ISTA-Scene June 08

Pat and her son Rick, in Cortland, 1966 Pat in Cortland, 1976Pat in London with Rick, 1993you while you are busy making plans.” And,so it seems – life has just happened to meand, mostly, it has proved to be the rightthing at the right time. I still don’t have timeto make plans...From Michael Thomas, Regent’sSchool Pattaya, ThailandI was very saddened to read theannouncement of the passing of Pat Zichon the website. To say that Pat was aninspirational figure is an understatement.Pat was the founder and life force of ISTAwho, in my mind, stands shoulder toshoulder with such luminaries as DorothyHeathcote in the pantheon of Drama-in-Education. The great organization that ISTAis today originates from Pat’s courage,determination and extraordinary creativity.Yet, she always set aside time to listen andmade one feel valued as an individual.From Ken Woollard, Ex British Schoolof Brussels, BelgiumAbout twenty-five years ago our firstPrincipal came back from a visit to a schoolin the Netherlands with the news that therewas a drama association that we HAD tojoin. “Your choice, of course, because you’llbe doing it, but this is an experience ourdrama students must not miss out on!” Hemust have seen part of an ISTA festival. HeMUST have spoken to Pat Zich. From then,up to the present and into the future, theBritish School of Brussels has been anabsolutely devoted member of ISTA and, forall the wonderful people we met along theway, none of us ever forgot that we owedthe very existence of ISTA to Pat. Pat was,in the very best sense, a formidable lady. Ihad never experienced her earlier activedays, when she must have made ensemblework to absolute perfection. And the veryword “ensemble” suggests a veryuntraditional approach, having no truck withprima donnas and elitism. She was a ladyof very high ideals and her approach todrama encapsulated them. My memory ofher was of the organizer, the lady arriving inthe taxi with the huge suitcase full of ISTAgoods, whose presence you felt as soon asshe stepped into the hosting school. Shewas always full of advice, suggestions andexperience, shared sensitively, for youwouldn’t want to have fundamentallydisagreed with her. So ISTA continues in itsmission of promoting good drama andwonderful social contacts between studentsand between adults. I got so much from it.My students got so much from it, and newgenerations of BSB students still do. Andnone of us forget that the idea and thefulfillment came from Pat.From Richard F. Smith, co-founder ofISTAPat sent us an invitation to attend her“first” combination Great Britian - Continentdrama festival at ASL in 1978-79 schoolyear. I don’t know how many schools wereinvited but I do know that the followingattended from Europe: Frankfurt HighSchool, Frankfurt International School,American School of Paris, ZurichInternational School. I don’t remember ifAmsterdam came that year or not. Wewere all excited about attending... Whenwe were walking up to ASL, Pat came out(quite strong as she could be), extendedher hand and said, You are Richard Smith,I've heard good things about you and I'mexpecting good things from you!” I juststared at her and said, “that’s nice.....” Ourone act was INTERVIEW by Van Italie (sp).We actually carried cardboard cut outs ofthe actors which where the size of theactors and painted gray. The show openedwith the actors behind their respectivesilhouette and moved across the stage inan intricate pattern to the beat of ametronome. All you saw were thecardboard cut outs moving across thestage. I remember the other show wasbeing critiqued in the outer hall and wewere getting ready to perform. No matterwhat I said or did, I was just making mygroup nervous. All of a sudden, I just said,“Come here. Let’s get in a group.” Wehuddled and I said, “One, two, three...shit.” After three they all yelled shit...!!!which echoed in the hallway... At least itcured us of our jitters but I don't knowwhat they were thinking out there. Anyway,the festival was a success and the nextyear I was the first school to host on thecontinent. Patty from Amsterdam was therethat year. My show was called ForHeaven’s Sake and Pat’s was calledIndians (I think...) It was the one act aboutplaying baseball. Also, I had to find some“semi-professional” show for the festival. Idid find something downtown and reviewedthe show. It looked OK but was all inGerman. I remember a great number called“Mozart on the loo”. The males in the showall had white tights on and it was anEnglish all-girls school (I think Marymount)all sitting in the front row. The harder theactors worked, the more sweat they had. Itwas after that year (I believe) that wedecided to form ISTA. The first meetingwas held in Zurich. Auggie Zemo acted asan adviser and tried to lead us in the rightdirections. We were concerned about thefollowing: non-profit status, layout offestival, insurance, liability. We agreed thatPat would be the director and the officewould be in London. I remember that we allsmoked, smoked, smoked! I was thedevil’s advocate as we kept saying “nowlet’s not jump too far ahead”, “what’s thatgoing to cost?” “how are we liable ifsomething happens?” The next school yearPat again hosted. We took the show lineand Nicholas Clay was our critique. Iremember he kept saying nice things aboutmy actor Marcus Calvin (the German actorI told you about) Needless to say, Marcuswas beaming from ear to ear. As ourmeetings progressed from year to year,ISTA began to grow in leaps and bounds.Actually, you may not know this but theInternational schools paid for everything (asfar as I know). The DoDDS schools paid fornothing and I had to raise the money. Ibelieve that was the breaking point andeventually I had to resign from the board(heart attack) and stop attending thefestivals. I believe the last festival we werepart of was around 1993 and I hosted inBaumholder, Germany. There were somany new things and the host teacher hadno influence in the process. Times hadchanged and the budget was important. Ibelieve I hosted the ISTA festival at leastthree times in Frankfurt and one time inBaumholder. And as for Pat, she wasbrillant! Very DIRECT, uncompromising,would say what she thought, had a vision,was a wonder theatre teacher and lovedher students. The last thing… it seemed atEVERY festival Pat ALWAYS wore thatblack jump dress made out of corduroy.She loved that outfit… I wonder if she wasburied in it.From Peter Wilkins, NarrabundahCollege, AustraliaDiary entry - Thursday, September 27thThe email on Grapevine was sent to meas a reply to an email that I had sent Patsome time ago. The message was brief: “Iam sorry to inform you that Pat died onSeptember 11th.” I stared at the messagefrom her brother, Mike Wiedmer, indisbelief. It was not until much later when Ichecked the ISTA website that I learnedScene | 2007-8 June Issue 4 | 3