'Children's Hour' not for children

April 7, 2005
By Tracey Howell
Staff Writer

Don’t be fooled by the title, “The Children’s Hour”. This wasn’t story hour at the city library. On the contrary, it was a drama play held in the Galvin Studio Theatre. Although I sat hidden in the back row of one of the 50 seats available, I was quite comfortable watching the talented ensemble of actresses and actors. The play opened April 1, and ran through to April 3.

This controversial play begins when two headmistresses of a New England girl’s school discipline a spoiled and unruly child. The young girl, Mary Tilford, then runs away to her gullible grandmother’s house. Here, in act two, is where little Mary Tilford proceeds to twist statements that were made earlier, along with a few discrediting lies about the two headmistresses. Soon after hearing about the malicious lies, the two headmistresses find out the truth in just what power a lie can hold.

The plot wasn’t based on one lie by little Mary Tilford when she told of the “unnatural acts”, rather, it was the controversy that lay ahead for everyone, because of that one lie. The play then ends in a heart jolting bang as a life is lost and relationships can no longer be mended. Moral of the story, well you guessed it--no more lies.

This alternative production cast several veterans of the theatre and one first time performer, Kristen Raabe, who played the role of Evelyn Munn. The two headmistresses were played by Claire Richards and Sarah Ade. The young deceitful Mary Tilford was played by Colleen Winters. Other cast members included: Kayla Tramp, Ashley Allen, Heather Feist, Caciona Reece, Jessica Stratton, Christine Goodall, Jacob Kendall, Amanda Bourn, and Ben Calhoon, who played a humorous grocery boy, along with director Sue Brandt and a dozen more involved as the production crew.

If I had to give this play a rating, I wouldn’t be fair, as I have rarely seen short dramas such as this. But I would most definitely say it kept my interest. I felt the play flowed nicely without long drawn out scenes that sometimes loses their sense of charisma. Overall, it was a nice change of pace from my usual routine of homework here at SAU.

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