Who
was
Annie
Russell? |
The
darling of both British and American stages, by the age of 19 Annie
Russell was already frustrated by playing roles known as "Annie
Russell parts." In other words, even in 1883, being a household
name wasn't all it was cracked up to be, especially when one's talents
and intelligence stretched beyond the imagination of one's producers.
Annie Russell may have been the "perfect ingénue," but she
had plenty more to offer to the world.
After
900 performances in the title role of William Gillette and F. H.
Burnett's immensely successful Esmeralda , she stepped
off the New York stage to recover her health and her calling. Her
return to the stage in 1894 heralded a period of great creative
success in her life, playing in a number of new plays including
Bret Harte's Sue . In 1905, Miss Russell returned to the
London stage as the heroine of Shaw's Major Barbara in
its first production. From 1912 until her retirement in 1918, Miss
Russell organized the Olde English Comedy Company in which she directed
and acted memorably the works of Shakespeare, Goldsmith, Sheridan,
and others.
Miss
Russell's retirement in Winter Park was not to be a quiet one. The
urging of her good friend Mary Curtis Bok Zimbalist convinced her
to become involved in the nascent dramatic arts program at Rollins
College. The collaboration of these two powerful friends became
the spiritual foundation of the current program and the literal
foundation of one of the most beautiful architectural structures
in Central Florida, the Annie Russell Theatre. Built in 1931 with
funding from Mrs. Zimbalist, the "Annie" serves as the heart of
the oldest theatre program in Florida and one of the most prestigious
in America.. In 1998, the National Parks Service named the theater
to the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its
architecture and its role in education and the performing arts.
Annie
Russell died in 1936. However, the Annie Russell Theatre continues
to serve the vision and aspiration shared by Annie Russell and her
friend Mary Curtis Bok Zimbalist: collaboration, creativity,
education, and discipline.
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