April 22-30, 2006 Silver Creek Campus Performing Arts Center
Snowflake, AZ

Directed by Mike Solomonson
Members of Mike Solomonson’s Northland Pioneer College class, “From Page to Stage,” Elissia Johnston and Debe Sauro-Betts, adapted Susan Glaspell’s 1928 novel Brook Evans for the stage as “Intimations from the Brook”. On Saturday, April 22, Martha Carpentier gave an introductory lecture prior to the opening night performance; the following week on April 29 Linda Ben-Zvi gave a guest lecture, both visits courtesy of Northland Pioneer College.

Stage Manager, Monyca Stewart
Makeup Design, Lindsay Burgess
Set, Light & Costume Design, Debra Fisher
Light Board Operator, Kevin Hanson
Original Score, Benjamin Schoening
CAST

Amy Ramsay as young Naomi
Donovan Stole as Joe
Brian McLane as Caleb Evans
Charlotte Skousen as mature Naomi
Brittan Pyper as young Brook Evans
Lisa Jayne as mature Brook
Marissa Decker as Mrs. Copeland,
Barry Richins as Colonel Fowler,
Gabe Sierra as Erik Helge,
Lorie Williams as Mrs. Kellogg,
Breana Holladay as Mrs. Allen,
Malori Jo Rhinehart as Sister Waite,
Deanna Bailey as Aunt Rosie,
James C. Thompson as Uncle Willie,
Luke Walton as Evans, and
Jeff Jones as grandfather Caleb

A Program Note from Mike:

“The majority of scholars who are researching, writing, and rightfully resurrecting the literary reputation of Susan Glaspell are women. So one might ask how did I make a personal connection with Glaspell. In part, and at the risk of sounding simplistic, I think it is because we are native Iowans. When I read her plays, such as Inheritors, I recognize a person who shared my Iowa experiences and the challenges and quirks that result from living and growing up in a small, rural environment. Part of the conflict that I related to in reading her works was the contest between living the conventional life (what young Brook might call doing the “right thing”), and the realization of a more complex world beyond the idyllic country. It is this world that offered opportunities for greater self-fulfillment, but that demanded unconventional choices. What often results in Glaspell’s work is a war between the desire to make the unconventional choice and the demand that the “right thing” be chosen and honored. The tension between these two standards is both a personal, internal struggle that Glaspell’s characters fight, and a battle imposed on her characters by society and its various human representatives. It is one of the thematic elements found in much of her work and that informs her novel Brook Evans, and inspired my desire to collaborate with Elissia and Debe on our adaptation.”

Introductory Lecture on “Brook Evans” answers the questions, “Why haven’t I ever heard of Glaspell’s novel Brook Evans?” and “Why does it speak to us today?”