Claribel Baird

The terror that classical texts strike in the hearts of young actors
(and directors) is well known. To Claribel Baird, those texts are old
friends to be relished and valued for each experience one may have
with them. She reviews here her two-semester course about the
interpretation of classical texts for theatrical performance.

Claribel Baird is emeritus professor of theatre at the University of
Michigan, where she taught for more than twenty years. A charter
member of the American Educational Theatre Association, she
began her teaching career at the Oklahoma College for Women.
She has directed more than forty plays and has appeared as
featured actress in productions at the University of Michigan. A
member of Actors' Equity Association, her performance as the
Grand Duchess in the APA staging of You Can't Take It with You
gained her nomination for the New York Critics' Award for Best
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role ( 1966). Ms. Baird
has made several recordings of her roles in classical drama --
Andromache, Mrs. Malaprop, Queen Katharine, the Nurse. Her
Michigan colleagues assert that her most memorable interpreta-
tion came in the title role of Giraudoux Madwoman of Chaillot.
After the death of her first husband, John B. Baird, she married
her distinguished fellow teacher William P. Halstead in the year in
which he was president of AETA. She has never truly retired,
occasionally serving as guest lecturer or lending her elegant,
eloquent presence to productions of classical drama.

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