Tom, Steve and I went to the last of the nine performances of Egad, The Lady in White, a play by Tim Kelly. The title of the play comes from a mystery written by Wilkie Collins in 1859. Collins' book is considered one of the first modern mystery novels.
The cast of Egad! The Lady in White. If you click on the photo you will get a larger view of the cast members. Or you can look at the two photos below.
. Front row...Ann Barfels as Miss Peach, Peggy Allen as Countess Fosco, Larry Mills as Lawyer Gilmore, Marcha Hunley who was the Director of the play.
Back row...Linda Abbott asMaestro Lillian Buchanan, Kent Smith as Professor Smyth, Joe Ward as Sir Percival Glyde, and Victoria Kirby-Schwarber as Laura.
Front row...Gretchen Stommel as Amelia, Victoria Covarrubias as Mrs. Catherick, and Elizabeth Hickerson as Marian.
Back row...Stephanie Klein as Dora, Alan Kootsher as Frederic Fairlee, Aaron Ellis as Walter Hartright, and Stefanie Adams as Madame Evan-Mills.
If I have made errors in the identification of the cast members, please let me know.
Below is the cast plus a few of the other people who made this play possible. On the left, Greg Schaper who was one of the master carpenters as well as an usher and an official host during the intermission on Sunday when Tom, Steve and I attended.On the right are the co-producers, Valeria Amburgey, Dennis Murphy, and Elaine Volker. They also helped in other ways. Many other people were involved as well. I took this photo quickly as the cast and technicians were rearranging themselves for more photos.
It is always interesting to me to see how the stage area and the audience seats are set up for the various plays. For this play, they was set up to accommodate a thrust stage. What I think of as the normal stage area was the luxurious library of Sir Percival Glyde, Baronet, played by Joe Ward. In scene 7 of the second act, it became, with a change of props, a room in the parish church.
The forward thrust area was the Limmerage House, the home of Frederick Fairlie, a wealthy hypochondriac land-owner. In the second act, for one scene, it became a cell in Countess Fosco's asylum for the insane.
Between the two "homes" is an area which served as a path and as a corridor. I've pointed to this area with the arrow.
I know there must be technical names for all these sections of the performance area but I don't know them.
In this photo you can see the piano. The piano player, Linda Abbott, by playing the appropriate music, created an old-fashioned melodramatic atmosphere.
One of the traditions of The Drama Workshop since 1968 has been to have a Sword on the stage during every performance as a symbol of the continuous unity of performers and technicians. Some times it is easy to spot, sometimes its is hard to spot. Steve found it quickly. Do you see it? He had to tell Tom and me where it was. Hint: Only the hilt is easily visible.
As in many melodramas, the acts of the play were separated by musical interludes or "Olios". The Drama Workshop players developed their own Olios. We were treated to duets and solos by Stefani Adams (Madame Evan-Mills) and Kent Smith (Professor Smith). The songs were great fun, partly because the audience was invited to join in on some of them. It has been years since I have sung the chorus to Daisy, Daisy, (Bicycle Built for Two) and The Man on the Flying Trapeze. The Words for the choruses of When the Roll is Called Up Yonder and Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight were printed in the playbill.
The audience was encouraged to participate in other ways as well. We hissed and booed the villians and ahhed when we were touched by touching romantic scenes.
But, for Steve, the best part of the afternoon for Steve was visiting with his theater friends. They greeted one another with joy. He hugged them and they hugged him.
Usually we spend time talking with our son, Ray and his wife,Gretchen, but since Ray is on a three year assignment to London, UK we didn't do that. They are still active with the theater. He plans to design sets and she is on the Marketing Committee. They will communicate via the Internet. It is a wonderful world that we live in.
Hope you get to visit London while your son is there! What fun the wardrobe gal must have had! :)
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