Top Honors For A First-Time Playwright

By Shannon Hicks

With her first effort, Marianne Scanlon of Newtown has won the 2003 General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC) National Award for Drama.

It was the second GFWC award for Mrs Scanlon in as many years. Last year she won first place within the club’s multimedia competition for an oil painting of a mushroom. It was the first time Mrs Scanlon had tried painting, she said recently, in more than 40 years.

This year the multitalented lady went to the top of the pile in a new venue of creativity: writing a play.

Awards were presented to state GFWC presidents during a national GFWC conference in June, but the awards were not forwarded to their recipients in Connecticut until earlier this month, when the state conference was held. Except for those who had attended the national conference in Little Rock, Ark., the results of the national awards were kept confidential so that the presentation would be a surprise for the local groups this month.

Mrs Scanlon received her award on October 16 during the GFWC/CT Fall Conference, held at the Radisson Inn in Bristol. An awards ceremony was held just before lunch, with GFWC New England Region President Danielle Duquette presenting the awards.

On the day of the state conference, Mrs Scanlon was dealing with the beginning of a head cold.

“I had a terrible cold. I was coughing and sneezing. I really wasn’t able to concentrate,” she remembered. “The presenter announced ‘There’s a first place writing award winner in Newtown,’ and it just didn’t register.

“When she announced my name everyone was poking me, telling me to get up and say something and I just didn’t know what to say,” she laughed. “For once I was at a loss for words. I finally found myself saying something like ‘Thank you. It’s such an honor,’ and it really is.”

Mrs Scanlon’s was one of three plays by Newtown members submitted to the state for consideration this year. It was the first play she had ever written.

Her play is called Happy Holidays! or, Norman Rockwell Doesn’t Live Here. It opens with a mother and father preparing for Thanksgiving dinner at their home, and their three grown children are expected for the dinner.

The play is about “some family problems that come up and don’t really get resolved,” says Mrs Scanlon. The play was based loosely on the popular 1943 Norman Rockwell painting, “Freedom From Want,” which depicts an elderly couple placing a turkey on their dining room table while their family is all smiles and happiness.

“I wonder what happens after a photo like that is taken, when the family starts talking and little issues begin to come up, as they always do,” explained Mrs Scanlon. The idea came to her, she said, when she found herself looking through a volume of works by the popular American painter.

Writing the play, says its author, was easy. She began shortly after the holidays last year and had the piece completed by January.

“It really just kind of wrote itself,” she recalled. The idea was easy to work with, and she had encouragement from fellow Newtown Woman’s Club member (and an award-winning writer) Joan Bergquist, who led a writing workshop for club members.

Happy Holidays! or, Norman Rockwell Doesn’t Live Here will be performed by members of the woman’s club in the spring.

Mrs Scanlon joined Newtown Woman’s Club two years ago, shortly after retirement. She had worked for 27 years at Griffin Hospital as a clinical nurse specialist in psychiatry, and continues to work part-time at the hospital.

Eleven members of Newtown Woman’s Club, GFWC, attended the state conference. In addition to Mrs Scanlon the local members who traveled to Bristol were Club President Barbara Krausz, GFWC/CT Arts & Crafts Chairman Marcia Cavanaugh, GFWC/CT Corresponding Secretary Mary Antey, Newtown Publicity Chair Marion Thompson, Treasurer Peg Forbell, Membership Chairman Marilyn Alexander, Historian Lorraine VanderWende, Parliamentarian Ducky Lowenstine, and members  Jean Swanhall, and Betty Warner.

“We’re all so very proud of her. Everybody in the club is very excited about this,” Mrs Krausz said. “We had a good time at the conference but the highlight was easily when Marianne won the award.”

The contest Mrs Scanlon won her award for is an annual event. It’s just a small part of what GFWC –– one of the largest and oldest volunteer service organizations in the world –– is all about. Newtown Woman’s Club is one of thousands of clubs in the United States and globally in more than 20 countries, with members who support the arts, preserve natural resources, promote education, encourage healthy lifestyles, stress civic involvement, and work toward world peace and understanding. GFWC Connecticut was organized in April 1897, federated in October 1897, and incorporated in June 1926.

Newtown Woman’s Club is now putting together an in-club photography contest. Members have been challenged with shooting their favorite scenes of town; they will present their entries during the club’s November meeting.

Mrs Scanlon says she can’t wait to try her hand at photography. At this point, she’s certainly on a creative roll.