Passages in the Life of an Unpractical Man
Photo credit: Renee DeKona
one-man play by
Gerry Wright
FRIENDS OF JAMAICA POND, INC.
36 Perkins St., PO Box 300040, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130-0030
Gerry Wright, Founder and President
Telephone:
617-524-7070
Email:
FrederickLawOlmsted@yahoo.com
TTY/MA
RELAY 800-439-2370
Tour 2015
Information and Interviews:
Gerry Wright 617-524-7070 FrederickLawOlmsted@yahoo.com
Brookline Center for Adult Education https://aded.brooklinema.gov/index.php
Friends of Jamaica Pond - Olmsted Play http://www.friendsofjamaicapond.org/Olmsted.html
PRESS RELEASE
Regarding: "Frederick Law Olmsted" a one man play by Gerry Wright
followed by a reception
When: Saturday, April 30th, 2011, 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.
Tour 2010
Maryland
Humanities Council "Chautauqua"July 2010
Press Release
Tour 2009 Series of Boston
Neighborhood Concerts featuring "The Story of
Frederick Law Olmsted"
narrated by Gerry Wright
Heatherwood, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Strawbery Banke, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
300th Celebration, Brookline, Massachusetts
375th Celebration Parade, Boston, Massachusetts
Heatherwood, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Strawbery Banke, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
300th Celebration, Brookline, Massachusetts
375th Celebration Parade, Boston, Massachusetts
Jamaica Pond Project
"Olmsted To Honor Christine"
Eliot Hall: Home of America's Oldest Community Theater,
7 Eliot Street, Jamaica Plain, MA Wheelchair accessible
617-524-7070
The performance is celebrating twenty-one years of stewardship and work of Christine Cooper, the Project Director of the Jamaica Pond Project. Admission: $10 Adults, $8 Seniors & Students, $5 Children (Group and volunteer rates available). The play will be followed by a reception. Additional details: December 19, 2004 "Olmsted To Honor Christine"
Click image to view and download a printable PDF version of the flyer.
Spring 2004
June 6, Sunday in Franklin Park
Roxbury, MA
with Olmsted National Historic Site staff
Dialogue with Olmsted
June 5, Friends of Highland Park
Fort Hill, Roxbury, MA
12:30 PM Play
Click flyer image to view and download a PDF
version of the flyer
May 12, Friends of the Public Garden
First and Second Church
Boston, MA
Play
May 16, Friends of Chestnut Hill Reservoir
Dialogue with Olmsted
May 22, at 7 PM, Latham Centers
Unitarian Church of Barnstable, MA
508-896-5776
Play
May 23, Robert Treat Paine Estate
Waltham, MA
Play
May 25, at 7 PM, Friends of Middlesex Fells Reservation
Winchester Town Hall, 71 Mt. Auburn St., Winchester, MA
www.fells.org or call 781-662-2340
Play
Frederick Law Olmsted -- one man play by Gerry Wright
Programs Description Travels to Louisville, Knntucky and Ashville, North Carolina
June 5. 2005 "Leonardo and Olmsted: Reverence for Nature"
December 19, 2004 "Olmsted To Honor Christine"
Teacher Guide, Links and Resources
Friends of Frederick Law Olmsted
Opinion on New York Central Park mission
Copyright 1999-2015 by Stephen Baird