Aurand Harris
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Aurand Harris | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 4, 1915 Jamesport, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | May 6, 1996 (aged 80) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Playwright |
| Awards | Medallion of the Children's Theatre Foundation of America (1993)[1] National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship in Children's Theatre (1976)[2] Charlotte B. Chorpenning Award, American Alliance for Theatre and Education (1967; 1985)[3] |
Aurand Harris (July 4, 1915 – May 6, 1996) was an American children's playwright.[4] His 36 plays for children have received more than 30,000 performances.[4] Some notable works include The Arkansaw Bear, Androcles and the Lion, Rags to Riches, The Toby Show, Monkey Magic, Pinballs, and The Orphan Train.[5]
In 1939, Harris began a teaching career at a public school in Gary, Indiana. Two years later, he became the head of the drama department at William Woods College in Fulton, Missouri. He pursued further studies in playwriting in New York City - writing for theatre while teaching at Grace Episcopal Church School in Manhattan.[4]
Over six decades, he wrote more than 36 plays, some of which continue to be produced in children's theatre.[6] He received an honorary doctorate from Indiana University and was the first playwright to receive the Medallion of the Children's Theatre Foundation of America.[4]
Harris died on May 6, 1996 in Manhattan and is buried in the family plot in Jamesport, Missouri.[4]
James Aurand Harris was born on July 4, 1915 in Jamesport, Missouri to Dr. George Dowe Harris, a physician and Myrtle Sebastian, a graduate of Northwestern University. Sebastian was trained in theater and speech, and was an active director, teacher, and amateur actor who maintained a studio. She introduced Harris to theatre.
Harris's acting began at age four when he played a bumblebee in a local musical production; before seven, he had written his first short dramatic piece. In high school, he participated in dramatic and oratorical contests and was reported to have received state-level recognition as both an actor and an orator.[7][8]
Education
In 1936, he earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Kansas City. In 1939, he received a Master of Arts from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he worked with Winifred Ward, a pioneer in children's theatre.[9] He pursued postgraduate studies at Columbia University in 1947. In 1991, he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Indiana University. The university's 15th president, Thomas Ehrlich, presented the degree.[10]
Harris began his teaching career in September 1939 at Horace Mann High School in Gary, Indiana, as a studio teacher of dramatics, and taught there for two years. In September 1941, he became head of the drama department at William Woods College in Fulton, Missouri. In 1946, he moved to New York City to study writing for the theatre and simultaneously began teaching at Grace Episcopal Church School in Manhattan, where he remained for 33 years.[9]
Although Harris initially pursued adult theater, he shifted his focus to children's playwriting following challenges in the adult theater domain, building upon his earlier successes in writing plays for young audiences.[9]
Notable works
Aurand Harris's first play was Once Upon a Clothesline, the first production of which was presented by the Campus Players of William Woods College under Harris's direction.[11] Soon after, Once Upon a Clothesline won a prize in the Second Annual Seattle Junior Programs Playwriting Contest. That production featured the intermediate group of sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students from the 1951 Seattle Summer Theatre Workshop, and the play later toured playgrounds throughout the city.[11] The play was also performed on July 27–28, 1951, at the San Diego Junior Theatre, directed by Signe Culbertson and assisted by James Sams.[12]
In 1964 Aurand Harris wrote Androcles and the Lion, which uses the style of commedia dell'arte to retell one of Aesop's fables.[13] By 1989, it had been translated into nine languages.[14]
In 1976 Harris became the first children's playwright to receive a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship. In 1985 he was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre in a ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington. In 1988 he directed one of his plays at the Shanghai Children's Art Theatre. It was the first time a Western children's play had been performed for Chinese children.[15]
Harris also edited several anthologies of plays for children and adolescents.[15] These include Short Plays of Theatre Classics[16] and Plays Children Love: A Treasury of Contemporary and Classic Plays for Children (with Coleman A. Jennings).[17] His plays were also collected in Six Plays for Children, edited by Coleman A. Jennings.[18]
Aurand Harris died of cancer in May 1996 in New York City, leaving his estate to theatre organizations.[19][20]
Honors and awards
- 1967: Charlotte B. Chorpenning Playwright Award, American Alliance for Theatre and Education [21]
- 1976: First Recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship in Children's Theatre [22][20]
- 1985: Charlotte B. Chorpenning Playwright Award, American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE)[21]
- 1985: Inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre, presented at the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.[23]
- 1991: Recipient of the Distinguished Play Award, American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE), for Monkey Magic: Chinese Story Theatre, by Aurand Harris, published by Anchorage Press [24]
- 1991: Honorary Doctorate of Letters, Indiana University, Indianapolis, May 12, 1991[10]
- 1993: Medallion, Children's Theatre Foundation of America (now called the Orlin Corey Medallion)[25]
- 1993: Recipient of the Distinguished Play Award, American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE), for The Pinballs, Adapted by Aurand Harris from the award-winning novel by Betsy Byar, published by Anchorage Press [24]
- 1996: Recipient of the Distinguished Play Award, American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE), for The Prince and the Pauper, Adapted for the Stage by Aurand Harris, published by Anchorage Press[24]
