Date: Fri 02-May-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DONNAM

Location: A9

Quick Words:

Twain-farce-Standard-preview

Full Text:

(preview of "American Standard"/benefit for Mark Twain Library, 5/2/97)

Playing With A Play: A Benefit For The Mark Twain Library

(with photos)

By June April

REDDING - Organizers describe it like this: "Wedding bells and flushing

toilets will resound at the Mark Twain Library on Saturday evening, May 17..."

That unique combination heralds what promises to be a wacky and worthwhile

benefit performance of a play concerning a wedding, complete with a reception

(wedding cake and champagne, of course) following the performance.

The brainchild and creation of playwright Jane Philbrick, American Standard: A

Bathroom Farce and A Love Story has been months in the making, but being

presented for one night only. With just 150 tickets available and at $10 each

selling like those proverbial hotcakes, people interested best run (or drive

at the speed limit) to the Mark Twain Library on Route 53 in Redding to

purchase tickets.

There is a resonating triangle of three neighboring houses in West Redding.

All the women's names begin with the letter "J" and all three radiate and

enact their enormous creative energies.

June Myles, who works at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan

(and is one of the major forces behind the successful Mark Twain Book Fair)

saw Mrs Philbrick's American Standard , performed in The Bowery at Dixon Place

last September. She enjoyed it so much she suggested to her neighbors (Joyce

Aaron and Mrs Philbrick) it might be fun to put it on at the Mark Twain

Library.

Joyce Aaron, who acted in and directed American Standard... , and Ms

Philbrick, who celebrates the melding of theatre and community life, readily

agreed. With the blessings of the library board and a lot of hard work, the

event was born. The trio has had enthusiastic support from the Redding Arts

Council, a host of volunteers of all ages, and the Mark Twain Library.

Since we all play roles in our lives, Mrs Philbrick sees the separation of

daily life and theatre as artificial. Viewing the community as the stage, a

pre-play-enactment semi-serendipitously took place last Saturday. From 11 am

to 3 pm, ten anonymous brides, shepherded by Mrs Philbrick (also one of the

beautiful ten) visited various sites in Redding and Georgetown.

Plans called for the ten bedecked ladies to start at 11 am from the Redding

Center Post Office, heading to the Redding Town Green for formal pictures.

From there they were scheduled to stop at Ancona's Market for some "light

shopping" before boarding the 12:37 pm train at the Branchville station for a

brief ride to the West Redding station. Unfortunately, the train never

arrived. Some unexpected problem with the tracks or a bridge.

Shifting gears, the chauffeured car procession simply loaded all bridal cargo

in, and drove to the West Redding station. More photos and videotaping, and

then on to the home of the late Katherine Drier.

Mrs Drier was a patron of the arts. As American Standard is considered an

avant-garde play, the Drier homestead was purposely selected as a meaningful

stop to make on the bridal rounds. (Coincidentally, within the columned home

of Mrs Drier there once hung a large glass art piece by the Dada artist Marcel

Duchamp, entitled "The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors.")

Next was a welcomed lunch stop at the Redding Road House for the famished

entourage, and a final stop at the Mark Twain Library to admire the exhibit

entitled "Gallery of Brides."

"We were using a conventional ritual, marriage and manipulating archetypical

images [brides] to create new awarenesses and thought-provoking responses,"

Mrs Philbrick explained. "We wanted people to look and wonder and ask

themselves, `what's funny about this picture?'"

While the brides were shopping at Ancona's market, Mrs Philbrick said an older

man shyly came over to her and whispered in her ear, "You look very pretty, my

dear."

"People would just come over to us and talk about their lives, as if we were

old friends. Cars were beeping at us in congratulations. It just goes to

show," she explained, "the use of imagination heightens experiences and

imagination helps to find truths."