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Mission

Ten Chimneys Foundation’s Mission

  • Preserve and Share the buildings, furnishings, collections, and grounds of a national treasure – Ten Chimneys, the estate created by Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.
  • Serve as a continuing resource and powerful inspiration for theatre, the arts, and the art of living.
  • Offer public programs consistent with the Lunts’ varied interests and core values, while maintaining the integrity and intimacy of this extraordinary estate.

Ten Chimneys is a National Historic Landmark, a “Save America’s Treasures” project site, and is listed in the National Registry of Historic Places. Ten Chimneys is owned by the non-profit 501(C)3 organization Ten Chimneys Foundation, Inc.

Days Seven & Eight: A Transformative Week Concludes

July 18, 2010

Notes from Sean Malone – President, Ten Chimneys Foundation
Sunday, July 18, 2:35 p.m.

After a day of retreat and reflection on Friday, the 2010 Fellows dove back into their exploration of Shakespeare. Having spent considerable time with the beauty and theatricality of Shakespeare’s poetry, Barry and the Fellows spent all of Saturday back with his plays – delving into them with great passion, nuance, and insight.

Saturday night was the Concluding Presentation of the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Program – which, like the entire week of artistic work, was dedicated to the memory of the great Lynn Redgrave. The audience was given a rare treat – the Fellows and Barry allowed us to “pull back the curtain” and see what had been happening during the week’s master class sessions. In front of the audience, the nine Fellows did new work and exploration with Barry. This was not a performance. This was a live Master Class.

In each case, the Fellow would offer a piece of Shakespeare. Barry would then work with him or her just as he had during the master classes – focusing on whatever way he thought would be most useful to the Fellow: exploring meaning and context or how the argument builds, pointing out antithesis or the structure of the verse line or the change in the height of the language, calling out the verbs in a speech. The Fellow would then make adjustments and offer the piece again. The quick evolution was stunning. These are nine of the very top stage actors in America, and none of them held anything back with their first attempts; not surprisingly, their first offerings were already deeply impressive and moving. So, when the pieces grew so dramatically and powerfully, we were left in awe – time after time after time. It was tremendous theatre work.

At the end of the evening, Barry and the Fellows shared some reflections of their weeklong experience at Ten Chimneys. They continued that conversation on Sunday morning, as they wrapped up their experience in the Drawing Room – where they’d done such beautiful work throughout the week. They spoke, quite seriously, about being transformed, and “forever changed,” about having found “inspiration to last a lifetime.” They spoke of the profound need for a program like this, and the fact that it didn’t (and, perhaps, couldn’t) exist anywhere else. And they spoke about their desire, and their commitment, to become “evangelists” – of Ten Chimneys, the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Program, and the core values and inspiration that both represent.

After wrapping up the experience in the Drawing Room (including mimosas and everyone inscribing each other’s Complete Works of Shakespeare), Barry and the Fellows took some time walking around the estate together one last time and say farewell – for now – before returning to their homes across the country.

Throughout the week, it was a joy to celebrate the 2010 Lunt-Fontanne Fellows. We were honored to give them this opportunity to be inspired, to grow artistically, to renew their passion for their art form, and to deepen their commitment to mentorship. Ultimately, of course, this program does not exist solely to serve actors, but to strengthen the ability of actors and theatres to enrich people’s lives in communities across the country. As each class of Fellows connects with and inspires hundreds of fellow actors and tens of thousands of audience members, year after year after year, the exponential impact of their work, their dedication, their talent, and their experiences as Lunt-Fontanne Fellows is truly remarkable.

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Read the Previous Journal Entry

Please click on a photo for a high-resolution version.

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Bob Davis (center left, Guthrie Theater) and Jim Carpenter (center right, California Shakespeare Theater) read Shakespeare sonnets.

Larry Yando (Chicago Shakespeare Theater) discusses notes with Barry Edelstein.

Celeste Ciulla (The Old Globe) and Larry Yando (Chicago Shakespeare Theater) set the scene for Celeste’s reading of a sonnet.

On Sunday, the Fellows enjoyed one last beautiful summer day at Ten Chimneys before their departure.

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