A new book that honors the late actor Jason Robards and is co-edited by a theater professor at Southern Connecticut State University is on the market.
Sheila Hickey Garvey, who has been teaching at SCSU for the last 14 years, played an integral role in the creation of, Jason Robards Remembered. The book includes a variety of essays and recollections about Robards, who is well-known for his role as Washington Post Managing Editor Ben Bradlee in the Watergate-inspired film, "All the President's Men." He won an Oscar Award as best supporting actor for the 1977 film, as well as for his role in "Julia," which was produced in 1978.
But it was Robards' portrayal of central characters in the later plays of Eugene O'Neill that stand out in the minds of the authors, who are members of the Eugene O'Neill Society. The society is a scholarly and professional organization devoted to the study of the life and works of O'Neill. Garvey, who is a long-time member of that organization, is currently its president.
"I am just fascinated by Robards' work," Garvey said. "One of his accomplishments that stands out in my mind is his work in developing the 'Circle in the Square Theatre,' which launched the Off-Broadway movement of the 1950s." She writes about those efforts, as well as the 1956 production of "Iceman" in the book.
The book, published by McFarland & Company, Inc. of Jefferson, N.C., includes interviews of Robards toward the end of his life, as well as articles written in the New York Times about him. It also includes personal recollections of the actor from many of his colleagues, such as Arvin Brown, Zoe Caldwell, Douglas Campbell, Blythe Knight, Paul Libin, Theodore Mann, Christopher Plummer Kevin Spacey and Eli Wallach.
Garvey was inducted last fall into the New England Theater Conference's College of Fellows, one of only two people who were bestowed with that honor in 2001. Acceptance into the College of Fellows is granted to those who have demonstrated outstanding service to the New England theater community.
She recently directed a Southern theatre production, "The Clearing," which is a historical Irish play that focuses on the life of a couple struggling through the era of Oliver Cromwell, England's self-proclaimed Lord Protector during the mid 17th Century.
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