Quilters

“Quilters,” a play reflecting America’s pioneer spirit, courage and sense of family through a series of powerful stories, is on stage at the Plymouth Arts Center. Performances run April 12-14, 2007. The dramatic work by Molly Newman and Barbara Damashek uses a legacy quilt to illustrate the lives of American pioneers. The play focuses on a woman working on a quilt to pass on to her daughters. Each pattern and scrap of fabric contains a piece of history. Quilters, written by Molly Newman and Barbara Damashek, is an inspiring play and an eloquent tribute to the courage and spirit of our nation’s pioneer women. In “Quilters,” Sarah and her daughters stitch together a legacy quilt made of 16 different blocks. The scenes of the play are formed as each block is turned into words and actions that represent a time in their lives ….girlhood, marriage, childbirth, baptism, renewal, widowhood, ….all the heartaches, struggles, and triumphs they experienced surviving the rugged world are expressed with a sincerity and truth. Quilt-makers know that there are underlying stories in each piece of cloth. Separate, the pieces are merely scraps of old dresses and torn sheets, but together they represent a lifetime. “Quilters” is directed by Margaret Wittkopp and the cast includes Mary Calvey, Kate Herman, Luana Luther, Barb Zirwes, Jaimie Huebschman, Amy Larson and Heather Kienast. The cast later presented the play “Quilters” for thirty women at the Taycheedah Correctional Facility in Fond du Lac. The show came about through a suggestion by Rosalie Hartmann, a Plymouth Arts Center member and a volunteer at Taycheedah. Rosalie was moved by the Quilter’s performance and thought the women at Taycheedah would enjoy the experience of live theatre and especially this poignant story. The “Quilters” play was very well received by the women at Taycheedah. The Chaplain expressed her thanks to the Plymouth Arts Center for the great opportunity the theatre group provided for the women. She said the women were thrilled with the play and they will long remember it. As a follow-up to the play, the women were given an opportunity to create their own legacy quilt square to become part of a TCI legacy quilt. She said the women created 30 of the most amazingly thoughtful and creative squares you can imagine! In appreciation of the performance, several thank you notes were written to the cast members.