Barbara Orson papers (MS.2011.036)

Biographical/Historical note

Barbara Orson

Barbara Orson was born in New York on May 19th, 1929 and married Jay M. Orson on June 24th, 1956, with whom she settled in Rhode Island and raised three children: twin daughters, Beth and Diane, and a son, Theodore. A successful stage, television and film actress by profession, Orson also co-founded the Trinity Repertory Company of Providence, Rhode Island, in 1963.

Orson’s first acting experience occurred in New York’s Lower East Side on the stage of the University Settlement House when she was three years old. At the age of six, she appeared in the play Editha’s Burglar with Louis Calhern, at the Martin Beck Theatre (renamed the Al Hirschfield Theatre). From 1948 to 1950, she attended the Dramatic Workshop of the New School. Her professional carreer began at the Masque and Lyre Light Opera Company (later renamed American Savoyards), as leading soubrette in Gilbert and Sullivan productions, first in 1950 to 1951, and then from 1953 to 1955. During this beginning period of her carreer, she also acted in various American repertory companies in Philadelphia, Washington, Toledo, and Los Angeles.

Orson appeared in more than one hundred productions at Trinity Repertory Company, including a televised broadcast for PBS of Adrian Hall's and Richard Cumming's play about Oscar Wilde, Feasting with Panthers in 1974, and toured with the company to the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland in 1968. The wide-spectrum of roles she played included portrayals of: the Ghost of Christmas Present and Mrs. Fezziwig in A Christmas Carol; Nurse Edna in The Cider House Rules; Madame Ranyevskaya in The Cherry Orchard; Christine Mannon in Morning Becomes Electra; Lady Audley in Lady Audley’s Secret; Ethel Rosenberg in Angels in America, Part 1; and Jack’s Mother in Into the Woods. She also produced several of Trinity Rep's productions, including Uncle Vanya and the double bill American Dream and The Death of Bessie Smith. Orson's other professional credits outside of Trinity Rep include a featured role in the independent film Mission Hill (1982) as well as appearances in productions by such renown companies as the Yale Repertory Company, the American Repertory Theatre, the Dallas Theatre Center, and the Williamstown (Mass.) Theatre Festival.

Trinity Repertory Theatre

Since its founding in 1963 by Orson and other residents from the Rhode Island area, Trinity Repertory Company has evolved into one of the most respected regional theatres in the country. From its roots in Providence's Trinity United Methodist Church, the company moved in 1973 to its present location in an historic movie theatre in downtown Providence, reconfigured to house two performance spaces. Adrian Hall became the company's first artistic director and remained in that role until 1989, where he played a pivotal role in its transformation from a small community theatre to a nationally prominent resident theatre. In 1977, the company established the Trinity Rep Conservatory to serve as a training ground for actors; and in 2001, the company and Brown University together established the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA programs for degrees in acting and directing.

In 1966,Trinty Repertory Company became the first resident professional theatre in the United States chosen to produce plays under the federally-sponsored program known as Project Discovery, which was designed to introduce K-12 grade school students to the theatre, and has continued its participation in educational outreach to grade school students ever since. In 1968, the company performed at the Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland, the first American theater company to do so. It also toured to major venues throughout the country, including the ANTA Theater on Broadway, and theatres in Phoenix, Cincinnati, Washington DC, and Boston. In 1981, Trinity Rep performed the works of John Steinbeck and Sam Shepard in India and Syria on a six-week United States Information Agency-sponsored tour. The company received the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theater Company in 1981, produced several television productions for PBS, and continues its legacy as the linchpin of Providence's arts and entertainment district and one of Rhode Island's largest arts organizations.

Sources:

Trinity Square Playhouse Presents.... Providence: Trinity Repertory Co., n.d. Print.

The Pell Awards for Excellence in the Arts. Providence: Trinity Repertory Co., 2002. Print

Trinity Square Repertory Company: a Brief History. Providence: Trinity Repertory Co., n.d. Print.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_Repertory_Company