FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED

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

www.FriendsOfJamaicaPond.org


Tour 2015


Yosemite Theater
Yosemite National Park
August 9, 2015
http://www.yosemitepark.com/live-theater.aspx
http://www.yosemiteconservancy.org/yosemite-theater

Milton Historical Society
May 21, 2015; 7 PM
Neighborhood Club of Quincy
http://www.miltonhistoricalsociety.org/


A Walk with Mr. Olmsted through the Back Bay Fens
Sunday, May 3, 2015, 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Emerald Necklace Conservancy
Shattuck Visitor Center, 125 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115
(617) 522.2700
http://www.emeraldnecklace.org/calendar/tours/

Join Frederick Law Olmsted, as portrayed by Gerry Wright, and an Emerald Necklace docent as they lead a walk through the historic landscape of the Fens. Learn how Mr. Olmsted transformed the area once described as, “The foulest marsh and muddy flats to be found anywhere in Massachusetts,” into the first link in his chain of parks we know today as the Emerald Necklace.
Hear the story of a remarkable life from the man himself!


April 26th: 1:00 PM
Emerald Necklace Conservancy Visitor Center - Olmsted Birthday Celebration 1:00 PM
http://www.emeraldnecklace.org/
Friends of Jamaica Pond Boat House - Olmsted Birthday Celebration
http://www.friendsofjamaicapond.org


April 16th: 4:00 PM
Colleges of the Fenway - Annual Muddy River Symposium, Wheelock College
http://www.colleges-fenway.org/events/muddy-river-symposium/

April 15th: 7:30 PM
Belmont Historical Society - Assembly Room, Belmont Public Library, 336 Concord Avenue, Belmont, Massachusetts
Free and open to the public, Refreshments will be served
http://www.belmonthistoricalsociety.org/events/

April 8th:
Jamaica Pond
Antioch University New England
Field Trip of a Sustainability and Environment Course
Olmsted Walking Tour

April 6th:
Plymouth, MA
Olmsted Play
Plymouth Open Space Committee
"Preserving Natural Plymouth"
   

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.


Unhealthy People, Unequal Communities, and Unwell Environment:
Examining Olmsted’s Practicality to Improve Society’s Woes
a one man play by Gerry Wright followed by Q&A
Friday, January 28th, 7 PM, FREE
First Church in Jamaica Plain




Tour 2010


Maryland Humanities Council "Chautauqua"July 2010

http://www.mdhc.org/


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 



Press Release

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.

Tour 2009

Series of  Boston Neighborhood Concerts

featuring

"The Story of Frederick Law Olmsted"
narrated by Gerry Wright


Tour 2005

Heatherwood, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Strawbery Banke, Portsmouth, New Hampshire

300th Celebration, Brookline, Massachusetts

375th Celebration Parade, Boston, Massachusetts


Tour 2005

Heatherwood, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Strawbery Banke, Portsmouth, New Hampshire

300th Celebration, Brookline, Massachusetts

375th Celebration Parade, Boston, Massachusetts


Tour 2004

December 19, 2004, 4 PM

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

Calendar and Tour Schedule

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

Sample Press Release

Opinion on New York Central Park mission

 

Community Arts Advocates Index

Copyright 1999-2015 by Stephen Baird