OlmstedConcertApril04

PRESS RELEASE

Regarding: "Frederick Law Olmsted" a one man play by Gerry Wright followed by a reception

When: Saturday, April 30th, 3 PM

Where: Blount Auditorium, Wentworth Institute of Technology, 550 Parker Street, Boston, MA

Admission: Free

Information: Boston Society of Landscape Architects, 19 Harrison Street, Framingham, MA 01702

Telephone: 508-620-5018 Email: ChapterOffice@BSLAweb.org

Interviews: Gerry Wright 617-524-7070 FrederickLawOlmsted@yahoo.com

Photographs: Stephen Baird, Community Arts Advocates, 617-522-3407 info@CommunityArtsAdvocates.org

Background:

"Frederick Law Olmsted" a one man play by Gerry Wright followed by a reception will be presented on Saturday, April 30th, 3 PM at Blount Auditorium, Wentworth Institute of Technology, 550 Parker Street, Boston, MA. Admission is Free.

Gerry Wright has researched, written and produced a one-man show honoring the life and work of Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of landscape architecture. The play provides insights into Olmsted's passionate vision as he played critical roles in the dynamics of slavery as a writer, Executive Secretary of the U.S. Sanitary Commission in the Civil War, and as the landscape architect for New York City's Central Park, Boston's Emerald Necklace, the US Capitol grounds, and more.

A hundred years after his death, America continues to be challenged with issues of social justice, health and conservation for which Olmsted was a most persevering, principled pioneer. The play will look at Olmsted’s vision on sustainability as he integrated his multiple careers and his aptitude to partner with many different disciplines in order to promote social justice, conservation and public health in his landscape designs. Following the play, Olmsted will answer questions and foster a group discussion about the issues of social justice, conservation and public health on the 19th century and now.

Olmsted's life story from "vagabond" to dry goods salesman, sailer, farmer, traveller, journalist, author, publisher, executive (including a goldmine in California), to becoming the father of landscape architecture in America is inspiring history. The play has toured from the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site in Brookline, MA to the New Horizons Project in Vologda, Russia; Derby Academy in Hingham, MA to the New York City Central Park Celebration, Olmsted Parks Conservancy in Louisville, Kentucky to the "Biltmore" in Ashville, NC. The play was also featured as part of the Maryland Humanities Council 2010 "Chautauqua" summer series.

The play is written, directed, and acted by Gerry Wright, who has been immersed in the work of conservation and human services for 50 years. Gerry Wright works in areas of human services, environmental advocacy, international relations. In the 1960s he founded DARE Incorporated, a nonprofit agency in Massachusetts which pioneered new community services for adolescents with social and emotional problems due to poverty and neglect. He has also championed projects that foster international communication, beginning at the time he ran the Moscow Marathon in 1982, and co-founded the Worldwide Running Club for Peace with the president of the Moscow Running Club. He has received numerous awards, including the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Embracing the Legacy Award and named Father of Community Based Caring in Massachusetts by president of the State Senate. Wright is founder and president of Friends of Jamaica Pond and has been portraying Frederick Law Olmsted since 2003. He holds a BS from the forestry school at the University of Maine and a MS in wildlife conservation from Cornell University, Further graduate study include philosophy, theology, sociology, psychology, and clinical counseling at Boston University and Harvard University.

July 6, 2010 @ 7:00pm
Chautauqua - Frederick Law Olmsted, and Sacagawea. Chautauqua programs are free and open to the public.
Location: Garrett College, McHenry, MD

July 7, 2010 @ 6:45pm
Chautauqua - "Frederick Law Olmsted" will speak at this event. Music starts at 6:45 p.m. and the performance begins at 7 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.
Location: The College of Southern Maryland, La Plata, MD

July 8, 2010 @ 7:00pm
Chautauqua - "Frederick Law Olmsted" will be speaking at this Chautauqua event.. Chautauqua programs are free and open to the public.
Location: Montgomery College, Germantown, MD

July 9, 2010 @ 7:00pm
Chautauqua - "Frederick Law Olmsted" will be speaking at this event. Music begins at 7 p.m. and the performance begins at 7:30. Chautauqua programs are free and open to the public.
Location: The Community College of Baltimore County, Catonsville, MD

July 10, 2010 @ 4:00pm
Chautauqua - "Frederick Law Olmsted" will speak at this event. Warm-up act begins at 4 p.m. and the performance begins at 4:30. Chautauqua programs are free and open to the public.
Location: Perryville Outlet Center, Perryville, MD

July 14, 2010 @ 7:00pm
Chautauqua - "Frederick Law Olmsted" will speak at this event. Music begins at 7 p.m. and the performance begins at 7:30. This event is free and open to the public.
Location: Idlewild Park, Easton, MD

Regarding: “Olmsted and Whitman” - Flying Free: Doing and Being

Two One-Man Shows by Gerry Wright

When: Friday, June 25th, 7 PM

Where: First Church in Jamaica Plain, Eliot and Centre Street, Jamaica Plain, MA

(Wheel Chair Accessible)

Admission: $5 General Admission

Information and Interviews: Gerry Wright 617-524-7070 FrederickLawOlmsted@yahoo.com

Friends of Jamaica Pond www.FriendsofJamaicaPond.org

Background:

“Olmsted and Whitman” - Flying Free: Doing and Being -- Two One-Man Shows by Gerry Wright will be presented on Friday, June 25th, 7 PM at the First Church in Jamaica Plain, Eliot and Centre Street, Jamaica Plain, MA (Wheel Chair Accessible). Admission is $5.

Frederick Law Olmsted and Walt Whitman were two monumental forces in the 19th century and their legacies live on into the 21st century. The plays explore Olmsted’s and Whitman’s lives, works and convictions that Humanity was rooted in Nature.

Follow the Doing of Olmsted from vagabond traveler to becoming the Father of Landscape Architecture as compared with the Being of Walt Whitman’s revolutionary poetry “Leaves of Grass.”

Gerry Wright has researched, written and produced a one-man show honoring the life and work of Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of landscape architecture. The play provides insights into Olmsted's passionate vision as he played critical roles in the dynamics of slavery as a writer, Executive Secretary of the U.S. Sanitary Commission in the Civil War, and as the landscape architect for New York City's Central Park, Boston's Emerald Necklace, the US Capitol grounds, along with multiple plans for colleges, communities and private estates. Olmsted was a key pioneer in the movement to preserve land as national parkland, both at Yosemite and Niagara Falls.

Walt Whitman’s revolutionary poetry, as expressed in his six editions of “Leaves of Grass,” is as alive, meaningful, dramatic and soul searching as when first published 1855. Learn about Whitman's evolving life, from his days growing up in rural Long Island developing a Bond with Nature, to being a typesetter, teacher, newspaper editor, carpenter, writer, political activist, caretaker for wounded and dying soldiers and world renown poet. Whitman's immersion into life in Brooklyn and New York City, where the Bond with Humanity was ignited to all people with whom he observed and interacted were major influences on his writing. Combining these experiences Whitman's life and works were, and are the quintessential expression of the Democratic Being.

The plays are written, directed, and acted by Gerry Wright, who has been immersed in the work of conservation and human services for over 50 years. Gerry Wright works in areas of human services, environmental advocacy, international relations. In the 1960s he founded DARE Incorporated, a nonprofit agency in Massachusetts which pioneered new community services for adolescents with social and emotional problems due to poverty and neglect. He has also championed projects that foster international communication, beginning at the time he ran the Moscow Marathon in 1982, and co-founded the Worldwide Running Club for Peace with the president of the Moscow Running Club. He has received numerous awards, including the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Embracing the Legacy Award and named Father of Community Based Caring in Massachusetts by president of the State Senate. Wright is founder and president of Friends of Jamaica Pond and has been portraying Frederick Law Olmsted since 2003. He holds a BS from the forestry school at the University of Maine and a MS in wildlife conservation from Cornell University, Further graduate study include philosophy, theology, sociology, psychology, and clinical counseling at Boston University and Harvard University.