Barry Bingham has served as board president several times and spearheaded the 1994 Capital Campaign

Barry Bingham has probably seen every play produced in the Humana Festival of New American Plays for the past thirty years. The former publisher of The Courier-Journal has served as past president and member of the Board of Directors since 1964 until very recently.

"Time magazine once wrote that ‘From now on, off-Broadway should be known as off-Louisville,’" he said about the Humana Festival’s value on a national and international scale. "Yes, absolutely the festival has had a major international impact. Edie and I used to give parties for the visiting press and we had not just people from across America but from around the world. There is nothing else in Louisville, other than the Derby, that brings in people from other organizations and news organizations and which gives the city such good publicity. I remember when I was still at the Courier-Journal and I had dinner with the editor of Tokyo Shimbum, the largest newspaper in Japan, and he asked me what the circulation of the Courier-Journal was. I replied, ‘300,000.’ He said the circulation of his newspaper was 7 million! It seems that everyone in Japan reads the newspaper and don’t just rely on television for their news."

People take for granted that there is an opportunity to see world-class theatre here, Barry said, especially during the Humana Festival. "Not as many people see the plays when they have the opportunity," he said. "The theatre should be full every night during the festival." It’s an opportunity to see plays that will likely appear in New York or become movies in following years—and famous faces from television. This year, Barry's festival guests will include writer Melinda Hamilton and her daughter of the same name who played a former nun on Desperate Housewives.

Looking back, Barry reminisced about seeing the premiere of Getting Out. "(It) was one of the most emotional theatre experiences I have ever had," he said. "People left the theatre in tears. It was a spectacular production. For me, it was one of the high points of theatre in America and it also went on to do well elsewhere with numerous other productions and as a feature film.

"I am glad that The Gin Game was revived recently by Actors Theatre," he added. "It was a magnificent production. Dinner with Friends was wonderful, too. But I also remember spectacular productions of plays that were not in the festival, such as Jitney, which I absolutely adored, and The Piano Lesson."

And while he says it would be a shame if the festival overshadowed the rest of the season, Barry believes it does not. "Recently, I brought my 8- and 10-year-old grandchildren to this season’s Twelfth Night and they were so enthralled they were on the edge of their seats. It is something when a 400-year-old writer can entertain young people so brilliantly. It was a superb production. Overall, Actors Theatre is performing a wonderful service for the community."

— Trish Pugh Jones