May frequently marks the highpoint of activity at most high schools – and Interlochen is no exception. Two theatre productions come to mind that illustrate this long-running custom at the Academy; they also showcase the long history of theatre … and trivial matters of length too. On May 18-20, 1972, we witnessed Peter Weiss’s sensational 1963 play “The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade,” which is possibly the longest title in theatre history. This May, from the 14th to the 16th, we’ll jump back in time nearly 400 years and enjoy Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, which includes the longest word in any of the Bard’s works: honorificabilitudinitatibus.
Below are just a few other notable May events from the past.
MAY 24, 1963 – The Jessie V. Stone Recreation Building made its debut in a special Michigan Week concert for a district conference of Rotary International. Named in honor of W. Clement Stone’s wife, “JVS” served for over 40 years as a combination gymnasium-auditorium. It was completely transformed and then re-dedicated on May 6, 2006 as the Roscoe O. Bonisteel Library, which includes the Seabury Academic Library and the Fennell Music Library. The structure perpetuates its original purpose as a center of activity for the entire campus – but in a dramatically new way.
MAY 6 -7, 1967 – Aaron Copland made his first Interlochen visit during which he addressed the Academy community, advised composers, performed his Sextet with five of our faculty, and conducted his “Emblems” and “Appalachian Spring Suite” with the band and orchestra. He greatly enjoyed the experience and returned three summers later to conduct some of his other works with the World Youth Symphony Orchestra.
MAY 2, 1975 – Our first real year-round concert venue, Corson Auditorium opened with a series of concerts as the 13th Academy year drew to a close. Dr. Maddy originally had the idea to enclose and heat Kresge Auditorium for year-round use but this proved to be quite impractical; so wintertime performances were given in JVS until Corson came along.
