Let me count the ways...
By Kathleen Barran / The Citizen
Romantics can glimpse into the life of two famous Victorian poets by attending “How Do I Love Thee,” an original historical romance at the Morgan Opera House this weekend.
The one-act play by Ithaca's Gail T. Felker, winner of the Gloria Peter Playwright Competition, provides a brief look at Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning's romantic courtship and early lives. The show explores the dynamics of her unique family.
Playwright Felker has a unique family as well, which served in a roundabout way as an inspiration for her play. Homeschooling her four children, she read biographies with them out loud.
“We were studying poetry,” she said, “and after reading the biography, ‘How Do I Love Thee?' by Helen Waite, I was thinking when the kids were grown it would make an interesting play. I never expected to win. I did it as a writing exercise.”
Felker is married to the Rev. Steven Felker, holds a B.A. in elementary education from Grove City College, Pa., and has directed, produced and acted in a number of plays.
“We're kind of a drama family,” she said. She plans to continue to write the “two or three books rattling in my brain.”
Barrett's relationship with her father, Edward, and two of her 11 siblings is pitted against her courtship with Robert Browning.
Elizabeth, born in 1806, the eldest of 12, contracted tuberculosis in her early teens. Home-schooled and self-taught, she began writing poetry at 6 or 8. She read Greek and Latin classics and even wrote her own epic poem.
Barrett's family moved to London, where, at 31, she continued to write. Three years later, her favorite brother drowned, her illness worsened and she remained bedridden for five years.
In 1845, poet Robert Browning, inspired by Barrett's poetry, wrote to her, they met and fell in love. Their courtship and marriage were secret because of her father's possessiveness. They moved to Florence, where she died in 1861.
The Morgan Opera House production begins with the Peter family's tribute to Gloria Barnell Peter and her husband George, both deceased. Then Barrett's “Sonnets from the Portuguese” and Browning's dramatic monologues will be read by Cornell professor Linda Van Buskirk and four Wells College professors: Bruce Bennett, Linda Lohn, Cynthia Garrett and Chris MacCormick.
Cast members are: Siouxzie Grady as Elizabeth Barrett, Mario Fiorico as Robert Browning, G. Alan Clugston as Edward Barrett, Elsa Dial as Henrietta, Alex Riad as George, Bird Cramer as nurse Wilson and Brian Francis as Dr. Chamber. Wells College student Natalie Kemper directed.
Excerpts from Robert Schumann's music will separate the scenes. Clugston, former professor of literature at Wells, recalled Robert and Clara Schumann's parallel romance and selected corresponding music.
The play ends in Florence as Elizabeth recites her famous poem “How Do I Love Thee” to Robert.
The Gloria Peter Theater Series was established in 2006 in memory of Gloria Barnell Peter, a local playwright and actress who died in 2005. Last fall, Aoise Stratford won the competition's first award for “Henry's Wives.”
Kathleen Barran
253-5311 ext. 238
kathleen.barran@lee.net
Romantics can glimpse into the life of two famous Victorian poets by attending “How Do I Love Thee,” an original historical romance at the Morgan Opera House this weekend.
The one-act play by Ithaca's Gail T. Felker, winner of the Gloria Peter Playwright Competition, provides a brief look at Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning's romantic courtship and early lives. The show explores the dynamics of her unique family.
Playwright Felker has a unique family as well, which served in a roundabout way as an inspiration for her play. Homeschooling her four children, she read biographies with them out loud.
“We were studying poetry,” she said, “and after reading the biography, ‘How Do I Love Thee?' by Helen Waite, I was thinking when the kids were grown it would make an interesting play. I never expected to win. I did it as a writing exercise.”
Felker is married to the Rev. Steven Felker, holds a B.A. in elementary education from Grove City College, Pa., and has directed, produced and acted in a number of plays.
“We're kind of a drama family,” she said. She plans to continue to write the “two or three books rattling in my brain.”
Barrett's relationship with her father, Edward, and two of her 11 siblings is pitted against her courtship with Robert Browning.
Elizabeth, born in 1806, the eldest of 12, contracted tuberculosis in her early teens. Home-schooled and self-taught, she began writing poetry at 6 or 8. She read Greek and Latin classics and even wrote her own epic poem.
Barrett's family moved to London, where, at 31, she continued to write. Three years later, her favorite brother drowned, her illness worsened and she remained bedridden for five years.
In 1845, poet Robert Browning, inspired by Barrett's poetry, wrote to her, they met and fell in love. Their courtship and marriage were secret because of her father's possessiveness. They moved to Florence, where she died in 1861.
The Morgan Opera House production begins with the Peter family's tribute to Gloria Barnell Peter and her husband George, both deceased. Then Barrett's “Sonnets from the Portuguese” and Browning's dramatic monologues will be read by Cornell professor Linda Van Buskirk and four Wells College professors: Bruce Bennett, Linda Lohn, Cynthia Garrett and Chris MacCormick.
Cast members are: Siouxzie Grady as Elizabeth Barrett, Mario Fiorico as Robert Browning, G. Alan Clugston as Edward Barrett, Elsa Dial as Henrietta, Alex Riad as George, Bird Cramer as nurse Wilson and Brian Francis as Dr. Chamber. Wells College student Natalie Kemper directed.
Excerpts from Robert Schumann's music will separate the scenes. Clugston, former professor of literature at Wells, recalled Robert and Clara Schumann's parallel romance and selected corresponding music.
The play ends in Florence as Elizabeth recites her famous poem “How Do I Love Thee” to Robert.
The Gloria Peter Theater Series was established in 2006 in memory of Gloria Barnell Peter, a local playwright and actress who died in 2005. Last fall, Aoise Stratford won the competition's first award for “Henry's Wives.”
Kathleen Barran
253-5311 ext. 238
kathleen.barran@lee.net
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