Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 16: EVENTS
Series 33: DRAMA
THE MOONSTONE
1944 Play
Burkham School stage with play. ( “The Moonstone”?) Arthur W. Dodd Album. [dodd_A_047_mod.jpg]
TAGS: Wilkie Collins, WWII, The Pine Cone, mystery novels, suspense novels, English detective novels, student performers, Edna O. Spinney, Minerva M. Sparrow
DRAMA 1944 The Moonstone
A Mystery Play in Three Acts
By Wilkie Collins (1824-1889)
Presented at PMSS on May 5, 1944
Wilkie Collins adapted his book THE MOONSTONE to the theatre in 1934. By 1944 the play was still a popular theatre production and one that was loved by detective story enthusiasts as well as play-goers. The intrigue was a welcome relief from the War raging in Europe. Many PMSS students had left to serve in the War. Martha Lewis writing for The Pine Cone in January of 1944 notes that “…at the close of school last year the number of Pine Mountain students in service was 102; now there are 150.”
It is easy to see why teachers at Pine Mountain chose the play as the book had consistently been regarded
… by some as the precursor of the modern mystery novel and the suspense novel. T. S. Eliot called it “the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels in a genre invented by Collins and not by Poe.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moonstone
It rarely failed to enthrall an audience. The Pine Mountain production included staff as well as student performers.
Like many of the plays during the Boarding School years, the production was the work of students with faculty assigned “coaching” roles. The two coaches for this production were two favorite staff members, Edna O. Spinney and Minerva M. Sparrow (misspelled in the program).
GALLERY: “The Moonstone” Program
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- The Moonstone: A Mystery Play in Three Acts, page 01. [moonstone_001.jpg]
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- The Moonstone: A Mystery Play in Three Acts, page 02. [moonstone_002.jpg]
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- The Moonstone: A Mystery Play in Three Acts, page 03. [moonstone_003.jpg]
TRANSCRIPTION
Page 01 (cover). [moonstone_001.jpg]
THE MOONSTONE
A Mystery Play in Three Acts
Given by the Senior Class at
Pine Mountain Settlement School
on Friday, May 5, 1944
Page 02. [moonstone_002.jpg]
THE MOONSTONE
from the novel
by Wilkie Collins
CAST OF CHARACTERS
(In order of appearance)
Gabriel Betteredge………………………………James Bishop
Penelope…………………………………………….Freda Adams
Nancy…………………………………………………Alpha Blair
Lady Julia Verinder……………………………..Jane Bishop
Rachel Verinder…………………………………Martha Lewis
First Hindoo………………………………………William Hayes
Second Hindoo…………………………………William Webb
Rosanna Spearman………………………….Elizabeth Irick
Franklin Blake…………………………………..John Deaton
Laura Ablewhite……………………………….Opal Hall
Anne Ablewhite……………………………….Viola Gambrel
Murthwaite……………………………………..Steve Boatright
Mathew Bruff………………………………….Walker Franklin
Caroline Ablewhite………………………….Audrey Boggs
Crusilla Clack………………………………….Mildred Centers
Dr. Candy……………………………………….Marie Williams
Godfrey Ablewhite………………………….William Blair, Jr.
Sergeant Cuff…………………………………Harold Reynolds
Lucy Yolland…………………………………..Patsy Hall
Coaches
Miss Edna O. Spinney
Miss Minerva M. Sparrow
Page 03. [moonstone_003.jpg]
THE SCENE
The entire action of the play passes in the drawing-room of
Lady Verinder’s country house in Yorkshire, England.
ACT ONE
Scene 1 May 25, 1890, about noon
Scene 2 June 21, 1890, about nine-thirty in the evening
ACT TWO
Scene 1 The following Friday morning, two days later
Scene 2 Late the same day
Scene 3 The following morning, Saturday
ACT THREE
Scene 1 A late afternoon the following September
Scene 2 The next evening after midnight
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