SNOW WHITE BECOMES QUEEN

Snow White was looking out the window of the little guest house where she had been so happy for so long.  She was rapidly recovering from the plague, but she still felt a bit weak and tired.  The fairy twins has visited her that very day with momentous news.  Her stepmother, the Queen, was dead and no one mourned her, but her father, the King, had also died, leaving the kingdom without a ruler. As the King's only child, Snow White must take the crown and rule with a firm hand or civil war might break out and devastate the land.  The young princess has never wanted to rule, but now she feels she has no choice.  The fairy sisters have flown to the castle to make ready with the few servants who are left and to see if they can find a horse for Snow White.

 Since she cannot sleep, the princess goes outside to walk in the moonlight.  How could she bear to leave her friends behind when they had saved her life and shown her such kindness?  And how would she ever restore the palace to its former beauty when it was covered with vines and trees were growing inside its walls?  Nature had overcome the castle and Snow White was no match for its force.  She walked for hours until she reached the long road leading to her former home.

       Snow White knew she could not rule without help, but perhaps her fairy friends could use their powerful magic to assist her!  The seven little men could use their wisdom to advise her!  Those servants who had remained in the palace would support her reign; she had never doubted their loyalty.  And the Huntsman could....but she immediately banished the thought of him from her mind as she knew he would never leave his wife who was so ill.

But she gradually became aware of the strength that had always been within her and the sense of purpose that was newly born.  A powerful feeling of optimism warmed her spirit, a sense that she could overcome adversity and create a new kind of kingdom, the fresh new world she had dreamt about since childhood.

And before her eyes the road ahead began to change and grow green with promise.

                                

SUMMER OF 1963

Before I knew what was happening the school year was over at Wesleyan and I left campus not knowing if I would return for my last year.  In the brief space of three days I was Maid of Honor for two radiant brides in creamy white, my two close friends, Linda and Bootsie, who moved away with their new husbands.  I didn't know if I would ever see them again.  (Of course I did.)  Both weddings are a blur of music, flowers, beautiful dresses and happy people.  I had trouble speaking because I was plagued by one of my infamous throat infections.

As I stood next to each lovely bride, it did not escape me that I didn't even have a boyfriend.  I had never had a serious relationship.  I wasn't sure what my fatal flaw was but I knew I had one.

I also realized with sickening clarity that I didn't have the courage to try and become a real actress.  I was too scared of rejection and uncertainty.  I wanted and needed security and there was none in my life.

That night I boarded a train to the unknown. I was going to waitress in Asbury Park for the summer and I had absolutely no idea what would come next.  I could return to the warm cocoon of Wesleyan and finish my degree even though  the people who meant the most to me would not be there.  What else was there for me?  I felt completely unmoored as the train hurtled through the darkness.

SNOW WHITE RECOVERS FROM THE PLAGUE

Snow White was underwater...she was drowning...she could not breathe and she was hot, very hot.  She could hear voices, but they were very far away.

She was back home in

the castle, but there

were bars on the window.  Was she being imprisoned?  And where was her father, the King?  But wait, he was very ill....he had gone away and left her.  Snow White was now flying through the air outside the castle which was blurry and somehow frightening...

Then she heard voices...

"Will she begin to recover

now?  Her fever has broken."

"Yes, soon the plague will leave her, but she will be very weak for days.  You must try to get her to eat and drink."

"Yes, your Grace, we will nurture her back to health.

Thank you, thank you!"

  

Snow White realized the bars on the window were gone.  She was free!  With great effort she opened her eyes and saw the Fairy Queen flying away.  And the seven little men stood around her bed, smiling at her.

"The Queen of the Fairies cured you with her magic," said Anselm.

"The last thing I remember is falling asleep riding through the dark forest with our friend, the Huntsman.  Where is he?"

"Our friend, the Huntsman, was very ill until the Fairy Queen saved him.  While he was sick, word came that his wife had also contracted the plague.  Although he was weak, he insisted on mounting his horse and riding home.  We have heard nothing since, my child."

"He brought me here so my life could be saved.  I...I shall miss him."

SNOW WHITE FALLS ILL

 Snow White looked back at the overgrown castle and wondered if she would ever see it again.  If she became Queen, how would she restore the palace?  Would any of her people still be alive or would the plague take them all?

Snow White was filled with an unbearable sadness as she and the Huntsman rode deeper into the forest toward home.  The world of her happy childhood was gone forever; it lived on only in her memory.        
     
                 

Her tired mind began to wander.  She felt so hot! She saw her fairy friends floating in the sky; it was Winter now.  Snow White floated through the sky with the fairies as the snow drifted about them. She called out to the sisters, but they didn't seem to hear her. The snow...the snow did not cool her.  She drifted away into the blackness of the night...so hot

"Snow White fell ill on the long journey through the woods," said the Huntsman to the seven little men who clustered about her bed. "She grew fevered and cried out in her sleep. When I touched her face, I knew she had caught the plague from her poor father who is gone. I am so very tired myself...I think I will sit down for a while and rest before I go home."

The Huntsman collapsed into a chair and drank the cold water the leader of the little men gave him.  He could not recall his name...

The little men looked gravely at one another. The Huntsman had fallen ill as well.  They knew their simple herbs and potions could not heal their beloved Snow White and the Huntsman
The must send for the Fairy Queen!

 

"I am here, my friends and my magic is very powerful.  I will cure both of them.  Let us get to work."

THE END OF AN ERA

There in that grainy black and white photo of the Wesleyan Drama Club in 1962 are my closest friends from that special time in my life.  On the left is Mr. Russell, who hated being photographed, and next to him is me looking tired as I always was in those days.  Most of the girls in the picture were set to graduate in 1963 and my closest friends, Linda and Bootsie, married two days apart at the end of that school year

And our beloved director, Mr. Russell, was fired and we never learned why.  I am not even sure that he knew.  He was an extraordinary director and an excellent drama teacher whom we all respected.  All of us were stunned and Mr. Russell looked shell-shocked.  I began to wonder if I even wanted to return for my senior year since my closest friends would all be gone.

The school year sped to a close.  There were exams to take, clothes to pack,  bridesmaid dresses to make, shoes to be dyed and of course, plans to be made for the summer.  I was to be a Junior Marshal at Graduation and then go straight to Tifton for Bootsie's wedding.  The next day I would travel to South Carolina for Linda's wedding and then take the train to Asbury Park, NJ, where I hoped to work as a waitress for the summer.  There would be no time to go home.  My mother had inexplicably gone to New York with my little brother, Jim, while my dad and my other two brothers, Rick and Bill, remained at home.  Everything in my life was changing at lightning speed.

Just before he left town three of us went to Mr. Russell's apartment to say goodbye.  We stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to say.  He had found a job in another state and would leave the following day to find an apartment.  Finally, my two friends each said goodbye, promising to write, then went out to the car, crying.  I just stood there like a lost soul not wanting to leave.

Mr. Russell smiled wistfully and said a line from Medea.  "The world has turned and turned sharp!"  I nodded, unable to speak.  We held each other for a few moments and I knew I had to leave.  We wrote, of course we wrote, but I never saw him again.

Medea from the 1963 Veterropt, Wesleyan College

A VISIT FROM THE DYING QUEEN

Snow White stood looking out the window of her father's room. She would regret for the rest of her life the two years they had missed being together. She should have tried to see him, but she had been afraid of the Queen.

A hoarse voice broke the deathly quiet of the morning. The Queen had entered the room.

"I came to see my husband.  Huntsman, why are 
you here and who is that woman?" said the Queen, looking haggard and dull-eyed.

"Your Majesty," said the Huntsman, quickly kneeling on one knee. "I fear I have terrible news.  Your husband, the King, is dead of the plague." The Queen looked stunned; the King was her only protection.  "This woman is my niece Belinda.  She has knowledge of healing herbs and hoped to save the King, but we were too late.  I am very sorry, my Queen."

"I am alone then," she said, dully.  "My ladies in waiting have all died. I don't know what to do."  The Queen sat heavily on the chair near her husband. "I loved him you know, but he loved only my beauty.  Well, that's long gone." She laughed bitterly, then drew herself up.  "Huntsman, take your niece and leave.  I have a royal funeral to plan."

Snow White crossed rapidly to the Huntsman and together they left the room.  But at the door Snow White turned and spoke.  "Madame, you look ill. You should go to your bed and I will send a servant to look after you."

"You are right; I don't feel well, but I shall stay a little longer with my husband."

                     

The Huntsman took Snow White's hand and they
raced down the stairs and through the empty passages.  They saw no one, the palace was empty.

"There is no one left to send to the Queen," said Snow White.

"She will die alone,"

said the Huntsman.

Snow White and the Huntsman mounted his horse and rode toward the woods and home.  Soon Snow White would be Queen, but she had not allowed herself to know it yet.

                     

      

THE TROJAN WOMEN

The Trojan Women was the last play presented that year as well as the final play most of the cast ever appeared in at Wesleyan.  It was not directed by Mr. Russell.  I played Andromache, the mother of a small boy who is thrown off a high wall to his death.  It is of course a tragic scene especially when the boy's dead body is brought onto the stage.  We were fortunate enough to find a little boy to play my son and it was heart wrenching when he is dragged away from his mother.

Our director for unfathomable reasons decided not to use the actual small boy playing dead.  Instead the crew built a wooden boy who when it was finally finished looked like a......

wooden boy.

Now in my experience most people can tell the difference between a flesh and blood child and a little wooden boy.  When Hecuba stroked his cold dead face, she would get splinters in her fingers.  No one could get though this scene in rehearsals without laughing.  And then came opening night.

My parents decided to drive up to Macon with my little brother, Jim, to see this play.  I now realize they probably wanted to tell me that they were separating, but when it came right down to it, they never said a thing.  And there they were in the audience watching a Greek tragedy by Euripides with my eight-year-old brother.  Now my parents had seen musicals like South Pacific at the community theater (they had to; I was in it.)  While there was a Greek chorus in our little tragedy, no one sang "There Is Nothing Like A Dame."  And no laughs whatsoever.  Except for the little wooden dead boy.

The little wooden dead boy looked like Pinochio without the long nose.  He was borne in on a stretcher and laid before the kneeling Hecuba who had an interminable speech about "thy cheeks like roses" and "thy tiny (wooden) hands."  A low murmur rose from the audience; gasps of helpless laughter were quickly stifled and finally during a brief moment of quiet, my exhausted baby brother's head fell back and a deafening, protracted snore was heard throughout the land.