Armed with an undergraduate degree in speech and theater, Helen S. (Probst) Sheehy ’70 set out from Wichita State eager for life’s adventures. “WSU gave me confidence, a confidence rooted in the fact that I had a solid educational base and the tools to continue to learn and grow,” she says.
Under the tutelage of educators Dick Welsbacher, Joyce Cavarozzi, Warren Kliewer and Jack Craig, among others, she was inspired to combine and pursue her interests in education, theater and writing.
“So many of my professors loved to teach, but they also wrote, acted, directed, consulted and were enthusiastic about their work. I wanted a life like that.”
The next three decades found Sheehy involved and enthusiastic about teaching at the Hartford Stage Company and at Southern Connecticut State University, publishing several biographies on influential stage actresses and co-authoring an annual desk diary called On Writers and Writing.
Her newest book, Eleanora Duse: A Biography, about the famous Italian actress, was published this year by Knopf Publishing. A previous work, Eva Le Gallienne: A Biography, was met with critical praise. The New York Times Book Review cited it as one of the best books of 1996.
Sheehy’s favorite book has long been Homer’s Odyssey. “For me,” she says, “writing is a kind of odyssey, an adventure that takes me places I’ve never been before.”
