Gerald Weales has retired -- sort of

Gerald Weales announced his retirement in the Fall, 2010 issue of The Georgia Review with this addendum to his annual “American Theater Watch” essay:

“LAST WATCH. I published my first play review—of Clifford Odets’s The Flowering Peach—in Commentary in 1955. I went on to review in a great many publications before settling into a permanent spot on The Reporter (1964-1968) and, after that admirable magazine perished, on Commonweal (1968-1993). I received the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism for 1964-1965 for reviews appearing in a short-lived quarterly Drama Survey, group reviews that look as though they were rehearsals for the “American Theater Watch” pieces that—double dipping since I was still writing for Commonweal—I began in 1978 to contribute annually to The Georgia Review. This is my 32nd and last “Watch.” It occurs to me that I am 85 years old and, although I do not plan to dry up and blow away, I no longer have the stamina to sit through so many plays each season nor the acumen to juggle the details of all them in my head. ENVOI.”

Gerald reports that The Georgia Review plans an anthology for its Winter issue of selections from his 32 “Watch” pieces, and there is to be what he calls “a public occasion” at the University of Pennsylvania next fall when some “will say positive things (I hope) about my work … . All that I have to do is manage to stay alive until that time which I will try to do. I have never been much for self-advertisement, but I find myself pleased by these events, if they really come off, because they seem to recognize what I have been up to for the last half century.

“Incidentally, just because I am giving up regular reviewing does not mean that I am giving up writing. As long as my mind and my typing fingers work, I’ll keep at it. I have a piece on Nathanael West scheduled for The Gettysburg Review and I am working on/playing with a piece on Charlie Chan.” 

ATCA Memories of Patricia Hook

Patricia Shipley Hook, 1932-2010

“A very sensitive human being and a great critic” — Mario Fratti.  

“It was always a delight to find her attending the same performance. We often talked about memories that a show engendered and shared stories. Pat loved talking about the good things she saw in a show. She had a deep understanding and appreciation for theater… . She was charming, friendly and a very kind and great lady. She was almost too kind to be a critic.” — Brad Hathaway, who spoke at her memorial service. 

“Patricia Hook was remarkably kind. She was truly a wonderful, good-hearted woman who could be counted on as a stalwart advocate of her passions… . [and she was] always a vibrant voice of reason among our membership and on our Foundation’s Board of Directors.”

She was much beloved and was never less than a kind friend to many of us… . Patricia was very open with many of us about the pain of her loss and the tragedy of Evan’s death. It was her passion for nurturing the next generation that led her to create the Evan Shipley Hook Fund.

— Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, president of Foundation ATCA.  

“The Hook fund was started at the convention in 1994 at the O’Neill Center… . Pat started it with a modest amount and we announced it and asked for contributions at the meeting… . Pat and I always had a special sort of relationship because I grew up in Maryland and still had lots of relatives in the Baltimore-Washington area. We always found some time to talk during the conventions. She was a generous and kind woman who truly loved the theater.

“I know her son’s death was initially very difficult for her to get over (you always feel responsible for your children even when you aren’t), and turning that grief into making a positive difference for young people in her profession was a great help to her — and a wonderful thing for her to do for ATCA. It also kept her involved in ATCA and in touch with all her friends, which meant a lot to her. She was a sweet lady and I’ll miss her.”

  – Marianne Evett, ATCA Chair when the Hook Fund began.