A Letter from madeline kahn

Some delicious teatro trivia

“Madeline’s response to my letter inviting her to come and appear in the annual play at St. Francis Xavier Composite High School makes mention of “helping to wig out Miss Kortes”, and this is a reference to the great Mariena Kortes, who was the Drama teacher there for a quarter of a century. She was a terrific lady who gave us a great deal of creative latitude and was wonderfully amused by and fascinated with her students, and yet had no patience with deliberate eccentricity. In Grade Twelve, she told me “I think you’ll direct the play this year.” “But don’t you usually do that?“ I replied, and her only response was a shrug. She first taught me in 1976/77 and my frequent colleague Farren Timoteo was a student of hers in 2000/01, her final year of teaching at St. F.X. We both agree that she was top notch and that we carry a little of her still in everything we undertake.” - Stewart Lemoine

Transcript

Dear Stewart,

Yes it would be great fun to act with me and therefore the reverse would also be true, it would also be great to come to a school such as yours and work with you on such a project; helping to wig out Miss Kortes would also be nice I’m sure. I really wish I could, and I’m exceedingly flattered by your request and wonderful letter - I cannot take the time right now to do this - please understand.

I wish you all the luck and fun and success in the world and Thank You.

Sincerely,
Madeline Kahn

Registered Charity Number: 89141 4864 RP0001

We sincerely appreciate your invaluable support!

Teatro La Quindicina operates with the assistance of Alberta Community Development, Alberta Lotteries, The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, The Edmonton Arts Council, and The Edmonton Community Foundation. We are also grateful for the ongoing support of Alberta Culture and Community Spirit and the Community Spirit Program. We are deeply appreciative for the support of these funding agencies. We also extend special thanks to Teatro’s graphic artist Peter Edwards at Dimensions Graphics.