Scope and arrangement
The Ron Vawter Papers primarily reflect Mr. Vawter's work as an actor with The Wooster Group and other productions, both on the stage and on the screen. There are very few personal papers. There is, however, a rich amount of production material, especially for his one-man show, Roy Cohn/Jack Smith and a number of Wooster Group productions. This material includes scripts, publicity material, research material, photographs, tech notes, a light plot, programs and clippings. The majority of the production material covers the production Roy Cohn/Jack Smith. Material from this show includes a number of technical papers such as prop notes, hook-up sheets, sound cue sheets, lighting cue sheets, a lighting concept sheet, general tech sheets, miscellaneous lighting notes and slides. The Wooster Group material features mostly scripts, some with acting and blocking notes written by Mr. Vawter. The scripts include ones written for The Wooster Group, such as North Atlantic by Jim Strahs and Miss Universal Happiness and Symphony of Rats by Richard Foreman as well as original material. There are also programs, publicity material, production photographs, some related material (a doctoral dissertation on Frank Dell's The Temptation of St. Anthony) and clippings that document the work of The Wooster Group. A few miscellaneous items have also been included in the Productions Series.
The personal papers and correspondence are minimal, with two of the six letters being notes of sympathy to Greg Mehrten, Mr. Vawter's partner. Series IV, Scripts, reflect projects that were either proposed to Mr. Vawter and never completed or have no further evidence of being produced, such as programs, publicity material, etc. Series V, Ephemera, contains material not related to any of his productions that Mr. Vawter either collected or was given to him, or to Greg Mehrten. Series VI and VII, Photographs and Slides, respectively, contain items either not related to any productions or are unidentified. These include photographs of individuals and slides of a somewhat abstract nature. Any production related photographs have been incorporated into the appropriate production.
The Ron Vawter papers are arranged in eight series:
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1980-19949 folders
The personal papers consist of a resume from the early 1990s, a program from a 1986 Siena College reunion, (where Mr. Vawter was honored with an award), transcripts from two interviews including one of Laura San Giacomo conducted by Mr. Vawter, one of an interview with Mr. Vawter and Frank Vercruyssen, a published interview of Mr. Vawter (conducted by Richard Schechner) and clippings, including obituaries.
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1986- 19941 folder
This series consists of three postcards and six letters, including letters of condolence to Greg Mehrten.
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1967-19941.89 linear feet (5 boxes + 9 folders)
The bulk of the Ron Vawter Papers are contained in this series. Materials include scripts, programs, publicity materials, tech sheets, production photographs, research material, a director's notebook, cue sheets, prop list, hook-up sheets, correspondence and clippings. Since Mr. Vawter occasionally performed outside The Wooster Group while he was a member, there is some overlap in the years covered.
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1989-199310 folders
This series consists of all scripts that were either given to Mr. Vawter for possible consideration or contain no further evidence that they were ever produced. Many of the scripts are undated, one is an unidentified script by Jeff Weiss; some contain notes or cover letters addressed to Mr. Vawter.
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1963-19947 folders
Material in this series includes programs from a 1963 production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, the 1992 OBIE Awards, and Airport Music (1994). Also included is an agenda paper for a Dance/USA National Roundtable, a book proposal for The Brad Davis Story, a film program for a memorial service, interviews with the filmmaker Daniel Schmid as well as a filmography, a fragment of a poem by an unknown author and a published poem by Stefan Brecht.
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1985-199410 folders
This series includes photographs of individuals, mostly from The Wooster Group, as well as photographs of Mr. Vawter, including an 8 x 10 head-shot by Richard Avedon. There are also a few photos of paintings of Mr. Vawter. Several photographs are undated. All oversized photos are a sub-series of Series VIII - Oversized Materials.
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2 folders
The slides in this series are all unidentified, and undated . One folder contains images of the same object from various angles and in varying shades of light and darkness, which may be related to Roy Cohn/Jack Smith. There are also images of buildings and architectural features taken in what appears to be a European city, possibly Amsterdam, where Roy Cohn/Jack Smithwas produced.
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1989-19944.54 linear feet (2 oversize boxes + 1 oversize folder
Besides the photographs, material in this series includes two posters and two copies of light plots for Roy Cohn/Jack Smith designed by Clay Shirky. The light plots are shelved separately in the Rose Building map cases. Please consult a librarian for access; advance notice will be required.