Miss Mabel coming to life
Some of you know that at the end of June, at the American Classical League Institute, I will be impersonating Prof. Mabel Kate Whiteside, the founder of the Greek Play, in a panel called “Representing our Ancestors.” I’m thrilled at and daunted by the prospect of playing my predecessor, and I’ll let you all know how it goes.
Right now I wanted to share how serendipity (or Miss Mabel, or Dionysus) is watching over us: I got a call from Martha at the Maier Museum on Friday asking me to come meet Betty Jo Harper, ‘50, who was in the 1948 Bacchae. Not only did Betty Jo show me a wonderful photograph of her and the Chorus she was in, but she also told me about a profile of Miss Mabel that she had written for volume III of Randolph-Macon Prose and Verse, a collection of student writings published in 1951.
This morning she brought me the book. I am, to put it mildly, overwhelmed. The essay, beautifully written, gives a clear sense of Miss Mabel’s personality and what it was like to be her student. There are other sources for Dr. Whiteside’s professional history (not that Betty Jo neglects that aspect), but this is my first chance to learn some of her idiosyncracies, and more details about how they used to produce the Play.
I’m so grateful to Mrs. Harper! I plan to ask for permission to put the essay (and more pictures of Miss Mabel) on the official Greek Play site. In the meantime, I’m starting to get a much better idea about the acting job I have to do in six weeks!
