Metropolitan Playhouse
Virtual Playhouse
Presents
A Screened Reading
of

WINTER’S NIGHT

Written by NEITH BOYCE

Directed by RACHAEL LANGTON

Featuring
ERINN HOLMES, ERIC EMIL OLESON, & JAMMIE PATTON

Graphics by KATIE McGEORGE.

Talkback with CAROL DeBOER-LANGWORTHY, Senior Lecturer, Nonfiction Writing Program,
Brown University, & Editor of “The Modern World of Neith Boyce: Autobiography and Diaries”

www.metropolitanplayhose.org/virtualplayhouse

March 20, 2021 8 p.m.

A remote farmhouse, two large windows through which the moonlight gleams off the snow. Rachel and Jacob arrive home after a long, frigid horse-carriage ride. Shivering, they sit at the round table, enjoying the light from the kerosene lantern and the warm glow from the woodstove. A pot of hot tea completes the homey scene, yet the two seem somber and subdued.

Rachel wears widow’s weeds. Her husband has just died after years of illness. How empty the house feels. Jacob, her husband’s brother, reminds her that he lives there, too. Never married, he has helped with the farm and is certainly part of her family and part of the household. She agrees. He has been a wonderful friend and brother, especially since he stopped his alcoholic ways years ago. The years in which he acted almost insane much of the time.

As Rachel toys with her teacup, a tiny smile appears. She admits that she is old (47!), but has decided to start a new life, one she has long dreamed of. She will leave the colorless tones of the farmhouse and move to the city, where colors abound. She will open her own dressmaking business and sew only reds and purples and glowing shades of brightness! She will make beautiful dresses for ladies who can afford them. She will drink in the sounds and the lights of the world beyond the farm.

That shocks the dour Jacob out of his boots. No! Oh yes, Rachel says. Jacob flies into a terrifying rage. A knock at the door interrupts, as friend Sarah arrives. She will spend the night to help comfort Rachel. Jacob grabs the shotgun that leans against the wall.

Brilliant acting! ERINN HOLMES and ERIC EMIL OLESON are perfect as Rachel and Jacob. Their performances are multidimensional and compelling. Thanks, Metropolitan Playhouse.

-Karen D’Onofrio-