Koste, Virginia Glasgow 1924-

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KOSTE, Virginia Glasgow 1924-

(V. Glasgow Koste, Virginia Michalak)

PERSONAL:

Born October 6, 1924, in Akron, OH; daughter of James Guthrie (an actor) and Vivian Venus (an actress, under stage name Vivian Marlowe; maiden name, Shurtleff) Glasgow; married Victor Michalak (a professor), July 30, 1944 (divorced, 1962); married Walter Koste (a television and film director and producer), March 18, 1967; children: Pamela Ann Rooks, Victoria Lee Callahan; stepchildren: Peter, Michael, Katherine, Margaret. Education: Vassar College, A.B., 1945; Wayne State University, A.M., 1947; also attended Northwestern University, Cornell University, and Indiana University at Bloomington, between 1948 and 1961. Politics: Independent.

ADDRESSES:

Home—2541 Meade Ct., Ann Arbor, MI 48105. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Heinemann, 361 Hanover St., Portsmouth, NH 03801-3912.

CAREER:

Albion College, Albion, MI, instructor in English, 1947-49; Duke University, Durham, NC, instructor in English, 1956-61; Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, professor of drama, theater, and playwriting, beginning 1962. Durham Academy, Durham, NC, director of drama and theater, 1959-62; Florida State University, Tallahassee, associate professor and director of developmental drama and theater programs, 1977-78; guest lecturer at other institutions, including Emerson College, Oakland University, University of Michigan, and University of North Carolina. Worked as actress with Lost Colony, Carolina Playmakers, and Kedzie Theater, Chicago, IL, and for the radio series Lone Ranger. Michigan Council for Arts, member of advisory council; Mott Foundation, director of Festival Theater; Project DO: Dramatic Outreach, director; workshop leader; public speaker.

MEMBER:

International Association of Theater for Childhood and Youth (member of U.S. board of directors), American Theater Association (past state chair, member of regional governing board, and member of national board of directors), Dramatists Guild, Authors League of America, Children's Theater Association of America, American Association of University Professors, Phi Kappa Phi.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Michigan Theater Association Award for contributions to theater, 1976; Creative Drama for Human Awareness Award, Children's Theater Association of America, 1980; Adahi Award for distinguished teaching; grants from Michigan Council for the Arts; honorary research award, American Alliance for Theater and Education.

WRITINGS:

(And director; under name Virginia Michalak) Of Plays and Playmaking (documentary film), produced in Ann Arbor, MI, by University of Michigan, 1964.

Dramatic Play in Childhood: Rehearsal for Life, illustrated by Susan Russell, Anchorage Press (New Orleans, LA), 1978, 2nd edition, Heinemann (Portsmouth, NH), 1995.

Contributor to books, including Go Adventuring! A Celebration of Winifred Ward, America's First Lady of Drama for Children, edited by Ruth Beall Heinig, Anchorage Press (New Orleans, LA), 1977; and Creative Drama in a Developmental Context, University Press of America (Lanham, MD), 1985. Contributor of articles to periodicals, including Speech and Drama, Theater News, and Children's Theater Review.

PLAYS

Alice in Wonder, New Plays (Rowayton, CT), 1978.

The Trial of Tom Sawyer; or, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Anchorage Press (New Orleans, LA), 1978.

Airlooms (produced in New York, NY, in a staged reading by Writers Theater), 1981.

(Adaptor) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Coach House Press (Morton Grove, IL), 1982, revised edition, Dramatic Publishing (Woodstock, IL), 1990.

The Medicine Show; or, How to Succeed in Medicine without Really Trying, Anchorage Press (New Orleans, LA), 1983.

The Cinderella Syndrome, Baker's Plays (Boston, MA), 1983.

Travelin'! An Odyssey in Oz (produced in Ypsilanti, MI, at Quirk Theater), Coach House Press (Morton Grove, IL), 1984.

(And director) A Princess Inside, produced in Ypsilanti, MI, at Quirk Theater, 1985.

Scraps! The Ragtime Girl of Oz, Dramatic Publishing (Woodstock, IL), 1986.

The Chicago Gypsies (produced in New York, NY, in a staged reading by Writers Theater, 1984), Dramatic Publishing (Woodstock, IL), 1989.

On the Road: To Oz!, Dramatic Publishing (Woodstock, IL), 1990.

The Tolstoy Story Play, Dramatic Publishing (Woodstock, IL), 1991.

(Adaptor) White As Snow, Red As Blood: The Story of Snow White, a Play in Seven Scenes, New Plays (Charlottesville, VA), 1992.

SIDELIGHTS:

Virginia Glasgow Koste told CA: "As a child of a theater family (both of my parents were actors), my work in theater developed naturally from birth and throughout my life. From age seventeen my curiosity about children and the connections between them and drama became a focus on dramatic imagination as central to human thought. Acting, writing, teaching, mothering, and directing have intertwined in this ongoing study; nothing is wasted. With so full a life, I do crave more writing time, and soon I may have it. I love writing and rewriting with equal passion. Theory and practice do not conflict, but complete and create each other."