New York State Theater Institute director Patricia Snyder wanted the theater to try a retelling of Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow for its current season.
Mary Jane Hansen had an idea. She wanted to explore the story behind the story: how did Irving create a classic at a time when there really were no novelists in America, and the rest of the world had never embraced an American author?
The result is Hansen’s `A Legend of Sleepy Hollow,` which opens at NYSTI on Sunday, Oct. 18, at 2 p.m. It will run through Oct. 30 at the Schine Fine Arts Center at Russell Sage College in Troy.
Hansen said that when she first started looking into a retelling of `Sleepy Hollow,` `I didn’t know what story to tell.` But as she learned more about Irving’s early life, she was captivated by how he was able to establish himself as one of America’s first great writers with the publication of several stories in Europe around 1820.
One of those stories was `The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.` Hansen imagines the inspiration for the story coming from a meeting with Aaron Burr, the one-time vice president and, like Irving, a resident of the Hudson Valley. In Hansen’s story, Burr wanted Irving to help him defend Sleepy Hollow resident Brom Bones, who was arrested after a headless skeleton was discovered in town. The remains were believed to belong to Ichabod Crane, Bones’ one-time romantic rival.
While Hansen’s story is fictional, it’s steeped in history. She poured countless hours into researching Irving, Burr and other characters, and the play’s actors did likewise.
`It’s a joy because there’s a wealth of information out there to go to,` said David Bunce, who plays Burr. `It’s great fun to read biographies.`
The cast even took a trip to Irving’s estate, called Sunnyside, in Tarrytown.
`He was obviously in several ways a very eccentric man,` said David , who plays Irving. Girard called Sunnyside `creepy,` noting that it was a mix of several differnt types of architectural styles. Irving was an ambassador to Spain; his time there inspired a Spanish tower on his house.
Before he was an ambassador, the New York City-born Irving was simply an American living abroad, spending 17 years in Europe. He had a collection of short stories published, which included `The Legend of Sleepy Hollow` and began to earn him acclaim from Europeans who, to that point, had more or less looked down upon American writers.
`He had to go, ‘They really did think we were a bunch of hicks,’` Hansen said. `Americans didn’t have that respect.`
Burr, meanwhile, has suffered from a similar lack of respect in the annals of history. Angry about remarks political rival Alexander Hamilton made about him, Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel. Burr mortally wounded Hamilton, which put a serious dent in Burr’s political career as he was roundly criticized and indicted on charges of murder. Later, he faced charges of treason as rumors swirled about a filibuster he was going to lead into Spanish possessions in Mexico. He spent several years in self-imposed exile in Europe before returning to practice law in New York City, where he lived until he died.
`He became a pariah,` Girard said.
Hansen’s story, though, shows a softer side of Burr. Hansen noted that Burr was an abolitionist and an early supporter of women’s rights, even introducing a bill to the state Legislature to give women the right to vote.
`We get to see a little of his side of the story,` Girard said. `He was not necessarily this dastardly character.`
Girard likes that the play doesn’t portray Irving as simply a one-dimensional writer. In 1809, Irving’s fiancee, Matilda Hoffman, died when she was just 17.
`I think that stayed with him,` Girard said. `He was living with loss. That really personifies it for me. It gives me something to hang my hat on.`
Girard said he wasn’t much of a fan of Irving or the Romantics before doing this play. But he gained appreciation for both through this story.
`I think we sometimes think it was a simpler time,` he said. `It wasn’t. It really wasn’t. These were very, very intelligent, complicated men.`
Hansen hopes that people will leave the show `with a reminder of the complexity of relationships.`
While that may sound heavy, she promised the show is entertaining, too.
`I tried to put something in it for everyone,` she said. `You can come to see it for the laughs. You can come for a period piece. You can come to see a story about people and their baggage.`
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