Notes from the Archives of Peter Zavon: Patience '67

For Patience, the Savoyards obtained the use of CLA Room 12 for rehearsals and performances, and the old boiler room in the basement of CBA for set construction. Performances were given in CLA 12, or Theatre 12 as it was euphemistically called, until the fall of 1969. The boiler room - large, dirty, and prone to flood in time of rain - was also used until the fall of 1969. With Mrs. Mary Lee Edmonds directing, and a cast recruited to some extent from passers-by in the hall, Patience was performed in modern dress with a mod backdrop. The set was minimal. A production with a small cast and staff, beset by problems normal for a "first production", as well as by problems that were to plague the Savoyards for many semesters, Patience developed a unique atmosphere. In afteryears there were, for example, stories about Al Swonger's "magic checkbook." Whenever money was needed but not available, Al would whip out his checkbook - and there would be money. Three years after the production, while remembering it with pleasure, members of the cast could only describe it with a smile and the word "unique." This production included the US premiere of the recently discovered Duke's Song, "Men of Rank May Useless Seem." Because of this and the generally unique atmosphere, a rehearsal tape was made by Sully Schlegel. The original was a cassette tape of very great length and has probably not survived. A copy was made on 7" reel to reel tape, and was in the possession of Peter Zavon as late as 1978.