The Hallmark Hall of Fame Presentation of “The Water Is Wide” will be hosted by Hiram College on January 18 in Hayden Auditorium.
On Wednesday, January 18, 2006, Hiram College will play host to the world premiere of the
Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie “The Water Is Wide.” The teleplay was written by Hiram
College alumnus Jonathan Estrin ’69 and adapted from the Pat Conroy novel of the same title.
In addition to the premiere showing of the film, Estrin will spend January 18 and 19 with the Hiram College community, participating in classes and discussing his experiences as a producer and writer in Hollywood.
Jan Parkinson, vice president for development and marketing of Hallmark Hall of Fame
Productions, and Jonathan Estrin, executive vice president of the American Film Institute and writer of “The Water Is Wide” teleplay, will answer questions after the 7:30 p.m. premiere, and will visit writing and theatre classes. Parkinson is the father of Kirsten Parkinson, assistant professor of English.
Estrin also will speak at a College Convocation in the Kennedy Center Ballroom at 12:30 p.m.,
Thursday, January 19 on “From Hiram to Hollywood: The Making of a Writer/Producer/Director.”
Johnathon Estrin remembers Hiram College
When Jonathan Estrin ’69 returns Wednesday, January 18, to Hiram College for the premiere of his Hallmark Hall of Fame teleplay “The Water Is Wide,” those who remember the young man who showed up on The Hill in 1965 as a first-year student may be surprised.
Estrin has changed, both in accomplishment and appearance.
He arrived at Hiram a self-described undistinguished student from the New York City area.
“I was the classic underachiever,” Estrin said during a telephone call from California, where he is executive vice president of the American Film Institute and a veteran writer, producer, and director.
At Hiram, Estrin found inspiration from professors such as W. Keith Leonard, speech and theatre arts; David J. Fratus, English, and E. Hale Chatfield, English. He also found it from classmates. One classmate, in particular, launched Estrin’s career.
Estrin was pledging a campus social club, and one of its members was in a college play. The social club member told Estrin, who had a reputation for being funny, that if he did not join the cast of the play that the member would make it unpleasant for pledge Estrin.
It was an offer Estrin could not refuse. He joined the cast, enjoyed the experience and began to take the theatre seriously. He switched majors, from psychology to theatre arts. He went on to produce the first public presentation of own work – a one-act play titled “If They Give You Lined Paper, Write the Other Way.”
Estrin’s first production has led to dozens more, from 44 episodes of the Emmy Award-winning “Cagney & Lacey” to the 2003 television movie, “Jasper, Texas.” He always has been able to appreciate the person trying to break free of the direction others give to find a path of his own.
He found that path early on at Hiram.
“I think I was the first guy with a beard and long hair in rural Ohio,” said Estrin, whose hair is shorter now (see photo).
Estrin’s hirsuteness nearly brought Hiram College’s appearance on television’s “GE College Bowl” to a premature end. First-year Estrin found himself chosen to represent the College with three other students with strong academic credentials in such disciplines as science and history.
“I was the catch-all,” Estrin said. “I had the garbage mind.”
He knew trivia, snippets of knowledge few others deemed important enough to save. As it turned out, Estrin became part of the “GE College Bowl’s” trivia.
When the team arrived in New York City for the competition, those who ran the show told Estrin that he could not appear on the program because he wore a beard. Estrin refused to shave. His teammates supported him.
“If he doesn’t go on, we don’t go on,” they told program officials.
Estrin went on, breaking the “GE College Bowl” beard barrier and launching his career in television. (Hiram College lost the competition by one point.)
“We had a good time, though,” Estrin said.
"Water is Wide," the story
“The Water Is Wide” is an autobiographical story that relates Conroy’s experience as a teacher in 1969 on an island located off the coast of South Carolina. The island residents were predominantly black and illiterate, and Conroy was an unconventional, but enthusiastic, young schoolteacher. After a year on the island, Conroy was fired, in part for his unwillingness to allow corporal punishment in the classroom. Published in 1972, the book won a humanitarian award from the National Educational Association.
Alfre Woodard (Desperate Housewives, The Piano Lesson) plays the redoubtable Mrs. Brown in the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation The Water Is Wide. Jeff Hephner (The Jury, The O.C.) plays an idealistic young teacher; Frank Langella - pictured left -(Good Night, and Good Luck, Dracula) plays his autocratic boss. Based on Pat Conroy’s
autobiographical novel, the special premieres on CBS Sunday, January 29, 2006, 9-11pm ET/PT.
In 1969, Pat Conroy went to a remote island off the coast of South Carolina to teach. The other teacher in the two-room schoolhouse is Mrs. Brown, a firm believer in the “spare the rod, spoil the child” maxim. Armed with a ruler and a belief she’s serving as a quasi-missionary, Mrs. Brown doesn’t so much educate as terrorize her young charges.
Pat Conroy (a free-spirited child of the 60’s) clashes frequently and dramatically with Mrs. Brown. He also makes an enemy of the local superintendent of schools (Frank Langella). During
his time teaching on Yamacraw Island, though, Conroy has a profound effect on the children he teaches, and they do the same to him.
Describing Mrs. Brown and her attitude to teaching, Alfre Woodard says, “To her, ‘fun’ has
nothing to do with education. Her attitude is, ‘Okay, put your knees together. Put your hands in your lap. Keep your eyes open and your mouth shut. Stare straight ahead. I don’t care if you’re interested in what I’m saying – or even if you’re listening – but keep quiet and in your place.’”
Describing the different teaching approaches between Mrs. Brown and Pat Conroy, Woodard says, “[Their] styles clash. The educator in Mrs. Brown may secretly be impressed with Pat’s approach, but it perturbs her because it threatens the very structure of her world.” [EDITORS: See transcript attached.]
Newcomer Jeff Hephner plays Pat Conroy. Alfre Woodard says the casting of Hephner was inspired. “He’s exactly right,” she says. “His lack of film acting experience is very much working for him. There’s nothing at all jaded about his
performance. He’s entirely believable as this fish-out-of-water neophyte teacher.”
Veteran director John Kent Harrison (What the Deaf Man Heard, In Love and War) describes this assignment as the most profound challenge of his career. “I didn’t want it to be a John Kent Harrison film,” he says. “Or an Alfre Woodard film, or a Jeff Hephner film. It’s really a film about those children. I used to say to myself on the set every day, ‘It’s the kids, stupid!’
“They had to exist on their own, and perform in a way that was absolutely honest and genuine. That was the challenge. And I think it was a challenge they – and we – met.”
Jonathan Estrin (Jasper, Texas) wrote the teleplay, based on Pat Conroy’s novel. Richard Welsh (Silver Bells, The Magic of Ordinary Days) and Brent Shields (Back When We Were Grownups, Plainsong) served as executive producers. The Water Is Wide is from Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions, in association with Fox Television Studios.
To go to the Hallmark Hall of Fame Website for "Water is Wide":
http://pressroom.hallmark.com/hhof_the_water_is_wide.html
Related Links:
• Hallmark Hall Of Fame History
• HHOF By The Numbers
• 50+ Years Of Great Movies
• Silver Bells