Patricia G Hegnauer, July 12, 1942 - May 17, 2017
“You don’t know why you do theater. You do it because you have to. It’s what you were meant to be doing.”
What's your favorite Pat Hegnauer story? I have so many of my own, but what I carry with me are the stories of those that she touched in her day-to-day life. Ever since I took on the (hyphenated) last name “Hegnauer,” I have met strangers who instantly regale me with their tales of Pat Hegnauer, who was the grande dame of Rhode Island Theatre. Even those who only met her once or twice start in with “Hegnauer? Are you related to Pat? She was incredible and…” It quickly became evident to me that I wasn’t just taking on my husband Jake’s name, but that I was also becoming part of something remarkable that surrounded his mother Pat.
I heard so many stories that they have become legends: how as an actress, teacher and director, Pat nurtured this playwright, or inspired that actor, or gave just the right note at just the right moment to transform a good performance into a great one. How, as a writer, Pat would capture painful truths in ways that were both beautiful and unapologetically real. The lore of Pat is one of a complex woman, standing strong in the face of a disease that should have killed her decades before it did, making art and fully living life. To know her was to be a little bit in awe of her, and in sharing her name, I have the gift of hearing stories from unexpected sources: Rhode Island is a small state, and it seems every third person has a Pat Hegnauer tale to tell.
A few years after I first met Pat, I was part of the team that began TAPA. Pat regretted that she was too sick to ever visit TAPA and its students. She would have loved the TAPA Stars: would have verbally sparred with the rappers, commiserated with the melodramatic poets, out-monologued the actors, and dressed the dancers in silk scarves. She would have sat with them and created with them, and truly heard them when they spoke. If Pat had been able to be part of TAPA, we would have another generation of Rhode Island artists with Pat Hegnauer stories to tell.
In this spirit, we have found another way for Pat’s story to live on at TAPA. Jake and I are endowing a scholarship to be given annually to a graduating TAPA senior who embodies the best of Pat Hegnauer. This money will allow these young people, who grew up in poverty but each possess a spark of Pat’s wit, or fearlessness, or poetry, or stubborn resolve, to go on to postsecondary education and carry forward Pat’s legacy. Jake and I are committing to an annual $2,500 donation to this scholarship, which Pat's daughter Rachel and son-in-law Nguyen are matching. $5,000 has the power to transform the lives of TAPA’s young artists, and it is our hope that this scholarship will grow further, ensuring that the "Pat Hegnauer stories” keep flowing for generations to come.
The First Annual Pat Hegnauer Memorial Scholarship will be given out at TAPA’s Senior Awards Night on June 6th. It would mean so much if you contributed by clicking the Donate button below.
With Gratitude,
Liz Richards-Hegnauer
TAPA Head of School
I heard so many stories that they have become legends: how as an actress, teacher and director, Pat nurtured this playwright, or inspired that actor, or gave just the right note at just the right moment to transform a good performance into a great one. How, as a writer, Pat would capture painful truths in ways that were both beautiful and unapologetically real. The lore of Pat is one of a complex woman, standing strong in the face of a disease that should have killed her decades before it did, making art and fully living life. To know her was to be a little bit in awe of her, and in sharing her name, I have the gift of hearing stories from unexpected sources: Rhode Island is a small state, and it seems every third person has a Pat Hegnauer tale to tell.
A few years after I first met Pat, I was part of the team that began TAPA. Pat regretted that she was too sick to ever visit TAPA and its students. She would have loved the TAPA Stars: would have verbally sparred with the rappers, commiserated with the melodramatic poets, out-monologued the actors, and dressed the dancers in silk scarves. She would have sat with them and created with them, and truly heard them when they spoke. If Pat had been able to be part of TAPA, we would have another generation of Rhode Island artists with Pat Hegnauer stories to tell.
In this spirit, we have found another way for Pat’s story to live on at TAPA. Jake and I are endowing a scholarship to be given annually to a graduating TAPA senior who embodies the best of Pat Hegnauer. This money will allow these young people, who grew up in poverty but each possess a spark of Pat’s wit, or fearlessness, or poetry, or stubborn resolve, to go on to postsecondary education and carry forward Pat’s legacy. Jake and I are committing to an annual $2,500 donation to this scholarship, which Pat's daughter Rachel and son-in-law Nguyen are matching. $5,000 has the power to transform the lives of TAPA’s young artists, and it is our hope that this scholarship will grow further, ensuring that the "Pat Hegnauer stories” keep flowing for generations to come.
The First Annual Pat Hegnauer Memorial Scholarship will be given out at TAPA’s Senior Awards Night on June 6th. It would mean so much if you contributed by clicking the Donate button below.
With Gratitude,
Liz Richards-Hegnauer
TAPA Head of School
