A Letter From The Director
It was late August 1988. I had just begun a 2 year performing arts program and was working backstage for a show called Quilters. I quickly fell in love with this beautiful piece of history and art. The majesty of the show and the resilience of the women it portrays captured my heart and imagination. Now, more than 3 decades later, I am blessed to have the opportunity to rediscover this rich material with a new generation.
The stories you will see today are beautiful, unflinching, and at times haunting, full of the rawness of these women’s sacrifices and struggles to protect their families as they build their lives on the western frontier. Quilters is drawn directly from the oral interviews transcribed in The Quilters: Women and Domestic Art by Norma Bradley Allen and Patricia J Cooper, true memories told by the women who lived through it all. Some of these memories are difficult to watch. The lives of these characters were hard and choices were not easy. We hope that you will experience the joy, faith, and sorrow that these stories hold and that their power and impact will stay with you long after the curtain closes.
I am incredibly proud of these talented and strong actresses who have risen to the challenges that this piece brings. They carry the souls of these pioneer women gently and honor them with grace and dignity. It has been my pleasure to direct a cast of such courageous and spirited young women as they continue to blossom into the talented performers that they are.
“Come on in, let us spin you in a dream…”
Spencer Farmer
Acknowledgments
The authors would like gratefully to acknowledge the inspiration derived from the original quilt design "The Sun Sets on Sunbonnet Sue" as designed and executed by the Seamsters Union Local No. 500 of Lawerence, Kansas, and the inspiration provided by Grace Snyder and Nellie Snyder Yost in their book No Time on My Hands.
The authors would also like gratefully to acknowledge the following texts and individuals as invaluable resources in the developement of the play: New Discoveries in American Quilts by Robert Bishop; American Quilts and Coverlets by Robert Bishop and Carleton L. Stafford; Marguerite Ickis; Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart; Our Homes and Their Adornments by Almon C. Varney; American Folk Poetry - An Anthology by Duncan Emrich; Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey by Lillian Schlissel; Aunt Jane of Kentucky by Eliza Calvert Hall; Pioneer Women - Voices from the Kansas Frontier by Joanna L. Stratton; "The Prairie Home Companion," Garrison Keilor, Minnesota Public Radio; A Little Better Than Plumb by Henry and Janice Holt Giles; A Harvest Yet to Reap - A History of Prairie Women by Lisa Rasmussen, Loma Rasmussen, Candace Savage, and Anne Wheeler; and Wisconsin Death Trip by Michael Lesy.
Quilt and quilt blocks designed and assembled by
Sharon Gibson and Christine Zirbel.
Special Thanks to
Amanda Picard for donating the beautiful quilt for our raffle.
See more of her amazing work at etsy.com/shop/HiddenGroveQuilts and on Instagram.com/hidden.grove.quilts
Cover Design by Phoenix Velona, Location William Heise County Park
