The Lost Plays Podcast

The Pilgrim Spirit (1920)

by George Pierce Baker

Performed by Andy Grotelueschen, Drew Battles, Eric Murdoch, Matt W. Cody, Kate MacCluggage, Mike Holmes, Vince Nappo, I.B. White, Brian Wallace, Georgia Cohen and Emily Young. Recorded November 4, 2009.

The Play

Commentary

Outtakes

About George Pierce Baker

George Pierce Baker (1866 - 1935) was an American educator in the field of drama.

He graduated in the Harvard class of 1887, and taught in the English Department at Harvard 1888-1924. He started his '47 workshop' class in playwrighting in 1905. He was instrumental in creating the Harvard Theatre Collection at Harvard Library. In 1908 he began the Harvard Dramatic Club, acting as its sponsor, and in 1912 he founded Workshop 47 to provide a forum for the performance of plays developed within his English 47 class. Unable to persuade Harvard to offer a degree in playwriting, he moved to Yale University in 1925, where he helped found the Yale School of Drama. He remained there until his retirement in 1933.

Among those he taught in his playwriting class were Eugene O'Neill, George Abbott, Hallie Flanagan, Edward Sheldon, Sidney Howard, Maurine Dallas Watkins and Stanley McCandless. His Dramatic Technique (1919) offered a codification in English of the principles of the well-made play.

The Company, In Order of Appearance

The Rock of Plymouth - Andy Grotelueschen

Andy has toured nationally with the Guthrie Theater and the Acting Company (Henry V/The Spy, dir. Davis McCallum) and internationally with the Glass Contraption. Other credits include Lucy Thurber's Monstrosity (13P, dir. Lear deBessonet),The Scariest (The Exchange, dirs. Ari Edelson/Meredith McDonough), The Glass Contraption's The Amazing Ted Show! (Ars Nova), Clowns. (The Public/NY Clown Festival, dir. Christopher Bayes), Don Cristobal, Billy Club Man (St. Ann's Warehouse, Here, dir. Erin Orr), Girls Just Wanna Have Fund$ (Women's Project), Cymbeline and Twelfth Night (Fiasco Theatre). Regional credits include the Guthrie, Arizona Theatre Company, and Trinity Rep. (Moliere Impromptu, dir. Christopher Bayes). Andy is a graduate of the Brown/Trinity Rep. Consortium (MFA). He is currently apprenticed to Christopher Bayes studying the Clown, and he's from Iowa.

Pilgrim Leader, Pastor Clifton, Myles Standish - Drew Battles

Drew Battles is a working actor, currently living with his wife and dog (with a baby on the way!) in Louisiana. Recent credits include THE SEAFARER (Sharky) and OPUS (Alan) at Southern Rep in New Orleans; KING LEAR (Edgar) at New Orleans Shakes and LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (Berowne) at The Swine Palace Theatre. On the horizon are A DOLL'S HOUSE (Torvald) at Swine Palace and MACBETH (Macbeth) at New Orleans Shakes. Television: LAW AND ORDER: SVU, episode "Web." MFA in Acting from The Brown/Trinity Consortium. Drew is happy he happened to be in town for the recording of this lost play!!!

Plowboy, John Smith, and Edward Winslow - Eric Murdoch

eric murdoch is an actor in new york city. he is currently working on a production of "three sisters" directed by anna brenner. he holds an mfa from the brown/trinity consortium. eric is a canadian and he has been in three episodes of the lost plays podcast. big thanks to brian and ian!

William Tyndale, Pastor Robinson, and John Billington - Matt W. Cody

Regional: Sleuth, Around the World in 80 Days (Nominee: Best Lead Actor, NH Theater Awards) (Winni Playhouse), The Night of Nosferatu (Rabbit Hole Ensemble/Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater). New York: The Patron Saint of Plants (Ensemble Studio Theater), Ramona's Kidnapper (Urban Stages), The Good Negro (Lark Theater), The Life and Death of Joshua Zweig (Looking Glass Forum), Tickets, Please! (Algonquin Theater Productions), White Paper (Kraine Theater), Journey of the Fifth Horse (Ward Studio). With Rabbit Hole Ensemble: Shadow of Himself, Big Thick Rod (FringeNYC/Access Theater Spotlight Series), Nosferatu: The Morning of My Death (MITF Award Nominee: Best Ensemble). Film: "Life Passion Death" (New York International Film and Video Festival), "Never Say Jesus," "Substandard," "Star Crossed Lovers," "The Mark." Resident Artist with Rabbit Hole Ensemble. www.mattwcody.com

Mrs. Greenwood, Mrs. Brewster, and others - Kate MacCluggage

Kate MacCluggage- Kate is currently playing Annabella/Margaret/Pamela in The 39 Steps directed by Maria Aitken Off-Broadway at New World Stages. New York: Margaritah in Stuck (Theatre Row); Olga in Three Sisters (The Assembly Theater Project); The Farnsworth Invention (Broadway); King Lear (NY Classical Theater); Evanston, A Rare Comedy (Wolf 358/ HERE Arts Center); Victoria and Frederick for President (NYCFringe/ MOSON). Regional: A Midsummer Night's Dream (North Carolina Shakespeare Festival); The Importance of Being Earnest (Portland Center Stage); Noises Off (Denver Center); Twelfth Night and The Cherry Orchard (Chautauqua Theater Company). She originated the role of Honey Graham in the world premiere of Down Goes Rocky. Television: All My Children. Film: Natural Causes, I Wish I Could Show You.... She holds a BA from Wesleyan University and an MFA from NYU's Graduate Acting Program.

John Greenwood, Francis Jessop, and John Oldham - Mike Holmes

Mike Holmes comes from Ohio where he studied theatre and English at The Ohio State University. He has acted in over thirty productions, most of them Shakespeare. Some of his favorite roles include Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night, Jerry in The Zoo Story, Horatio in Hamlet, and Brian in Shopping and F$#king. He is married to his lovely wife Lori and they are expecting a baby boy in January.

Henry Barrow, John Carver, and John Lyford - Vince Nappo

Vince just finished playing Lysander in North Carolina Shakespeare Festival's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. New York credits include King Lear, Henry Gabler, Other Bodies, Phallacy, Merchant Of Venice, Jew of Malta, and All's Well That Ends Well. He has performed regionally at North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, Denver Center Theatre Company, PlayMakers Repertory Company, and Cincinnatti Playhouse In The Park. He performed Merchant Of Venice, along with F. Murray Abraham, at the Royal Shakespeare Company in their 2006 Complete Works Season. He holds an MFA in acting from the National Theatre Conservatory. He is a member of Actor's Equity.

William Bradford, William White, and others - I.B. White

I.B. White appears occasionally in the long-running off-Broadway show My First Time. He was recently seen in the award-winning short film "Numskull", featured during the series premiere of NBC's Knight Rider. Ian played Tim in the West Coast leg of the Old Globe/Roundabout coproduction of Greg Kotis' Pig Farm, and has performed in readings and workshops at the Public Theater, the Huntington Theater, Soho Rep, New Georges, and the Lark Play Development Center. He is an MFA graduate of the Brown/Trinity Consortium.

William Brewster and others - Brian Wallace

Brian Wallace recently portrayed Gooper in the sold-out run of Cat on A Hot Tin Roof at Arkansas Rep, and was part of the original cast of the Pulitzer-nominated hit The Good Negro at the Public Theater and Dallas Theater Center, as well as Jonathan Leaf's The Caterers, a part for which he was nominated for a New York Innovative Theater Award. Regional credits include productions at Capital Repertory Theater, the Berkshire Theater Festival, Lake George Dinner Theater, Stamford Center for the Arts, Verse Theater Manhattan, and Trinity Rep. A generous tipper, attentive lover, and frequent litterbug, Brian is also the co-creator of LostPlays.com along with I.B. White. Website: www.bri-curious.com

Mrs. White and others - Georgia Cohen

Mrs. Carver and others - Emily Young

Off Broadway: Juliet, Mercutio, Paris, and five others in Theatre Breaking Through Barriers' Romeo and Juliet at Theatre Row; staged readings of Major Barbara, The Devil's Disciple and The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet with Project Shaw at The Players; Tracy in Colorado with Summer Play Festival. Regional: King Lear (Cordelia), Much Ado About Nothing (Hero) at the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival; Loves Labor’s Lost (Katherine), Henry V (Alice), Much Ado About Nothing (Margaret) at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival; Cherry Orchard (Anya) at Trinity Rep, Emma (Emma) at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage. Emily also recently completed work as the lead in the short musical film, Manhattan Melody, which will be released this winter. Training: Brown University/Trinity Rep Consortium.