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Curtain Up on Kate Hepburn's Cultural Arts Center
By Judy Samelson
24 Oct 2009
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Everett Raymond Kinstler painting of Katharine Hepburn
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The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, including a theatre and museum, offically opened with a gala. Playbill.com takes a walking tour of the party and complex.
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On Saturday evening, Oct. 17, a black-tie crowd gathered to celebrate the birth of the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center in Old Saybrook, CT. Though the theatre named in honor of the late actress who made her home in the area has been open to the public since Sept. 11, the October date was a time to pause and party. Indeed, the entire week leading up to the 17th was a Gala Week, featuring 11 live performances, a funky '70s-themed dance and general celebrations. But executive director Chuck Still saved the best for last, and the festivities culminated in a night to remember.
The gala — whose planning committee Jeanne Potoff, Jean Caron, Kathy Berlutti and Linnea Rufo corralled a group of hard-working and committed volunteers — featured two performances by the renowned dance troupe MOMIX. Sandwiched between the 5:30 and 9:30 performances, supper was served on the town green directly outside the theatre under cover of an elaborate — and, thankfully, heated — white tent. The rains held off for the evening, allowing everyone to put on the Ritz.
A pair of kilted bag pipers was stationed at the entrance to greet people arriving for cocktails at 4, and as they entered the big top, guests were tempted with a concoction created especially for the gala. As they sipped their "Kate-tinis" — a heady blend of Svedka vodka, champagne, juniper, basil, lemon and a mysterious ingredient that turned the libation an appealing crimson — The Russ Becker Jazz Quartet provided the live music. People strolled the space and bid on an impressive array of silent auction items, ranging from champagne and dinner for two on New Year's Eve at the Saybrook Point Inn & Spa to a cashmere sweater from Oscar de la Renta's spring collection to a Connecticut River Cruise for six.
At 5:30, guests who had opted for the early performance filed into The Kate, as the theatre has been affectionately dubbed, to experience the artistry, illusion and defiance of gravity that is MOMIX. The house, which seats 250 (plenty of leg room and unobstructed sight lines from every one of the wide, plush seats), was the perfect showcase for artistic director Moses Pendleton's lyrically beautiful and remarkably supple company of dancers who elicited a standing ovation before sending the audience back outside for dinner accompanied by a live auction.
Master auctioneer Kathy Kingston kept the joint jumping as she encouraged the bidding to go higher and higher. It reached the stratosphere with a winning bid of $8,500 for dinner for eight (donated by The Bee and Thistle Inn) with chef Jacques Pepin and his wife Gloria at the home of Barbara and Frank Sciame. The Sciames, who own and have lovingly restored the home in Fenwick that once belonged to Katharine Hepburn, have been longtime supporters of the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center and this is the second time they have opened up the home that even they still refer to as Hepburn's to benefit the theatre.
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The Philadelphia Story painting by Frank Brousse
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The actress' larger-than-life image inhabits the theatre. First, an enormous reproduction of the original theatre poster for her career-altering play, The Philadelphia Story, painted by artist Frank Brousse of Los Angeles, hangs over the interior staircase that leads into the auditorium. And then there is the museum space. Located in the theatre's lobby, the exhibit "Katharine Hepburn in 'Fenwick, My Other Paradise," made its debut at the gala. Good things do indeed come in small packages, and curator Brenda Milkofsky has filled this compact space with a rich collection of original items alongside reproduced posters and photographs. The jewels in the crown are two works donated by nationally acclaimed portrait artist Everett Raymond Kinstler: One, an original, formal 1980s oil portrait of Hepburn from the artist's personal collection and the other a signed, limited-edition fine art print of a more casual Hepburn that was originally created in 1985 as a fund-raiser for The Players Club in New York City. The original painting from which the print was made hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.
In addition to the Kinstler works, the museum houses two original Hepburn paintings as well as original costumes from her films "Adam's Rib" and "Desk Set"; her walking stick from the 1979 television movie production of "The Corn Is Green"; and a slew of awards, including Hepburn's Emmy Award for her performance in 1975's "Love Among the Ruins," her B.A.F.T.A. (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Award for "On Golden Pond" and the multi-colored Kennedy Center Honor ribbon bestowed upon her in 1990.
The museum is still evolving. Planned for the end of the year will be an installation devoted to Hepburn's life in Fenwick as well as a video by documentary filmmaker Bob Czepiel, featuring interviews with residents who knew the actress.
The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center is off to a grand beginning. For more information about upcoming performances, go to the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center.
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Original costumes worn by Katharine Hepburn
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