Education Resource Guide
Table of Contents
List of Characters
3
Synopsis
4
About the Playwrights
5
5
7
8
George S. Kaufman
Edna Ferber
Working Together
Meet the Cast
11
Meet the Director
16
Meet the Real Royal Family
17
What Was it Like to be
an Actor in 1927?
20
Talkies—How the Movies
Impacted Live Theater
24
Important Dates of the 1920s
27
Discussion Questions
and Topics
28
Theater Etiquette
29
PA Academic Standards
30
Pittsburgh Public Theater
2
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
3
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.
Pittsburgh Public Theater
4
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
Pittsburgh Public Theater
5
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,
Pittsburgh Public Theater
6
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
7
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
Pittsburgh Public Theater
8
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
Pittsburgh Public Theater
9
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.
Pittsburgh Public Theater
10
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
11
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
12
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.
Pittsburgh Public Theater
13
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
14
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.
Pittsburgh Public Theater
15
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.
Pittsburgh Public Theater
16
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.
df
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.
Pittsburgh Public Theater
17
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
Pittsburgh Public Theater
18
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.
Pittsburgh Public Theater
19
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
Pittsburgh Public Theater
20
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
Pittsburgh Public Theater
21
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’
Pittsburgh Public Theater
22
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
Pittsburgh Public Theater
23
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.
Pittsburgh Public Theater
24
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
Pittsburgh Public Theater
25
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.
Pittsburgh Public Theater
26
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
Pittsburgh Public Theater
27
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?
Pittsburgh Public Theater
28
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.
Pittsburgh Public Theater
29
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
Pittsburgh Public Theater
30