of James and Elizabeth (Easson) Dunlap He began his professional life as an actor at MGM studios when he was 5. He enjoyed a decade of acting before his parents decided that the three hours of tutoring he received daily on the set wasn’t sufficient. Except for playing the role of Ensign Pulver opposite Charlton Heston in “Mr. Roberts” in his mid-20s, Dunlap’s acting career was basically ended by the age of 15, according to the BTF news release. After graduating from high school, Dunlap won a full scholarship to Yale, where his schooling was once again interrupted, this time by World Ware II. For the next three years, he served as commander of a ship in the South Pacific. At the end of the war, he returned to Yale, graduated with a bachelor of arts degree and continued his studies at the Yale School of Drama where he earned his master’s. He moved to Rome, Italy, immediately after graduation, and co-founded the Rome Theatre Guild, where he directed plays for the English-speaking population for a year before returning to New York City, just in time for “The Golden Age of Television.” Over the next four and a half decades, Dunlap directed and produced more than 1,000 dramatic shows and more than 100 variety programs, representing more than 2,000 hours of television programming. He made his TV directorial debut with “One Man’s Family” featuring Eva Marie Saint and Tony Randal. Directing highlights of his tenure at Kraft Television Theatre included “Romeo and Juliet” with Susan Strasberg, “Picket Fence” with Lee Remick, “The Chess Game” with Melvyn Douglas, “Rip Van Winkle” with E. G. Marshall, and “Long Time Till Dawn,” which starred James Dean in his television debut. Later, as director and associate producer of “Omnibus,” his credits included among many others, “Mrs. McThing” with Helen Hayes, “La Perichole” with Cyril Richard and the Metropolitan Opera Company, “The Trial of Lizzie Borden” with Robert Preston and Richard Kiley, “Moment of Truth” with Peter Ustinov, Jason Robards and Rosemary Harris, “The Constitution Series” narrated by Joseph Welch with Walter Matthau and Steve McQueen, and, coincidentally, “Mary Stewart” starring Eva LaGallienne, who opened the Berkshire Theatre Festival in1928 with her production of “The Cradle Song.” LeGallienne with her friend, fellow actor and Alexander Kirkland, artistic director of the BTF, were among the guiding lights of the fledgling regional theater known as the Berkshire Playhouse. Dunlap also produced and directed Frank Sinatra’s specials during the 1960s, working with a number of guest artists, including Elvis Presley, Lena Horne and Eleanor Roosevelt. During his stint at the “Bell Telephone Hour,” Dunlap directed Sir John Gielgud, Joan Sutherland, Alfred Drake and Patrice Munsel. He also produced and directed four Emmy Award shows. In 1987, he was offered and accepted the position of Berkshire Theatre Festival artistic director, a few months before the festival’s 60th anniversary season. “I knew the ride was going to be a bumpy one,” he wrote in “Stars of a Summer Night.” “I had been on the Board of Trustees for two years and knew that no part of the Playhouse’s 60-year life had been smooth traveling.” To make the transition to new leadership as smooth as possible, Dunlap spent many hours in the theater’s archives, reviewing past successes and failures before searching for a suitable team to assist him in producing a fitting celebratory season. From his research, Dunlap concluded that 70 percent of the BTF’s audiences were composed of tourists. “We had,” he wrote, “a duty to present comedy, musicals and drama, as well as progressive, intellectual exercises.” He was a strong proponent of “star quality,” and during his time at the BTF brought a number of well-known actors to Stockbridge, including Julie Harris, Jose Ferrer, Constance Cummings, Teresa Wright and George Grizzard. He produced a Main Stage musical each season, premiered a new play during all but one season and, believing strongly in the appeal of revivals, scheduled four during his tenure. He also reversed a nine-year tradition of producing only American playwrights by introducing Stockbridge audiences to works by Enid Bagnold, Harold Pinter, Athol Fugard, Tom Stoppard and Simon Gray. Of the 20 plays he produced at the Berkshire Theatre Festival, Dunlap was most proud of his productions of Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal,” directed by Gordon Edelstein, A. R. Gurney’s “The Middle Ages,” which he directed himself, “She Loves Me” directed by Kent Paul and Tom Stoppard’s “The Real Thing” directed by Larry Carpenter. One of Dunlap’s most popular innovations was the BTF noon lecture series, designed to increase occupancy and to educate audiences about upcoming productions. He was able to bring together a large number of theatrical experts, including Peter Altman, Gurney, Jose Ferrer, Constance Cummings, Mrs. Athol Fugard, John Tillinger, Brendan Gill, John Patrick and critic John Simon. During his tenure, Dunlap and his team raised $2 million for much-needed renovations that included new restrooms, a boutique and expanded storage space. “I am proud of the legacy which we left,” he wrote in “Stars of a Summer Night,” “and I must say that I am proud that I knew when to retire. I knew I was slowing down, running out of steam and — after 42 years in the business — that it was time to quit.” The funeral will be Saturday, Dec. 11, at 10 a.m. in St. Peter’s Church in Great Barrington. Burial will follow at Corashire Cemetery, Monterey. There are no calling hours. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Mr. Dunlap’s memory may be made by contacting Sarah Bartlo at the Yale School of Drama, P.O. Box 208244, New Haven, CT 06520-8244, Phone: (203)-432-1536. Birches-Roy Funeral Home 33 South St., Great Barrington, is in charge of arrangements.
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WMMGA to Host Gardening Half Day in Lenox

LENOX, Mass. — The WMMGA will host a gardening half day on April 5 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. at Lenox Memorial Middle and High School.

The event will feature eight workshops covering the following topics:

  • Ticks
  • Hydrangeas
  • Summer bulbs
  • Pollinator gardens
  • Good garden tools
  • Plant propagation
  • Heirloom tomatoes
  • Container gardening

The event will also include vendors, free refreshments, a sale table with puzzles, houseplants, and gently used garden books, and a garden-themed raffle.

Registration can be completed at wmmga.org. Class size is limited.

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