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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.

Inaugural Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Program Week Concludes

July 19, 2009

LFFP Photos by Jim Brozek Photography © Ten Chimneys Foundation

Notes from Sean Malone – President, Ten Chimneys Foundation
Sunday, July 19, 1:33 p.m.

Technically speaking, the seventh day of the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Program began at 12:01 a.m. Sunday morning – quite raucously, in the bar of the Delafield Hotel. Lynn Redgrave concluded Saturday night’s public program with “Our revels now are ended…” But, as it happened, the revels carried on.

The Fellows spent several hours sharing stories and ideas, planning trips to see each other in upcoming productions, and reminiscing about their time together at Ten Chimneys. At 2:00 a.m., Steppenwolf’s Francis Guinan, Lynn Redgrave, and yours truly closed the bar. To be honest, I was a tiny bit of proud to be among the last standing – only to find that American Conservatory Theater’s Jack Willis, Milwaukee Rep’s Lee Ernst, and The Goodman’s Mary Beth Fisher were still awake and gathered on the front porch. When I left for my room, there were cigars ablaze (I can’t confirm who partook) and building gales of laughter. I have no idea how long “our revels” finally lasted.

Not too many hours later, Lynn Redgrave and the inaugural Lunt-Fontanne Fellows reconvened aside the Noël Coward piano in the Main House Drawing Room (where they’d gathered all week long), to wrap up their experience together. The group reiterated and expanded on the ideas they’d shared with the public the night before: the transformative nature of the experience, how meaningful the program had been to them personally, how important the program was for American theatre, their renewed commitment to mentorship, and their gratitude for the experience they’d had together.

Lynn and the Fellows all agreed to serve on a National Advisory Board for the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Program – to help Ten Chimneys Foundation make subsequent years of the program as successful as this first year has been.

There was much discussion of the fact that being named a Lunt-Fontanne Fellow is a permanent designation, not a one-week honor. And everyone in the group embraced and celebrated this enduring title. They are eager to return to Ten Chimneys for a variety of exciting artistic pursuits (for example, a number of Fellows are interested in developing one-person shows and having early workshop-readings at Ten Chimneys.) They are eager to stay connected with one another, and to continue to support each other’s work. And they are eager to share stories from their inspirational week at Ten Chimneys with colleagues and friends (“civilians” and actors alike) around the country.

Lynn and the Fellows also enjoyed a final walk around the estate – strolling through the gardens, dipping their feet in the pool, admiring the many birch trees (which Alexander Woollcott gave the Lunts as a gift), posing by the clothesline, telling stories in the log-cabin Studio, and recreating a few historic photographs of the Lunts at Ten Chimneys. As the Lunt-Fontanne Fellows parted ways to their home cities across the country, they did so grudgingly and with many tears – but they did so with a strong bond, with a shared purpose, and with the spirit of Alfred, of two Lynns, of Ten Chimneys, and of the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Program.

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