 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Booking Info: Rita Parisi at 978-430-1357 ritaparisi@waterfallproductions.com |
(Ms.) Parisi spoke each story beautifully so that the listener could appreciate the lovely
language while enjoying a shiver from the mystery that each story contained.
-Topsfield Village Reporter
language while enjoying a shiver from the mystery that each story contained.
-Topsfield Village Reporter
Thank you so much for
sharing your wonderful
talent with us-AND-for
introducing a new author to
us! I feel I MUST read
something from Sarah soon!
- Jean White, audience
Athol Public Library
sharing your wonderful
talent with us-AND-for
introducing a new author to
us! I feel I MUST read
something from Sarah soon!
- Jean White, audience
Athol Public Library
Thank you so much
for such a splendid
performance! The
crowd was captivated!
-Brianna Matthews,
Librarian at Athol
Public Library
for such a splendid
performance! The
crowd was captivated!
-Brianna Matthews,
Librarian at Athol
Public Library
Return to witness the
supernatural
By Robert Knox
Boston Globe Correspondent / September 25, 2008
Sarah Orne Jewett, a neglected star in New England's flourishing
19th-century literary firmament, drew on the region's fascination
with the supernatural in her "gothic tales" and was influenced by
Edgar Allen Poe.Her work in turn influenced regional writers such
as cult favorite H.P. Lovecraft, who found eerie inspiration in the
dilapidated wharves of 19th-century Plymouth Harbor, and
contributed to a school of occult and horror writing that lives
today in the works of such authors as Stephen King.
"Gothic New England literature is a tradition that needs to be
explored," said Maryanne Driscoll, senior library assistant at the
Kingston Library. "It was a rich, flourishing tradition in this region."
The library, whose reading group explored that tradition in
Jewett's novella "The Country of the Pointed Firs," was also
drawn to the literary and dramatic elements of a program on
Jewett's work by actress Rita Parisi.
The result is that the library will host a theatrical storytelling
performance Saturday of Jewett's "Gothic Victorian Tales."
Wearing the Victorian dress of a 19th-century rural New England
woman, Parisi will tell several of Jewett's stories with the writer's
characteristic supernatural themes - curses, death, and immortality.
While her short stories mirrored the everyday lives of New
Englanders, they also distilled the mysterious and supernatural
elements in the region's atmosphere - an aura largely lost to
21st-century social homogenization but still preserved in some
places.
"Even today, there are still pockets of old New England families,
families that have lived here for centuries in the old villages," Parisi
said. If you know an old New England family, she said, you'll
know what that means. "They're funny."
Jewett's father was a country doctor, and as a child she rode with
him on visits to patients, meeting unique, sometimes eccentric,
New England characters, old sea captains and spinsters - part of
a world that was already disappearing in the later 19th century.
Jewett drew from these characters in her work.
In Parisi's adaptation of the three stories, she keeps exact wording
but culls some of the detail. She enacts the roles of the tales'
narrators and the other characters. All of Jewett's stories, Parisi
noted, have lead female characters.
In "Lady Ferry," the narrator recalls a strange old woman she met
as a little girl. The woman was very old, her origins mysterious,
and a local myth had raised a troubling question: Was she
immortal? "The Gray Man" deals with the theme of death and with
the character of Death himself. "The Landscape Chamber"
revolves around a family curse. In this tale, Parisi said, Jewett has
rewritten Poe's famous early horror masterpiece "The Fall of the
House of Usher" from the viewpoint of a woman.
While Jewett's stories appeared in magazines and were popular in
their day, editors favored realism and discouraged her from
delving more deeply into the supernatural, Parisi said. "She
believed in the supernatural; she believed in ghosts, in séances, in
something after death," the actress said. "She believed death was
a gift because she believed in something beyond. She loved
animals, dogs, horses, cats."
Though not numbered among the highbrow Transcendentalist
school of New England writers, she crossed paths with some,
such as the poet and newspaper editor John Greenleaf Whittier,
and was friends with painter Sophia Peabody Hawthorne, wife of
novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne - whose fiction brushes upon the
supernatural at times. Unmarried, Jewett lived in South Berwick,
Maine, sharing a home with a widowed woman friend.
Parisi, who studied at Boston University, lives in Amesbury, and
left a career in molecular biology about 15 years ago to earn her
living as an actress in independent and commercial films, and live
theater.
Her theatrical credits include roles in "Nunsense" and "The
Crucible"; and "Joey & Maria's Italian Wedding" at the Tremont
Hotel in Boston and as a persecuted Puritan in Salem's
reenactments of its witch trials.
Classically trained in voice and acting, she took acting classes to
hone her craft. From her science training, Parisi said, she learned
the value of organization, an appreciation for detail, and strong
analytical skills. All these help in running her own business and
analyzing scripts as a theater professional, she said.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
supernatural
By Robert Knox
Boston Globe Correspondent / September 25, 2008
Sarah Orne Jewett, a neglected star in New England's flourishing
19th-century literary firmament, drew on the region's fascination
with the supernatural in her "gothic tales" and was influenced by
Edgar Allen Poe.Her work in turn influenced regional writers such
as cult favorite H.P. Lovecraft, who found eerie inspiration in the
dilapidated wharves of 19th-century Plymouth Harbor, and
contributed to a school of occult and horror writing that lives
today in the works of such authors as Stephen King.
"Gothic New England literature is a tradition that needs to be
explored," said Maryanne Driscoll, senior library assistant at the
Kingston Library. "It was a rich, flourishing tradition in this region."
The library, whose reading group explored that tradition in
Jewett's novella "The Country of the Pointed Firs," was also
drawn to the literary and dramatic elements of a program on
Jewett's work by actress Rita Parisi.
The result is that the library will host a theatrical storytelling
performance Saturday of Jewett's "Gothic Victorian Tales."
Wearing the Victorian dress of a 19th-century rural New England
woman, Parisi will tell several of Jewett's stories with the writer's
characteristic supernatural themes - curses, death, and immortality.
While her short stories mirrored the everyday lives of New
Englanders, they also distilled the mysterious and supernatural
elements in the region's atmosphere - an aura largely lost to
21st-century social homogenization but still preserved in some
places.
"Even today, there are still pockets of old New England families,
families that have lived here for centuries in the old villages," Parisi
said. If you know an old New England family, she said, you'll
know what that means. "They're funny."
Jewett's father was a country doctor, and as a child she rode with
him on visits to patients, meeting unique, sometimes eccentric,
New England characters, old sea captains and spinsters - part of
a world that was already disappearing in the later 19th century.
Jewett drew from these characters in her work.
In Parisi's adaptation of the three stories, she keeps exact wording
but culls some of the detail. She enacts the roles of the tales'
narrators and the other characters. All of Jewett's stories, Parisi
noted, have lead female characters.
In "Lady Ferry," the narrator recalls a strange old woman she met
as a little girl. The woman was very old, her origins mysterious,
and a local myth had raised a troubling question: Was she
immortal? "The Gray Man" deals with the theme of death and with
the character of Death himself. "The Landscape Chamber"
revolves around a family curse. In this tale, Parisi said, Jewett has
rewritten Poe's famous early horror masterpiece "The Fall of the
House of Usher" from the viewpoint of a woman.
While Jewett's stories appeared in magazines and were popular in
their day, editors favored realism and discouraged her from
delving more deeply into the supernatural, Parisi said. "She
believed in the supernatural; she believed in ghosts, in séances, in
something after death," the actress said. "She believed death was
a gift because she believed in something beyond. She loved
animals, dogs, horses, cats."
Though not numbered among the highbrow Transcendentalist
school of New England writers, she crossed paths with some,
such as the poet and newspaper editor John Greenleaf Whittier,
and was friends with painter Sophia Peabody Hawthorne, wife of
novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne - whose fiction brushes upon the
supernatural at times. Unmarried, Jewett lived in South Berwick,
Maine, sharing a home with a widowed woman friend.
Parisi, who studied at Boston University, lives in Amesbury, and
left a career in molecular biology about 15 years ago to earn her
living as an actress in independent and commercial films, and live
theater.
Her theatrical credits include roles in "Nunsense" and "The
Crucible"; and "Joey & Maria's Italian Wedding" at the Tremont
Hotel in Boston and as a persecuted Puritan in Salem's
reenactments of its witch trials.
Classically trained in voice and acting, she took acting classes to
hone her craft. From her science training, Parisi said, she learned
the value of organization, an appreciation for detail, and strong
analytical skills. All these help in running her own business and
analyzing scripts as a theater professional, she said.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
| Gould's ghouls Historic Barn setting for "Gothic Victorian Tales by Candlelight" excerpted from the Topsfield Village Reporter November 7, 2007 article by Alison D'Amario The rain beat down and wind howled through the trees around Gould Barn. At one point the barn door creaked open-the perfect setting for Rita Parisi's Gothic Victorian Tales by Candlelight at a recent Topsfield Historical Society meeting. Dressed in handmade period clothing and lit only by "candlelight", Parisi held the audience rapt as she recounted three Sarah Orne Jewett tales of the supernatural. The actor who "feels most comfortable performing in intimate settings," chose Jewett's "The Landscape Chamber", "The Grey Man", and "Lady Ferry" for her program at the Gould Barn-excellent selections for the time and place. As she says, "I choose things I can act out-usually in the first person." Parisi spoke each story beautifully so that the listener could appreciate the lovely language while enjoying a shiver from the mystery that each story contained. Parisi and Jewett made perfect story partners for that stormy fall night in October. |
| Performances 2010 Thursday, October 28, 2010 @ 7 pm Hollis Public Library 2 Monument Sq, Hollis, NH 03049 (603) 465-7721 TBA Attleboro Public Library 74 North Main Street, Attleboro, MA 02703 (508) 222-0157 Past Performances Leicester Senior Center, MA Friday October 30, 2009 Grafton Historical Society Wednesday, October 21, 2009 Leach Library, Londonderry NH Thursday, October 15, 2009 St. Mary's Academy, Longmeadow MA Wednesday September 16, 2009 Kingston Public Library, MA September 27, 2008 Blackstone Public Library, MA October 16, 2008 Westborough Council on Aging October 21, 2008 Waltham Public Library, MA October 28, 2008 Easton Council on Aging, MA October 10, 2007 Topsfield Historical Society, MA October 19, 2007 Athol Public Library, Athol, MA October 21, 2007 Milford Council of Aging, MA October 26, 2007 Sharon Public Library, Sharon, MA October 28, 2007 D.A. Hurd Library, N. Berwick, ME January 17, 2007 Windham Women's Club, NH September 6, 2006 Hampstead Public Library, NH October 10, 2006 South Berwick Library, ME Nov 4, 2006 Dudley-Tucker Library, NH October 18, 2006 Exeter Public Library,Exeter NH October 19, 2006 Libby Memorial Library, ME October 28, 2006 |
Sarah Orne Jewett, a native of South Berwick
Maine was one of New England's most prolific
female writers of the 19th century . Her short
stories mirror the
everyday lives of New
Englanders; often reflecting
the mysterious and
supernatural atmosphere of
this region.
Rita has adapted several of
Miss Jewett's short
stories as a theatrical
storytelling
presentation.
Gothic Victorian Tales by Candlelight
stories of Sarah Orne Jewett
stories of Sarah Orne Jewett
| This program is appropriate for mature teens and older. Duration: 50 minutes |
I would like to thank you for participating in
our adult program series. Your wonderful
performance had the audience on the edge of
their seats as you treated them with the
well-written and eerie tales of Sarah Orne
Jewett. Your knowledge and respect for her
work were clearly evident in your articulate
storytelling. It was truly the perfect way to
pass a fall evening!
-Kendall Ann Koladish
Public Services Librarian/Program
Coordinator Leach Library, Londonderry NH
our adult program series. Your wonderful
performance had the audience on the edge of
their seats as you treated them with the
well-written and eerie tales of Sarah Orne
Jewett. Your knowledge and respect for her
work were clearly evident in your articulate
storytelling. It was truly the perfect way to
pass a fall evening!
-Kendall Ann Koladish
Public Services Librarian/Program
Coordinator Leach Library, Londonderry NH
