SEPTEMBER 16, 2021

Forty Year Retrospective – Directed by Shirlee H. Shields

     We’ve come a long way, baby!  This performance celebrates the highlights from four decades of successful seasons past.  Come reminisce with us as we revisit the best of the best.

 

OCTOBER 21,  2021

Two by Stephen King – Directed by Tobin Atkinson

     Just in time for Halloween come two from the master of the macabre, Stephen King.  While his novels like The Shining, The Stand, Carrie, Cujo, Misery, and The Green Mile have been adapted into movies, the Babcock Performing Readers turn their attention to two of King’s short stories for an evening of haunting chills, unexpected thrills, and good old fashioned goosebumps.

 

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

A Thanksgiving Visitor, by Truman Capote – Directed by David Pack

     Truman Capote’s tender side comes out in this early short story.  This reminiscence of Thanksgiving in an old country home was written to be read aloud.  Young Buddy learns “graciousness, compassion, and forgiveness” when his eccentric elderly cousin and best friend, Miss Sook, convinces him to include the feared, scrawny 12 year-old tormenter, Odd Henderson at the Thanksgiving dinner.  “He can’t help acting ugly; he don’t know different.”

 

DECEMBER 16, 2021

A Chorus of Christmas – Directed by Kathleen Atkinson

     Choral speaking isn’t just for Greek tragedies.  Hear two of America’s favorite Christmas tales, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” performed by a chorus.  Both pieces are narrative poems written in couplets which lend themselves especially well to a verse choir.  All ages will be delighted by this unique rendering of these Christmas standards.

 

JANUARY 20, 2022

Spoon River Anthology, by Edgar Lee Masters – Hosted by Tobin Atkinson

     The characters in Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology have been charming audiences for over a hundred years.  The ghostly denizens of the Spoon River cemetery share their triumphs, disappointments, deepest loves, broken hearts, humble wisdom, and cynical philosophies in over 200 poetic epigrams.  We’ve selected some of the more powerful poems for our audience participation night and invite you to join us on stage to bring Spoon River to life for one magical evening.

 

FEBRUARY 17, 2022

Variances of Love – Directed by Enid Atkinson

     What is your definition of love?  Does love feel the same for everyone?  In celebration of Valentine’s Day, our February show will contain several one-act plays that revolve around the subject of love.  We will see love in varying degrees, stages, intensities, appearances, and situations.  Your perception may change…

 

MARCH 17, 2022

Spring Training – Directed by Gary Pimentel and Brad Nygren

     Some of America’s greatest literature includes the romanticism and realism of the national pastime.  From its 19th century origins to the present, baseball continues to inspire many of our nation’s finest poets and essayists, whose literary works often become classics.  Longfellow, Whitman, Hemingway and Roth use the game to express something fundamental about America, and to examine what the sport’s metaphors and images have to tell us about ourselves.

 

APRIL 21, 2022

Why I Live at the P.O., by Eudora Welty – Adapted and directed by Ron Frederickson

This most anthologized of Eudora Welty short stories is a comic masterpiece.  The narrator and protagonist, known by her family as “Sister,” explains how she came to leave the family home in China Grove, Mississippi and move to the post office where she works.  In the process, she reveals her own character and a good many family secrets.

The Still Alarm, by George S. Kaufman, Directed by Gordon S. Jones

This short play shows you how to keep cool when your hotel is on fire.

 

MAY 19, 2022

Oral Interpretation 101 – Hosted by Joyce Wilson

Traditionally, this month’s performance is an open-mike event for readers of all abilities to share a piece of their own choosing.  This year, in closing our 40th season, the readers will present literary pieces found in the 1930 textbook used by students in Maud May Babcock’s oral interpretation classes.  At the April performance, those wishing to read in May will have opportunity to choose a piece drawn from the 1930 textbook by our historian.  All pieces will be of a length that allows for a 5-minute time limit.