Stephen Metcalfe was born in New Haven, Connecticut on July 4, 1953. His first contact with the theatre came in high school when - as one of the few eighteen year olds who could grow a tu II beard - he was drafted to play a knight in the musical, Once Upon A Mattress. He attended Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania for four years where, when he wasn't drinking beer and playing tennis , he hung around the drama department.
While living in Martha's Vineyard in 1976 he began his first play and in October of that year, forsaking the glamorous life of a tennis pro, he moved to New York City. His one act plays, Jacknife and Baseball Play, were produced at the Quaigh Theatre in New York in the Spring of 1980 and his play, Vikings, was produced at the Manhattan Theatre Club the following fal I. Vikings has since been produced regionally, at The Edinburgh Festival in the summer of 1981, and has been recorded for Earplay
Strange Snow was produced at the Manhattan Theatre Club in January of 1982 and has since been done at regional theatr~s throughout the country White Linen, a cowboy play with songs, was produced at The BoarsHead Theatre in Lansing, Michigan in July of 1982 Mr. Metcalfe lives and works in New York City. He was a recipient of a 1982 CAPS Grant in playwrighting, is a member of the playwrights unit at Manhattan Theatre Club, and is currently working on commission pieces for both MTG and Actors Theatre of Louisville
Th e Hea l ing Of Wo unds: A CONVERSATION WITH SUSAN EINHORN
Strange Snow, the third production of the Pittsburgh Public Theater's Tenth Anniversary Season, begins previews on January 8, 1985. Strange Snow depicts the turbulent and often humorous reunion of two Vietnam vets , Megs and David. While Megs and Martha, David's sister, find themselves drawn together by a recognition of each other's loneliness, Megs and David must work to bridge the gulf between them created by the events of the war.
Susan Einhorn, the di rector of Strange Snow, is returning to the Public for the third time, having directed The Desert for the "Plus 6" series three seasons ago and the highly acclaimed production of The Dining Room last season. I spoke to Susan on the telephone at her home in New York.
WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THE PLAY STRANGE SNOW?
It's a beautiful play that deals with the healing of wounds and that speaks to me very strongly the healing of wounds always has, especially with the situation in the world today.
WHAT RESEARCH DID YOU DO TO PREPARE FOR THIS PLAY?
Directing is the most fun when you are directing something you know little or nothing about. For example, Strange
M erry and tragical! Tedious and brief! That is, hot ice and wondrous strange snow. How shall we find the concord of this
William Shakespeare
Susan Einhorn returns to direct Strange Snow.
Snow, deals with issues related to the Vietnam War which I don't know a lot about. I am doing research and having an exciting time learning. I am grateful to 'have the opportunity to study a subject I wouldn't have studied otherwise.
WHY IS STRANGE SNOW A PLAY THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO DIRECT FOR AN AUDIENCE SUCH AS THE ONE AT THE PITTSBURGH PUBLIC THEATER?
This is a play about more than two Vietnam vets Strange Snow takes place in a twenty-four hour time period that becomes a long day's journey into a reawakening or a rebirth. It is a play about the life-saving impact that people's helping one another can have
This is a story about survivors of a holocaust. I, myself, am a child of survivors of the World War II Holocaust. David and Megs are survivors of the holocaust that was Vietnam who are finally able to forgive.themselves for returning when their buddies didn't.
We are all veterans of life. The battlefields are numerous. But people can help each other go on and overcome the guilt caused by surviving. Fighting war is hard; surviving war is perhaps just as hard. We need to remember that there's a war at home after the war, the war with yourself, the war you have to live with for the rest of your life.
Mary Guaraldi
The Vietnam Vets Leadership Program of Western PA and Vietnam Vets ,- Inc. are hosting a "Welcome Home" night for Vietnam vets in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Public Theater. The evening will begin with a get together at 6:30 P.M. on Tuesday, January 8 at the Fort Mc Keever VFW Post at 623 Western Avenue, and will be followed by Pittsburgh Public Theater's production of Strange Snow, Stephen Metcalfe's comedy-drama about the reunion of two Vietnam buddies. A forum featuring speakers and a question-and-answer session will follow the performance.
The Vietnam Veterans Leadership Program of Western PA is a member of a national volunteer program dedicated to helping Vietnam veterans. The VVLP works with civic leaders, government agencies and private industry to help solve problems - particularly those of unemployment and underemployment - still faced by some Vietnam vets.
Vietnam Vets, Inc., a Pittsburgh-based organization, works to enhance the image and personal welfare of Vietnam veterans. Their activities include the Vet Center Program, a food distribution center for unemployed veterans, an annual picnic reunion and participation in the vigil for the POW/MIA's.
For more information and to make reservations, contact James "Shamus" Maloney at VVLP (281-8100).
Strange Snow: A Chance For Discussion
January 8, 1985
Ois e1Jssi011 aifter &l>'e lifng ,review performan c e with Davia Me ~ak , counselor for Vietnam era vets and their families., and members af the produc fi an staff a t Strange s,iow.
January 13, 20~ 27, February 31 1985
Discussions planneCiS after each of these Sunday matlnije performances. To feature counselors who work with Vietnam era vets and members of the praducti~A staff af Strange Snow
February 10, 1985
Production Forum after matinee perfannan_ce featur-ing members of the praduc;;tlan staffotStnmge Snow.
Playwright Stephen Metcalfe
Time Line For U.S. In Vietnam
Lieutenant Colonel A. Peter Dewey of the OSS is killed in Saigon, September 26, the first American to die in Vietnam.
President Roosevelt dies on April 12. Harry Truman becomes president of the United States.
Germany surrenders, May 8.
Japan capitulates, August 15, after the United States drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
French forces leave Hanoi, October 9.
General J. Lawton Collins, Eisenhower's special envoy, arrives in Saigon to affirm American support for Diem, including $100 million in aid. Hundreds of thousands of refugees flee from the north to the l?OUth with help of U.S. navy.
March 8, the first American jet airliner is built by Boeing
United States begins to funnel aid directly to Saigon government in January, agrees to train South Vietnamese army.
The concept of the ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) introduced.
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, The Diary of Anne Frank, A Hatful of Rain, Inherit the Wind, Bus Stop all running in New York
Communists form a coordinated command structure in eastern Meking delta in June.
Attorney General William P. Rogers makes decision to integrate Southern schools.
Pope Pius XII dies and John XXIII is named Pope.
••
North Vietnam forms Group 559 in May, to begin infiltrating cadres and weapons into South Vietnam via the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Major Dale Buis and Sergeant Chester Ovnand killed by guerrillas at Bienhoa on July 8, the first Americans to die in what would be called the Vietnam Era.
Cultural relations between the United States and the Soviet Union reach a climax with the arrival of the Bolshoi Bal let in New York City.
Khrushchev visits the United States
In December, Charles de Gaulle takes power in France; establishes Fifth Republic.
Communist leadership in Hanoi decides to step up the struggle in the south.
By year-end, 15,000 American military advisers are in South Vietnam, which has received $500 mil• lion in aid during the year.
On November 22, President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas; succeeded by Lyndon Johnson.
North Vietnamese patrol boats attack the Maddox, an American , destroyer in the Tonkin Gulf, August 2. American aircraft bomb North Vietnam for the first time.
Congress passes the Tonkin Gulf resolution on August 7, giving Johnson extraordinary power to act in Southeast Asia.
Lyndon Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater for the presidency.
Khrushchev ousted October 14; replaced by Leonid Brezhnev and Aleksei Kosygin.
Operation Polling Thunder, sustained American bombing of North Vietnam, begins on February 24.
Two marine battalions land to defe'nd Danang airfield, March 8, the first American combat troops in Vietnam.
American forces defeat North Vietnamese units in the la Orang valley in October, the first big conventional clash of the war.
Assassination of Malcolm X in New York City
New York City and other major northeastern cities brought to a standstill by a blackout lasting almost nine hours No reports of looting or crime during the electrical failure
1967 American troop strength in Vietnam approaches 500,000.
Domestic protests against the war rise.
•••
1968 let offensive begins, January 31, as North Vietnamese and Vietcong attack South Vietnamese cities and towns.
General Westmoreland requests 206,000 additional American troops.
Clark Clifford, Secretary of Defense, begins study of troop request, soon favors rejection of buildup.
On May 10, peace talks begin in Paris.
American troop strength in Viet-
On November 15, 250,000 people march in Washington, D.C. at an anti-Vietnam War demonstration.
N • • • Ixon proposes "standstill cease-fire," October 7, but repeats mutual -withdrawal formula next day.
American combat deaths in Vietnam during last week in October number twenty-four, lowest toll since October 1965.
On November 12, Lieutenant William Calley goes on trial at Fort Benning, Georgia, for his part in the Mylai massacre.
American troop strength in Vietnam down to 280,000 men at yearend.
Large antiwar protests spread across the United States. National guardsmen kill four students at Kent State University in Ohio on May4.
Occupants move into US Steel building, tallest building in Pittsburgh
Joseph Heller's Catch-22 becomes a movie.
•••
In February, South Vietnamese forces begin incursions in Laos against the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C nam at year-end is 540,000.
Martin Luther King, Jr., assassinated in Memphis, April 4.
Robert F. Kennedy assassinated in Los Angeles, June 5, after the California primary.
Violent anti-war riots occur during the Democratic convention in Chicago.
Nixon elected president of the United States with Spiro Agnew as vice-president.
1969 On January 18, expanded four• party Vietnam peace talks begin.
Nixon begins secret bombing of Cambodia, March 18.
Nixon proposes simultaneous withdrawal from South Vietnam of American and North Vietnamese forces, May 14.
On November 16, revelation of the Mylai massacre which took place the year before.
American troop strength in Vietnam reduced by 60,000 by December.
"That 's one small step for man , one giant leap for mankind," says Neil Armstrong, first man to walk on the moon's surface.
Woodstock Festival takes place in Woodstock, NY, August 15-17.
Lieutenant Calley convicted, March 29, of premeditated murder of South Vietnamese civilians at Mylai.
American troop strength in Vietnam down to 140,000 men in December.
The New York Times begins publishing Pentagon Papers on June 13 Supreme Court upholds its right to do so.
Nixon's chief of staff, John Ehrlichman, organizes the "plumbers," July 17, to investigate Daniel Ellsberg, who made the Pentagon Papers public.
Pittsburgh Pirates win the World Series for the fourth time. •••
Nixon reveals on January 25 that Kissinger has been negotiating secretly with the North Vietnamese.
On March 30, North Vietnamese forces launch the biggest attacks in four years.
The U.S. responds by resuming the bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong after four years.
On December 18, Nixon orders bombing of areas around Hanoi and Haiphong, raids continue for eleven days. Communists agree to
resume diplomatic talks when bombing stops.
Nixon arrives in China, February 21. Kissinger goes to Moscow, April 20, to prepare Nixon's summit meeting with Brezhnev on May 20 Five men arrested, June 17, for breaking into Democratic National Committee offices at Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. Nixon re-elected, November 7, defeating Senator George McGovern by a landslide.
Cease-fire agreements formally signed in Paris, January 27. Secre· tary of Defense Laird announces that the draft in the United States has ended.
Last American troops leave Vietnam, March 29.
Last American prisoners of war released in Hanoi, April 1.
United States stops bombing Cambodia, August 14, in accor• dance with congressional prohibition.
On November 7, Congress overrides Nixon's veto of law limiting the president's right to wage war. Energy crisis occurs.
Nixon aides H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and John Dean and Attorney General Richard Kleindienst resign, April 30, amid charges that the administration obstructed justice.
John Dean, former White House counsel, tells a special Senate committee, June 25, that Nixon tried to cover up the Watergate affair. Alexander Butterfield, former Nixon aide, discloses to committee, July 13, existence of tapes of White House conversations.
On July 16, Senate Armed Services Committee begins hearings on the secret bombing of Cambodia.
Agnew resigns, October 10; replaced by Representative Gerald Ford as vice-president.
Communist buildup of men and supplies proceeds in South Vietnam in June.
Thieu declares in January that the war has begun again.
Nixon resigns, August 9, and is replaced by Ford.
House Judiciary Committee opens impeachment hearings on Nixon, May 9.
Thieu reverses himself, orders Hue held at all costs, March 20. But the city falls to the Communists five days later. Communists capture Danang, March 30.
Option IV, evacuation of last Americans from Saigon, begins April 29. Ambassador Martin departs.
Communist forces capture Saigon, April 30.
President Fo rd, speaking in New Orleans on April 23, calls the war "finished."
On January 21, the day after his inauguration, Carter pardons most of 10,000 Vietnam war draft evaders
Vietnam veterans memorial unveiled in Washington, D.C., November 11.
General William Westmoreland sues CBS Mike Wallace and two others for libel over a 1982 CBS Reports broadcast, The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception.
On Veterans Day, November 12, President Reagan dedicates a more traditional Vietnam memorial, a bronze statue of Three Servicemen in battle garb.
ltage, Screen, And Television: Presenting The Cast Of Strange Snow
Matthew Cowles has had an extensive career on stage, in films and in television. He may be best known to Pittsburgh audiences for his role of Billy Clyde in the soap opera, All My Children. His New York credits include Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird Of Youth and David Mamet's Malcolm on Broadway and The Hasty Heart and Paradise Lost Off Broadway. He has worked with the Lincoln Center Repertory Company in The Time Of Your Life and the New York Shakespeare Festival in King John. He worked at the Academy Festival Theater in Chicago with -Bill Gardner in Dirty Jokes by Arthur Giron and Tobacco Road. Among his film credits are The World According to Garp, Slapshot, Friends Of Eddie Coyle and Midnight Cowboy. Mr. Cowles recently married Christine Baranski , who just won the Tony award as Best Supporting Actress for her work in The Real Thing They ar-e now the parents of a new daughter, Isabella.
Matthew Cowles plays Megs in Strange Snow. Kevin Mcclarnon, who has extensive theatrical experience, was seen on Broadway in Sarah Caidwell's Macbeth at Lincoln Center. He spent a season with the Brooklyn Academy of Music Theater Company where he appeared in A Winter 's Tale, Johnny On The Spot and The Wedding. He has also appeared at the New York Shakespeare Festival , Classic Stage Company, Perry Street Theatre, and Wonderhorse Theater. Mr. Mcclarnon has worked regionally at the Yale Repertory Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, George Street Playhouse and Syracuse Stage among others. He played Renfield in the National Tour of The Passion Of Dracula directed by Peter Bennett. Mr. McClarnon's fi Im credits include Heaven's Gate and Author, Author. On television he was seen in Love, Sidney.
Trish Hawkins is a member of New York's Circle Repertory Company. She played opposite Judd Hirsch when she originated the role of Sally Talley in Talley s Folly with Circle Rep and again on Broadway. Playwright Lanford Wilson wrote the role specifically for Ms Hawkins. Ms. Hawkins was also seen on Broadway in Some Of My Best Friends directed by Harold Prince. Other shows at Circle Rep include Lanford Wilson's Hot L Baltimore, A Tale Told, Serenading Louie and The Moundbuilders, and The Farm, Lulu and Twelfth Night among others Regionally, she has done The Three Sisters at the Guthrie Theatre and The Lower Depths at the Arena Stage as well as performances at the Mark Taper Forum, Syracuse Stage and Center Stage. Her film work includes Man On A Swing and The Happy Hooker. On television she has had a running role on the soap opera Another World. Ms. Hawkins has been the recipient of the Theater World Award, Drama Desk Award and Vi IIager Award.
Jo urney Ho me
He had expected to be received with honor, as soldiers in past American wars had been. Instead, he saw a welcoming party of his countrymen spit on a couple of his fellow returnees and call them baby-killers. Thus forewarned, Bowers ducked into a men's room of San Francisco International Airport and changed out of his uniform into civvies for the rest of his journey home.
"I was fortunate enough to come back with a pretty clear head," he said. "But to go over there and kill people and then come back into the society we came back into without any kind of special recognition and try to act normalthat's really tough."
•••
He had felt dislocated when he came home, as if the war had changed him and he could no longer get through to anyone who hadn't experienced it. When the Army sprung him from his post-'Nam tour at Fort Riley,Kansas, he he_aded straight home to the southern Minnesota lake country and, within two weeks of touchdown, to Mankato State College, fifty miles away. "I thought everything was going to be the same for me, the way it was," he said, but it wasn't; he didn't fit any more
•
••
Skeels found everybody precisely where he had left them, but he had been too far and seen too much and had come home too fast, a stranger. "One day you have a license to kill," he remembered. "The next day a cop pulls you over for speeding. One day you're with people you'd trust with your life. The next day you have to sit in the corner of the bar so you won 't draw attention to yourself."
•••
"We were brought back too 1suddenly and forced to take everything into ourselves," he reflected a decade later. "If only they had brought us back as units with mutual support from each other and given us a couple of months to get acclimated again. I mean they gave us seven days just to get used to the weather over there. I don't think they gave us seven hours to get used to The World, and it was very poor psychological weather for us to walk back into. "
When l §tarted to come down , I know how I felt: "Holy f , what just happened?" The adrenaline runs for so long, then it all stops. The war's ending cut you off just like that. You say okay, but the adrenaline is still running.
Today I go down the street and I see things in a way that nobody else sees them. I look at my own kid and it scares me. 'Cause it's a baby, and babies are alive and they're beautiful and they're perfect, and they've got arms and legs and feet and toes, and their mind is like an empty plate that hasn't had all these things happen to it. And I think, "If you ever saw what I've seen. If you'd spent the time that I spend every f day of my life, going over and over and over again the why? and the why? and I always know there's no answer."" There's no answer anywhere. And that really scares me sometimes.
•••
He found a new lady, Sheri, and was still living with her seven years later. He found a new calm as well, having discovered in a real war that he wasn't the tough guy he imagined himself to have been as a kid in the streets. "I'm very comfortable, very happy," he said, surveying what he had made of his life. "I have no regrets."
•••
The worst is behind me, he thought at last. As long as/ keep it blocked out and it stays out, I'm all right.
Reprinted 1984 by permission of Random House I prayed for survival, but forgot peace -of -mind
Compiled by Leslie Glassburn from Everything We Had by Al Santoli, an oral history of the war, a collection of interviews with thirty-three American veterans. It was published by Random House and is copyright 1981 by Al Santoli and Vietnam Veterans of America. Santoli served with the 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969
The photographs of Vietnam veterans are by Cincinna.ti freelance photographer Gordon Baer, from the awardwinning photo essay Vietnam: the Battle Comes Home, and are copyright 1981 by Gordon Baer. Published by Morgan & Morgan, Dobbs Ferry, NY.
Ke vin MCCiarnon plays David in Strange Snow.
Trish Hawkins plays Martha in Strange Snow.
Trish Hawkins and Judd Hirsch in the Pulitzer Prize-Winning Play Talley's Folly
Veterans Allegory Memorial Dedication, Washington, D.C., Veterans Day, 1982.
Perspective on Matthew Cowles: Prom Billy Clyde to Megs
order to make a living. The soap opera I did came from my work in a play. I was -doing Sweet Bird of Youth in Chicagofor Bi II Gardner actually - when I got the offer_ I had done a soap back in 1970 and I thought it a terrible way to turn a dollar_ Roscoe Orman was playing this real bad pimp on All My Children and also this really nice guy on Sesame Street. It was confusing for the kids who saw him in both roles and he was pressured to go one way or the other. He opted out of the soap opera and that left a vacuum that I was asked to fill. They (All My Children) had seen me in Sweet Bird and asked me if I'd do the role of Billy Clyde. Bud Cross was producer then. They were open to what I wanted to do and built on the actor's input. I worked steadily on it for three and one half years and have been back a few times since then WHAT ABOUT YOUR FILM WORK, HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT GOING TO L.A.?
I've done about thirteen films but I've never wanted to move to L.A. I did a play there four years ago and I thought it a terrible town. The amusements there wear out fast.
WHY DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT THE WORK YOU LIKE BEST?
I called Matthew Cowles at his home in Connecticut one November evening. Matthew, who will be playing the role of Megs in Strange Snow, and I had a fascinating conversation about acting and the theater. I've tried to put together the most salient aspects of the discussion , so that you all can share it with me.
MATTHEW, You ·vE WORKED AS AN ACTOR ON STAGE, IN TELEVISION AND IN FILM. HOW DO YOU BALANCE THESE DIFFERENT CAREERS?
Mostly I do plays. But it 's not possible to make enough money just doing plays unless you're a star, so you need to do commercials, soap operas, whatever, in
l v.1.
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I like to do plays. I especially like to do new work - it's like cutting stone. You discover for the first time where it works_ That produces a certain excitement especially in good plays and I've done a number of good ones. One that I remember is Dirty Jokes, which I did in Chicago with Bill Gardner_ Arthur Giron (the playwright) is a great author - I think it's a great play_ It's a daring, frightening, funny play. Lee Sankowich directed and he's one of the very few really good di rectors I've worked with_ What I like about Arthur 's plays is that they don't all resemble each other. I think that's terrific. Some socal led important writers I can think of write one hit and then the rest of their plays follow along like goslings Maybe
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Personal paging devices are not permitted in the Theater. They may be left at the Bar with the House Manager. Please leave your name and seat location with the House Manager at that time so that you may be contacted during the performance should the need arise
Coming Up Next
Room Service
by John Murray and Allen Boretz
This outrageously hilarious romp is one of America's best showbiz satires. Araucous, whiz-bang farce with a zany cast of characters and no-holds-barred laughter.
February 26-March 31
Becoming Memories by Arthur Giron
This extraordinary new play is a loving look at the American past, in the tradition of Quilters and The Dining Room. Based on authentic family histories of the early 20th century, here's a warm and passionate tribute to courtship and marriage.
April 16-May 19
Spectacular Finale
To Be Selected
An exciting production of a world classic, or a colorful musical, or a new American play. We're talking to some of America's finest actors, directors and playwrights in order to present the best possible choice for our Tenth Anniversary Finale. June 4-July 7
it's their agents or the pressure of success that does it. Arthur's plays aren't • like that.
(Editor's note: Lee Sankowich will be directing Arthur Giron's Becoming Memories later this season at the Public.) YOU'VE SPOKEN OF WORKING WITH BILL GARDNER BEFORE, CAN YOU TELL US WHAT THAT'S LIKE?
This is my fifth time working for Bill. Actually, I met fuy wife in Garden City, N.Y. doing Ghosts which Bill Gardner produced (at the Adelphi Festival Theatre). Kim Hunter was Mrs_ Alving, I was Oswald, and Christine Baranski was Regina. Bill takes credit for getting Christine and I together_ I know he saw it long before I did. I'm quite an admirer of Bill. He's something of a maverick. He gets things done. Bill is a man of great integrity. Everything I've seen Bill Gardner do has been real classy. He hasn't always hit the mark, but it was still classy. He takes beautiful chances - chances you couldn't take in T.V. or the movies.
MATTHEW, LET'S TALK ABOUT YOU AGAIN. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT DOING MEGS IN STRANGE SNOW?
I'm not much like the character, Megs, at all. But, for kinetic dynamism, you couldn't ask for more than a role like Megs He has a quick wit and a facility of communicating that I like. I'm fascinated by the logistics of the play. It's a really full three character play. I'm looking forward to it, though it frightens me a little.
SO WITH A ROLE YOU LIKE, A LOVELY NEW WIFE IN CHRISTINE BARANSKI, AND A NEW DAUGHTER, ISABELLA,CAN YOU MAKE A FINAL COMMENT FOR US?
I'm pleased by all of them. It's a difficult time to leave my family- even for a few weeks. I don't think I'd do that for many other producers or roles. I had an offer to do another show in New York , but I turned it down to do Strange Snow. You don't get many chances to play a role like Megs. I just didn't want to turn it down. Stephen Berwind
Matthew Cowles as Billy Clyde on ABC's A// My Children.
Matthew Cowles as a Boy Scout in the Academy Festival Theatre production of Arthur Giron's Dirty Jokes.
