GBH Openvault
Rockefeller Artists in Television; I Wish I Might; Mary Feldhaus Weber's I Wish I Might
Part of New Television Workshop.
Joyce Trisler conceptualized and choreographed, Mary Feldhaus-Weber wrote, and John Morris composed the score for this fantasy dramatic work about three fairies, Foxcroft, Seraphina, and Norbert Biener and a young boy called Patch. The work concerns the choices we make, and the power of wishes. Approximate date: 1971
License Clip
- Series
- Rockefeller Artists in Television
- Program
- I Wish I Might
- Title
Mary Feldhaus Weber's I Wish I Might
- Series Description
The "Rockefeller Artists-in-Television" residency program was created to support artists working in television. It was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation from 1967 through 1970. It was replaced by "The WGBH Project for New Television." While some of the Rockefeller artists, such as Nam June Paik, were already very committed to the medium of video, others were coming to the medium for the first time or from a film background. Paik developed the Paik-Abe videosynthesizer, with Shuya Abe, while working as a Rockefeller artist (though additional funding for the synthesizer's construction was provided by WGBH). The device was used to generate special effects and color enhancements. Artists supported by this program included: Mary Feldhaus-Weber, Marie Cosindas, Lee Lockwood, Stan Vanderbeek, David Wheeler, Nam June Paik, Zone, Newton Wayland, Shoshana Dubiner, Theo Wolfe, Dick Bartlett, Tim Mayer, The Propositions, Tim Hunter, David Silver, and Jean Shepherd. Many of these artists worked collaboratively to create one or more works. Series release date: 1967
- Program Description
Joyce Trisler conceptualized and choreographed, Mary Feldhaus-Weber wrote, and John Morris composed the score for this fantasy dramatic work. Three fairies -- Foxcroft (Robert Pierce), Seraphina (Pamel Werner), and Norbert (Paul Barstow) -- respond to the cries of a young boy, Patch (Teddy Reinstein). Patch is upset because he was offered a wish by an old woman on a bus and asked to become a tree. As he contemplates this further, he realizes that life as a tree might not be all he desires, and he is distraught because the time named by the old woman for his wish to come true is quickly approaching. The fairies take him to the “land of wishes,” where he tries to find his own wish and exchange it for another. While searching for the wish, he encounters many others, which are represented by elaborate song-and-dance numbers, performed by members of the Boston Ballet. Finally, as he feels himself stiffening up, he frees himself by wishing to just be himself. While a small amount of the work was filmed out of doors, the majority of the action takes place in a WGBH studio, with sets by Francis Mahard. The first production from the Rockefeller Foundation’s Artists in Television.
See May 1968 Program Guide for story.
- Asset Type
Clip
- Media Type
Video
- Subjects
- Wishes
- Trisler, Joyce, 1934-1979
- Drama
- Fairies
- Feldhaus-Weber, Mary
- Dance
- Morris, John
- Topics
- Film and Television
- Publication Information
- WGBH Educational Foundation
- Citation
- Chicago: “Rockefeller Artists in Television; I Wish I Might; Mary Feldhaus Weber's I Wish I Might,” GBH Archives, accessed December 22, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_7C9D2F518E7B4A5B98F05718B80940DC.
- MLA: “Rockefeller Artists in Television; I Wish I Might; Mary Feldhaus Weber's I Wish I Might.” GBH Archives. Web. December 22, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_7C9D2F518E7B4A5B98F05718B80940DC>.
- APA: Rockefeller Artists in Television; I Wish I Might; Mary Feldhaus Weber's I Wish I Might. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_7C9D2F518E7B4A5B98F05718B80940DC