Local playwright tackles oil story

Hundred-year-old issue debuts on Sullivan stage

By FRITZ MAYER

fritzmayer@riverreporter.com

LOCH SHELDRAKE, NY — One hundred years ago, John D. Rockefeller had nearly cornered the market on oil refining in the United States. He had become one of the most powerful men in the country and the richest man in the world. But a muckraking journalist, who wrote for McClure’s Magazine, hounded him and exposed many illegal acts that he had perpetrated. The journalist was a woman named Ida Tarbell, whose father was a small oil producer who had been put out of business by Rockefeller.

With elements of greed, vast wealth and dysfunctional families, the story had the elements of a good drama, and that’s what local playwright Bill Duncan set out to write three years ago. Now his play, called “Trust,” will performed at Sullivan County Community College in a production that is a joint venture of the college and the Sullivan County Dramatic Workshop.

Duncan, who taught history and social studies for 27 years at Fallsburg Central High School, said he was always fascinated with the muckrakers, who were a group of journalists who worked during the first decade of the 20th century.

Being a woman, Tarbell didn’t have the access to powerful men that her male counterparts had. Therefore, she relied, in large part, on studying paper trails to get her information. Duncan said, “Rockefeller carried on these shady dealings, but he didn’t really erase the paper trail because up to that time nobody had thought to follow it, and that is really Tarbell’s great contribution.”

Tarbell spent countless hours pouring over records in county buildings, courthouses and libraries, and while publishing a series of articles over the course of 18 months, Duncan said, “painted a devastating picture of the exploitation that Standard Oil and Rockefeller were engaged in.” Duncan said Tarbell’s work showed that Rockefeller was “buying legislators, that he was paying bribes.” He was also tampering with witnesses and working very hard to avoid subpoenas.

During this time, Rockefeller’s family suffered several misfortunes. According to Duncan, Rockefeller’s wife and three of his children suffered breakdowns during dates that coincided with the publication of the articles. Duncan said historians know about the breakdowns and about Tarbell’s work, but none have connected the two things in the past. He believes there is a direct connection between the two.

The intense relationship between Tarbell and Rockefeller is the core of the play, but it also includes relationships within the families, and especially between the central figures and their fathers. In real life, Tarbell and Rockefeller never met face to face, but Duncan’s work is not a documentary. Therefore, he said, “they’re meeting on this stage. Oh yeah, they’ll meet.”

“Trust” will be staged at the college theatre on April 25, 26 and May 6 at 8:00 p.m., and on April 27 at 2:00 p.m.

Tickets, available at the door, are $16 for adults, $14 for seniors and $7 for students.