VARIED LIVESSYNOPSIS: VARIED LIVES © 2017 by Patrick Thomas McCarthy ptmc
Mr. Donald John Falstaff, a brewing magnate from Milwaukee, striving for more than just a quiet weekend in the country, throws Mr. Fenton Philip Ford's estate, Ford Farms, and its all male cast of characters into chaos. Set in a time when gay marriage wasn’t even a topic for discussion and adoption the only legal recourse, VARIED LIVES examines the relationships of 6 men who opt for the only solutions available to them. "Modelled" upon Shakespeare’s MERRY WIVES of WINDSOR, VARIED LIVES is set in the 1930s American Midwest and loosely imagined from the life & times of American philanthropist Robert Allerton and Allerton Park. 
VARIED LIVESCharacters 6 men
Modell ‘Moddy’ Tyrone Smith – 20’s Mr. Teddy Turner – the butler – 40’s/50’s Satchel Jefferson – 20’s Mr. Fenton Philip Ford – 40's/50's Mr. Princeton Percival Page – 40's/50's Mr. Donald John Falstaff – a brewer from Milwaukee – 40's/50's Off stage characters/voices Cook, Gardener, Knockers, Pullman, Poolman, Nickels, Knuckles SETTING: A country estate’s kitchen in the American Heartland TIME FRAME: Autumn 1930 
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Robert AllertonROBERT ALLERTON 1873 – 1964
The only son of banker Samuel Allerton, Robert Allerton was born in 1873 in Chicago. Robert originally aspired to be an artist, but after several years spent studying and painting in Europe, returned to the U.S. to manage the family’s agricultural holdings. Robert never ceased to study and acquire art and became an honorary president and trustee of the Art Institute (the main building there bears his name). During his lifetime, Allerton donated over 6,600 pieces to the museum, making him one of the most dedicated patron-benefactors in its history. Of the original sculptures and artifacts acquired during his travels and donated to the Art Institute of Chicago, prototypes and replicas of many of his favorites found their way to the gardens at The Farms. There Robert and John spent 40 years creating gardens to highlight Robert’s growing collection of sculpture. Once during a stopover in the Hawaiian Islands, the inveterate travelers Robert and John purchased a beachfront tract of land on the island of Kauai. In the ensuing years, Lawaii-Kai, as the new estate was named, received worldwide attention. In 1964, the Kauai property, through an Act of Congress and a substantial endowment from Mr. Allerton, was established as the National Tropical Botanic Garden (NTBG). Today, the Allerton Garden (Lawaii-Kai) and the NTBG are a showplace and major research center for rare tropical plants. In 1946, Robert Allerton moved to Kauai and initiated the first major gift ever given to the University of Illinois. He gave The Farms to the University for use as “an educational and research center, as a forest and wildlife and plantlife reserve, as an example of landscape architecture, and as a public park.” He also committed the income from 5,500 acres of farmland for the Park’s care. Concurrently, 250 additional acres of land within the estate’s boundaries were given to establish the Illinois 4-H Memorial Camp. Allerton’s legacy as an artist-naturalist in Illinois and Hawaii are unrivaled. His gift to the University of Illinois remains one of the largest ever. Today Allerton Park & Retreat Center is a treasure to anyone who discovers and experiences it. For more information on Robert Allerton we recommend Robert Allerton: The Private Man & the Public Gifts and Allerton’s Paradises. 
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