Sigma Alpha Iota

heard around the world At left, a cast recording of the 1950s production of Porgy and Bess. At right, sheet music for the 1959 film adaptation. true production of the Heyward/Gershwin Porgy and Bess in its original form, establishing its reputation as a true opera. This production won the Tony Award for Best Revival, the only opera to do so in Broadway's history. The Met staged a production in 1985, starring SAI Honorary Member Grace Bumbry. In 2006, a melding of previous versions resulted in The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, once more adjusting the original material for musical theatre with the blessings of the Gershwin and Heyward estates. This short-lived English revival was transported to Broadway for a 2011 revival, and it was this production which won two American Theatre Wing Tony Awards, for Best Revival and for Lead Actress in a Musical for Audra McDonald. SAI acknowledges the many descendants of the original Heyward novel which the fraternity nurtured through its continued support of Pan's Cottage at the MacDowell Colony. — GD Pan's Cottage at the MacDowell Colony P an's Cottage still welcomes composers and other MacDowell Colony Fellows, just as it did in 1919, when completed with funds provided by SAI members. Its maintenance was endowed through an SAI fund established in 1943. In 1918 construction began on a cottage at a secluded New Hampshire artists' retreat where thousands of composers, writers and visual artists have come over the years to do their creative work in comfort and solitude. The idea for such a structure was proposed by Mary Christie of Delta Chapter. The SAI Convention body of 1916 (representing the 11 chapters then in existence) seized the challenge and agreed to raise the necessary funds. With the support of Marian MacDowell, widow of the famed American composer whose life and career inspired the founding of the Colony, the necessary resources were in hand in an astonishing two years. When the cottage was completed, it was given outright to the MacDowell Colony by SAI. That "cottage" is actually a handsome 3-story white house which can accommodate 12 artists, the largest residence facility at the Colony. It proudly bears the name "Pan's Cottage." At the 2006 Convention, SAI presented a $75,000 gift to the MacDowell Colony to restore and preserve Edward MacDowell's music room at Hillcrest on the grounds of the Colony. The gift was commemorated with a plaque a year later. It reads, "The preservation of Edward MacDowell's Music Room at Hillcrest was made possible by a generous gift from Sigma Alpha Iota Philanthropies, Inc. 2007." The cover of the Fall 2007 PAN PIPES featured Pan's Cottage. sai-national.org SUMMER 2012 PAN PIPES 13

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