Amid the swirl of some of the fanciest dresses this side of the Rue de Faubourg, the 30th Spoleto Festival USA gala, which has risen from about $50 a person to $400 since 1977 (when it was a modest affair), got going late Saturday night at Gaillard Auditorium's annex hall following a performance of the Paul Taylor Dancers.
Among guests at the festival's biggest fundraiser was Academy Award winning actress Jane Alexander wearing a shimmering dress of shades of purple overlaid with fuschia stripes. She was in town with her husband Ed Sherin visiting old friends Howard and Mary Phipps.
"Spoleto is so wonderful I would never miss it," said Alexander who, with actress Karen Allen, performed in "Monday After the Mircle" William Gibson's play about Helen Keller at the Dock Street Theatre during a festival in the early 80s. Alexander said she loved everything about performing at the Dock Street.
Alexander finished shooting a movie with Nicole Kidman (Fur) last spring, and says it should be opening in theaters this summer.
Sherin, who has directed more than 30 plays in New York, was the director of the television series Law and Order for 10 years and now directs the dramatic series Medium on NBC.Sherin said he loves to visit Charleston because people are so friendly.
Sherin met Alexander while directing the groundbreaking 1969 play, "The Great White Hope," one of the first Broadway shows to feature interracial lovers. Alexander co-starred with James Earl Jones.
Sherin is very interested in young people who are interested in writing for television and has offered to speak to a group of theater students from the College of Charleston on their annual trip to New York.
While wine from Veneto flowed, also lending a celebrity sheen to the evening were 50 members of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' Presdient's Advisory Committee on the Arts, who came from all over the nation. Members are appointed by President George Bush and frequently travel to sites to watch first-class performing arts groups they might like to bring to perform at the Kennedy Center.
Spoleto Festival board member John Dunnan, who is president of the Performing Arts Committee of the Kennedy Center, arranged for the advisory committee to come to Spoleto. Earlier in the weekend, Michael Kaiser, president of the Kennedy Center, said he was extremely impressed with the Spoleto line-up and with the way the festival promotes the arts and makes many of the events accessible to everyone in the community.
Speaking of making the arts accessible, Arlene Shuler, who is married to festival general director Nigel Redden, was here for the weekend and said she is working hard to make certain dance is accessible to many in New York by charging $10 a ticket during the City Center's Dance Festival held in September. Last year, it lasted a week and this year it is to last 10 days, said Shuler, whose idea it was to start the festival ,which features as many as five dance performances a day.
By the way,many of the Spoleto signs are wrong. For example, the gala program proclaims, "Spoleto Festival USA, 30th Anniversary." It's the festival's 29th anniversary. Next year is the big 3-0.
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