Caris' Peace Premieres At HIFF - 27 East

Arts & Living

Arts & Living / 1368830

Caris' Peace Premieres At HIFF

icon 3 Photos

Flea Theater New York City 9/25/2005 Caris Corfman performs her one woman show at the Flea Theater. Caris has lost her short term memory due to a brain tumor but has returned to the stage. Photo by Michael Falco for the New York Times

authorDawn Watson on Oct 11, 2011

Caris Corfman once had the theatrical world by the tail—she was a standout student at the Yale School of Drama, acted on the Broadway stage and earned a handful of leading roles in films. But then tragedy struck, and she was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1993.

Her story, “Caris’ Peace,” a feature-length documentary directed by Gaylen Ross, will be told during the Hamptons International Film Festival during its world premiere. Many famous faces, mostly friends from her days at Yale, appear in the documentary, including Kate Burton, Lewis Black and Rebecca Nelson.

“Caris was just the most original, interesting young actress. She was like a young Judi Dench. And she was beautiful, by the way, a real stunner,” Ms. Burton said during a telephone interview last week from Los Angeles. “She had so much vibrance and talent. She accomplished a lot of things, even when things started to go awry.”

Ms. Corfman’s short-term memory, key for an actress whose livelihood depended on memorizing dialog, was lost. Her once head-turning beauty was ravaged by the effects of the benign pituitary tumor, which stimulated an uncontrollable appetite particularly damaging as she was diabetic. And she suffered from excruciating, debilitating headaches.

Prior to the diagnosis, her friends noticed the dramatic changes in her appearance and her personality but they mostly chalked it up to either “actor blues” or perhaps mid-life health issues. Nobody, least of all Ms. Corfman, suspected a tumor.

“Before we knew what was going on, nobody could figure out why she was all of a sudden so angry at things,” Ms. Nelson, her good friend and “Caris’ Peace” documentary collaborator said during a phone interview at her home last week. “She was getting really bad headaches and it was difficult for her to deal with.”

In spite of it all, Ms. Nelson said that her friend was an exceptional person and a highly talented actress.

“She was brave, funny, spontaneous. She was willing to take risks and do things that were outrageous and spur-of-the-moment,” Ms. Nelson said. “She was a doer.”

In the film, Mr. Black said that his friend was like “champagne.”

Last week, while touring in Illinois, the comedian and Yale School of Drama graduate explained what he meant during a telephone interview.

“You open a bottle of champagne to celebrate something,” he said. “She always had that sense of celebrating life. There was this life force that went through her. It sounds trite but she was bubbly.”

In hindsight, the clues added up, Ms. Burton said.

“She said, ‘I’m having trouble memorizing things,’ that was the beginning. She was 37.”

Mr. Black recalled the moment when he noticed that something wasn’t right with his friend.

“I was walking down the street, literally around Times Square, and I turned around and saw her. She already did not look good. I knew something was up,” he said. “In retrospect, things she had been doing [meaning her personality and physical changes] started to become clear.”

Though in dire health for years, Ms. Corfman gradually improved. And could not be kept from her passion, according to Ms. Ross.

“She wanted to be back on the stage, she wanted to work again,” Ms. Ross said. “She volunteered. She licked envelopes for fundraising just to be near the theater.”

The tumor and four subsequent operations could not keep Ms. Corfman down. After a decade-long hiatus from the stage, she returned in 2005 with her one-woman show, “Caris’ Peace,” at the Flea Theater in Manhattan. She used note cards to aid her with her lines. The talented actress commanded the stage and gave, according to those who attended, a beautiful and moving performance.

“It was just phenomenal. She was like a racehorse that gets back on the track,” Ms. Ross remembered. “It was stunning, it looked like she had never left.”

Ms. Nelson said that before the performance, she was afraid for her friend.

“I wasn’t sure what was going to happen once she got on the stage, but once she got there, my fear went away. She was in control and it was like magic,” she said.

Ms. Corfman’s joie de vivre shined through in her performance, as well as in the film about her, Mr. Black said.

“You don’t meet a lot of unique people in your life,” he said. “Somebody like her comes along and you want to be like ‘Why are you so f-----g happy?’ But that was her and it was all right.”

Ms. Nelson and Ms. Ross said that the overall takeaway from their friend’s story is about overcoming obstacles.

“The idea of being able to inspire people was always in the back of my mind,” Ms. Ross said. “I hope this film does that.

“Caris’ Peace will screen on Friday, October 14, at 11:30 a.m. and Monday, October 17, at 3 p.m. at UA East Hampton.

You May Also Like:

Catalyst Quartet Performs on Shelter Island

The Shelter Island Friends of Music will present the Grammy Award-winning Catalyst Quartet in a ... 1 Apr 2025 by Staff Writer

BCM Welcomes the Danish String Quartet to Kick Off Its Spring Series

This is the time of year when Marya Martin, founder and artistic director of Bridgehampton ... by Annette Hinkle

Book Review: Kevin Wade’s Crime Novel 'Johnny Careless' Delves Into the World of Small Town Police Work

The insider world of Kevin Wade’s crime novel “Johnny Careless” will not surprise fans of ... by Joan Baum

‘Architecture of the Overflow’ With Emily Johnson at The Church

Have a seat on one of the many quilts that will be laid out in ... by Staff Writer

Fourth Annual Creativity Conference at The Church

On Saturday, April 5, The Church will host its fourth annual Creativity Conference. The daylong event begins with coffee and breakfast for all attendees at 9:30 a.m. A lunch break will be offered from noon to 1 p.m. (lunch not included). Composer Carter Burwell will lead off the presentations at 10 a.m. with “Why do films have music.” Burwell worked for years scoring Coen Brothers films and won an Academy Award for scoring Todd Haynes’s “Carol.” He also received nominations for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and “The Banshees of Inisherin.” Next up will be Lucy Jacobs, a magnetic speaker ... 31 Mar 2025 by Staff Writer

Sag Harbor's Peter Browngardt's Makes His First Looney Tunes Feature

Just a few weeks ago, Peter Browngardt, a creator, writer, executive producer and director of ... by Annette Hinkle

'Writing From Art: Poetry, Prose and the Lyric Essay'

Explore the possibilities of creative writing and develop new connections between visual art and the written word in a two-session workshop at The Church on Tuesday, April 8, and Thursday, April 10. Led by published poet and scholar Star Black, this two-session literary workshop will focus on the idea of ekphrasis, an Ancient Greek term meaning “the use of detailed description of a work of visual art as a literary device.” Inspired by the works featured in “Eternal Testament,” the current exhibition at The Church, participants will generate a series of creative texts detailing their unique experiences of selected pieces ... by Staff Writer

April Gornik Discusses ‘Figures du Fou’

On Sunday, April 27, join artist April Gornik for a richly illustrated virtual walk-through of the “Figures du Fou” (Figures of the Fool) exhibition that opened on October 16, 2024 at the Louvre Museum and closed on February 5, 2025. The talk begins at 3 p.m. “Figures of the Fool” was brilliantly curated by Elisabeth Antoine-König and Pierre-Yves Le Pogam. Gornik will share slides, talk about the curators’ intent and introduce her own insights and ideas. Along the way, she will invite thoughts and comments from the audience and, at the end, there will be a more formal question-and-answer period. ... by Staff Writer

The Ultimate Tribute to the Music of Bon Jovi

The Suffolk presents Don Jovi, the ultimate tribute to the music of Bon Jovi, on ... by Staff Writer

Opening Reception for Shimon Okshteyn Exhibition

On March 21, an opening reception was held for “Shimon Okshteyn: The Artists Estate/Part 1: ... by Staff Writer