The Day After The Fair

Another successful Fine Arts weekend was experienced with the presentation of Frank Harvey's The Day After The Fair. Director Steve Shrader, Producer Lee Peters and their cast of Laura Bartell (Edith), John Denler (Arthur), Joann Koch (Letty), Laura Ver Beek (Anna), Shaun Day (Charles) and Gina Telford (Sarah) can be proud of their efforts.
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In the turn-of-the-century love story, Anna, a servant befriended by her mistress, meets an attractive stranger at the country town fair. A second meeting leads to not unexpected amorous consequences. Charles, a budding barrister, returns to London, but initiates a series of love letters between the two. Edith, the not happily married mistress, assists Anna with her letters, which eventually lead to a proposal of marriage and a rather surprising ending.
The play is true to the short story On the Western Circuit by Thomas Hardy.
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The set, based on a design by Darryl Clement for Theatre Britain was marvelous, giving the illusion of a carousel, which plays an important part in the telling of the story.

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The period costuming, by members Laurie Striebel, Sharon Conti and Norma Eschenberg was breathtaking. A number of the dresses were pulled from our storage, patched, pinned, repaired and otherwise adjusted to put the characters into not only the right time period, but more importantly the right frame of mind.
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Numerous period props were collected and manufactured by Geri Day and her crew, including a Halma board. What's that, you say?
Check out http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Halma.htm
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And the music between scenes provided a continuity to keep the audience spellbound throughout the evening. It was composed, performed and recorded by Christopher George and kindly supplied for Fine Arts' enjoyment by Theatre Britain http://www.theatre-britain.com/
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Jan Robb displayed an array of beautiful pottery pieces in The Founders Room during the pre-show wine reception and intermission.
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The evening was topped off by a delectable "light supper" served to us in their usual style by The Gourmet? Group.

And true-to-form, the last to leave The Playhouse were (you guessed it) Grete & Peter Rettig and Patti & Bob Phillips.

The Amabile Bach Ensemble

The Amabile Bach Ensemble provided a wonderful evening of music by JS Bach for the Chamber Music at The Playhouse series on Thurday evening, March 8. The Founder's Room of The Players Playhouse turned out to be a perfect fit for this music.

Susan Clark Joul started us off and wowed the audience with the cello solo Suite No. 1 in G Major (BWV 1007).

Not to be outdone, the foursome consisting of Catherine Sherwin (flute), Sonia Lee (violin), Ms. Joul (cello) and Angelina Pashmakova (harpsichord) completed the Trio Sonata IV in c minor, from the Musical Offering (BWV 1079) absolutely flawlessly.

Then, after lovely refreshments provided by the Fine Arts ladies, Ms. Joul's wonderful voice led the way through the cantata "Weichet nur, betrubte Schatten," (BWV 202). The accompaniment of the mini-orchestra consisting of Ms. Lee and Michael J. McGillivray on violins, Lynne Marie Flegg on oboe, Constance Marckwick on viola, Eugene Zenzen on cello, Ms. Pashmakova on harpsichord and Dale Anderson on double bass was something to both see and hear. The balance between musicians allowed us to hear every note from every instrument. Fabulous!!!