The Juilliard Ovation Society opened its 2001-02 season on Monday, October 22 with a presentation titled “A Playwrights Evening.” Hosted by Christopher Durang and Marsha Norman, co-directors of the Lila Acheson Wallace Playwrights’ Program, the evening featured a discussion with Juilliard alumnus David Auburn, the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning author of Proof. (An interview with him from the October issue of The Juilliard Journal is available online.)

David Auburn (left), with Marsha Norman and Christopher Durang, co-directors of Juilliard’s Lila Acheson Wallace Playwrights’ Program.

The evening began with a festive champagne reception in the Juilliard lobby. Following an introduction from Drama Division Director Michael Kahn, Mr. Durang and Ms. Norman took the stage in Paul Hall and offered insight into the life of a Juilliard playwright fellow.

They described the program as a mentorship between the fellows and the co-directors. As accomplished playwrights, Durang and Norman take a guiding role, helping to motivate the writers and offering critiques and suggestions. Christopher Durang is the author of such plays as The Marriage of Bette and Boo and Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, and Marsha Norman’s works include the Pulitzer Prize-winning play ’night, Mother and Loving Daniel Boone.

Mr. Auburn joined the hosts onstage to share his point of view as a former fellow of the program. After speaking warmly of his time working with Mr. Durang and Ms. Norman, he expressed his appreciation for the opportunity to work with the first-rate actors studying in the Drama Division, saying that they were crucial to the development of his writing. Finally, he introduced a reading of a work-in-progress with two Juilliard alumni, Kate Jennings Grant and Alan Tudyk, and two fourth-year drama students, Daniel Breaker and Nathan Baesel.

The actors read a scene from The Latecomer, a play that Auburn began before Proof became a Broadway hit. Combining humorous situations with moments of powerful tension, the scene focused on a young American college student on his way to fight with the Communists against Franco in the Spanish Civil War.

Mary Guettel, the Ovation Society’s new honorary chairman, closed the presentation with a few words, after which members and friends of the society attended a reception in Morse Hall, where they gathered to talk with Auburn, Norman, Durang, and the actors over wine and hors d’oeuvres.

“A Playwrights Evening” was the first of this season’s series of member events hosted for the Juilliard Ovation Society. The Ovation Society was formed to provide performing-arts enthusiasts with behind-the-scenes access to Juilliard. Many other benefits accompany Ovation Society membership, including special ticket privileges and invitations to master classes. For more information, call the Public Affairs and Development Office at (212) 799-5000, ext. 278, or log onto our Web site: www.Juilliard.edu/giving.

Emily O’Neill is assistant director of annual giving.