Cemetery Walk Is Success

The Mason Historical Society hosted its annual Cemetery Walk with the help of MCP. The event was held this week on Tuesday, October 8th, at Rose Hill Cemetery, the traditional site of the Walk. There were 205 people in attendance, making this year’s event an extremely successful one. The Historical Society was once again very pleased with the performances and grateful for MCP’S participation.
This year, instead of portraying past residents of Mason who did not necessarily have a connection to each other, MCP members brought to life individuals who were connected to Rebecca McClung. Rebecca has been portrayed during the walk for many consecutive years, because of the interest in her story. She was found murdered in her home (the current location of the Thai Terrace Restaurant) in April of 1901. Her death has remained a mystery with no one being convicted of the crime and there are many stories of her spirit remaining in both the building that was her home and in Rose Hill Cemetery.
Director Mary Beth Riesenberg led a troupe of ten MCPers in their presentations. Tom Caruso began the event with a Prologue explaining the theme of the event and introducing the former residents who would be represented. Sonya Neff portrayed Rebecca McClung, the victim and key character in the evening’s event. Tim Geering was tasked with portraying John McClung. John was Rebecca’s husband and was accused of her murder. Trish Cooper was Martha Duvall Dawson. Martha was Rebecca’s mother, who shared the story of John and Rebecca’s marriage and life together. Sallie Baysore was brought to life by Alisha Flaherty. Sallie lived in the same building as John and Rebecca, but in separate quarters. Sallie heard Rebecca’s screams that fateful day. David Hesson portrayed the nephew of Sallie’s friend, Albert Dill. The nephew, also named Albert, was chosen to speak for his uncle since the elder Dill was not buried in Rose Hill. Albert came to breakfast in the morning to discover all of the commotion. Gail Rudolph portrayed Sarah Jane McClung Jordan. Sarah took her brother John in after the murder. Steve Catlin was Dr. Clayton Thomas Hall, the coroner who examined Rebecca’s body and declared that she had been murdered. Scott Mussari portrayed Mayor John W. Lowe. As Mason’s Mayor, he conducted court the Monday following the murder. Michele Deremo portrayed Minerva Hageman. Minerva was the wife of Reverend Hageman. As a part of her story, she represented the townspeople and their reactions to what had occurred.
Each of the actors worked diligently on their character to represent their piece of the overall story and the personality and relationship of their character. And their efforts really paid off!
The Historical Society kindly makes a donation to MCP from the profits of the Walk, but the event is primarily a fundraiser for the Historical Society. It has been MCP’s honor to be a part of this special event. The first year of participation was 2012. COVID prevented the event from being held for two years, and students from Mason High School provided the actors one year, by our count, this was the tenth partnership with the Historical Society in presenting the Cemetery Walk. Here’s to many, many more!

Community Connections

Responders and Orchid Awards? 

After responders attend a show, they are responsible for completing two tasks - one is to write a written response about what they observed and the other is to nominate individuals who show excellence in some area of theatre through the production observed. If two or three responders who attend a production nominate an individual, that person is honored with an Orchid Award. The Award is designed to recognize the dedication and skill shown as a part of the production in question.
An individual has the opportunity to be recognized in 35 different categories, five of those as a member of a group being honored.
Performers can receive Excellence in Acting in a Play or in Musical Theatre Performance, in Orchestral Performance, in Ensemble (either for the entire cast or some group within it), or in Overall Performance Quality. There are awards for Excellence in Choreography, Costume Design, Dialect Coaching, Hair/Wigs, Light Design, Make-Up, Musical Direction, Properties, Set Decor, Set Design, Sound Design, Special Effects, Stage Combat, Stage Management, Video Production Design, and Vocal Direction. One can receive an Orchid for Light Execution, Set Construction, Sound Execution, Video Production Execution, or Overall Technical Quality. There are Orchids for House, Lobby Display, Photography, Pre-Show, Program, and Program Art. And, of course, an individual can receive Excellence in Directing or Excellence in Producing. What if there is something in the production that is noteworthy but there is no category for it? Well then, a responder can choose to nominate absolutely anything they want in the category of “Other.” And, don’t think that one cannot win an award because that is so broad and two responders won’t nominate. There have definitely been awards in that category and sometimes all three responders nominate the individual or a group of individuals for excellence.
We don’t do theatre to receive awards. We do theatre to entertain, to speak a message, and to share our talents. But it is nice to be recognized for a job well done since everyone involved is volunteering. The program is subjective. Some will get passed over. Some who do not deserve recognition for one reason or another will be honored. There will always be flaws to any program that seeks to recognize, but ACT tries to imbue the program with fairness to honor a great many people for sharing themselves with community theatre.