Haviland Society : David and Linda Glickstein
Philadelphians David and Linda Glickstein have published their informative newsletter The Discerning Traveler since 1987. If you’re traveling on the East Coast, you’ll want to read what they have to say about where to stay and what to see from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Cape Hatteras, N.C. (Subscribers to The Discerning Traveler may access all back issues online. Condé Nast and Gourmet magazine have called the Glicksteins’ contributions to the travel industry “superb.”)
Yet, their most important travels happen while they’re sitting still—the journeys they take through theater, opportunities to experience diverse perspectives and unknown or imagined landscapes. The Glicksteins attend hundreds of performances every year in the U.S. and around the world (France, Belgium, Canada, Scotland) and are generous supporters of innovative theater programs, including programs at UArts. “Theater matters,” says Linda. “You’re transported to another world and experience lives you could not know about any other way. Theater is one reason we love living in Philadelphia. Our city is a great incubator for some of the most exciting theatrical work being produced today.”
Theater as the site of new ideas, stories and performance opportunities motivated the Glicksteins’ generous gift to the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts’ Performance Incubator. The project brings accomplished theater artists to UArts to develop new work in collaboration with its students. Newly appointed, nationally acclaimed Brind School Director Joanna Settle staged an astonishing first season of the Performance Incubator featuring collaborations among prominent and innovative choreographers, playwrights and theater companies such as Heather Raffo, Headlong Dance Theater, the Bearded Ladies, 11th Hour Theatre Company and the Berserker Residents, the last two of which are alumni theater companies.
“Joanna is amazing,” say the Glicksteins. “We’re particularly pleased that she is using her resources to broaden UArts’ network of artists, exposing students to the many ways of experiencing theater.”
Linda and David have been passionate about the theater since they met in their 20s, four decades ago. Now, they’re focused on the decades ahead. “Young people’s work can change the world,” says David. “A play I saw about Anne Frank when I was a teenager has affected me to this day. We must support the students who represent the future of American theater.”
“Theater tells the stories of how people live and survive. The arts can help us have a deeper understanding of what is happening in Iraq or Syria or Afghanistan or across our own country,” says Linda. “It’s as important to us as food, shelter and travel.”