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Durango Library continues series with two tales
Group will present stories by writers from New England
Special to the Herald
Photo by STEVE LEWIS/Herald
From left, Maureen May, Tom Hafnor, Judy Hook, Larry Hartsfield and Joel Jones rehearse in Hook’s home Oct. 28. The group will perform dramatic readings of “The Devil and Daniel Webster” and “The Revolt of Mother” on Wednesday night at the Durango Public Library.
If you go
The Durango Public Library’s Spoken Word Series presents “New England Grit: Two American Tales,” A Readers’ Theater Production, at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Program Rooms 1 and 2 at the library. Directed by Judy Hook with actors Larry Hartsfield, Joel Jones, Maureen May, Katherine Burgess and Tom Hafnor. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 375-3380.
The two men are part of a small cast of six who will offer a one-hour program 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Durango Public Library. Titled "New England Grit," the program features adaptations of two American short stories.
Stephen Vincent Benét's "The Devil and Daniel Webster" is a well-known tall tale based on the Faust legend. Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's "The Revolt of Mother" is less well-known but has been anthologized and is taught in college classrooms.
"Until the last 20 years," Hartsfield said in a recent interview, "Mary Wilkins Freeman has typically been treated as a minor local color writer, but her voice has been resuscitated by recent feminist critics who have recognized in her stories a doubleness that captures one of the essential dilemmas for women both in the 19th century and the 21st - a desire for rebellious flight from the safety of the familiar." In contrast, the Benét story became famous when it first appeared in 1937 in the Saturday Evening Post, Judy Hook said in a recent interview. Hook is a retired speech and drama teacher in the Durango public schools. She will direct the Spoken Word program. Hook appeared in the inaugural library event last January, a dramatic reading of Dylan Thomas's "Under Milk Wood." Hartsfield, Maureen May and Tom Hafnor also appeared in the Thomas work and will join this year's cast along with Katherine Burgess.
New England Grit is the working title for the evening, Hook said in a recent interview: "Last winter, I was so inspired by the first program we gave at the library," she said, "that I knew 'The Devil and Daniel Webster' would make a good evening's entertainment." Benét's short story first became popular in the late 1930s, Hook said.
"It was later made into a play, an opera, and a motion picture titled 'All That Money Can Buy.' And now I've adapted the story for readers' theater," she said. "It's a different way to present a work of literature; the style is dramatic, but the piece is not written as a play. You may separate out the dialogue, but you include a narrator. It's a wonderful form, partly because you don't have to pay royalties." Hook's Michigan cousin, Margie Lynn, adapted "The Revolt of Mother." "She belongs to a readers' theater group and sent me her script when she learned we were thinking of starting a Spoken Word Series at our new library.
"This is theater of the mind," Hook said, but there will be no costumes or staging, just actors giving a dramatic reading. We hope audience members will see it as an opportunity to visualize characters and complete the stories in their own imagination." Audience members will again be invited to suggest future programs. Adaptations of folk tales, classic stories, and contemporary works are particularly appropriate. Two earlier programs arose from suggestions: In September, Tales from The Arabian Nights were presented in collaboration with the San Juan Symphony season opener. In October, wildlife readings coincided with the college's Common Reading Experience, "The Beast in the Garden." The next Spoken Word program, on Dec. 2, will feature 10-minute plays, organized by retired FLC drama professor Dinah Leavitt Swan and Col. Terry Swan. It will coincide with a first anniversary celebration of the new Durango Public Library. All Spoken Word programs are free.
Judith Reynolds is a Durango writer, artist and critic. Reach her at Jud_reyn@yahoo.com.
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