Quilters – the play

Went to a performance of Quilters last night with some of my quilty friends.  It was performed by the Act 1 Performing Group at DeSales University in Center Valley, PA (near Bethlehem).  They did a wonderful job.  Evidently the play was first performed on Broadway in 1982 and was nominated for several Tony awards. 

The play is set in the American West presumably in the 1800’s .  A pioneer woman, Sarah, and six women, who are called her daughters, face frontier life. Rather than a straightforward storyline, the musical is presented as a series of short tales  matched with musical numbers, each presenting an aspect of frontier life or womanhood, such as girlhood, marriage, childbirth, spinsterhood, twisters, fire, illness and death .  Each story is represented by a quilt block and .   The blocks  are ultimately put together to form one large beautiful quilt. 

My friend Linda, who was with us, said that the quilt for the original Broadway production was quilted by her friend in Maryland, a talented long-armer. 

This production at DeSales ends tonight, but is definitely worth seeing if another production comes your way – even if you’re not a quilter!

Helle-May

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