| Enchanted April | July 19 – August 16 |
by Matthew Barber
directed by Kate Bergstrom
sponsored by 
and Leon Bresloff & Mary Bayer
Feeling lost in the shadows of marriage and post-WWI society, two London housewives rent a villa in Italy for a ladies-only holiday, reluctantly recruiting a pair of difficult upper-class women to share the expense and experience. Under the Mediterranean sun, the women clash, bond, and bloom, ultimately finding their lost selves in the garden of earthly delights.
| Schedule |
| Thursday, July 19, 7:30 p.m. (Preview) |
| Friday, July 20, 7:30 p.m. (Opening with Pre-Show Classics in Context Discussion) |
| Saturday, July 28, 7:30 p.m. |
| Sunday, July 29, 1:00 p.m. |
| Wednesday, August 1, 1:00 p.m. |
| Wednesday, August 8, 7:30 p.m. |
| Saturday, August 11, 7:30 p.m. |
| Sunday, August 12, 7:00 p.m. (Post-Show Discussion) |
| Tuesday, August 14, 1:00 p.m. |
| Thursday, August 16, 7:30 p.m. |
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| Kate Bergstrom Director |
Brittany Vasta Set Designer |
Elizabeth Rocha Costume Designer |
Jennifer Fok Lighting Designer |
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| Rew Tippin Sound Designer |
Melissa A. Nathan* AEA Stage Manager |
Shelby Connolly Assistant Stage Manager |
Cast (in order of appearance)
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| Amber McNew Lotty |
Bibi Mama Rose |
James Noel Hoban* Mellersh |
Ryan Broussard Frederick |
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| Katie Croyle Lady Caroline |
Janis Stevens* Mrs. Graves |
KP Powell Anthony Wilding |
Maureen Butler Costanza |
*Member of Actor’s Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.
From the Director
In the first pages of Barber’s adaptation of the Von Armin story, The Enchanted April, Lotty invites us to wish for providence or “to bridge the awkward gap between all of our many before and afters.” Last summer, I came to Monmouth with my partner Travis ready to make art together. Surrounded by beautiful Maine sunsets and a company of collaborators, Travis and I shared some of the happiest moments of our lives together.
Travis passed in the late fall and the months that followed have been impossible.
War, like his death, is difficult to fathom without romanticizing. Often we hear stories of heroism or grit helping a society, or a person, turn out better in the end. Less often do we hear about the bleakness of the real deal; that grief may change but it never goes away. The support of others swimming in the impossible is what makes even the most unbearable grief endurable.
Enchanted April is about that; about how an unlikely group of women are thrown together and learn to support one another in an unbearable time by calling on the enchantment within.
Despite knowing of my loss, or perhaps within, around, or through it, Dawn invited me to return to this magical community to bring this work to life. This play represents the potential return of beauty for me. This incredible team of artists working together for a moment leading us into “beauty and blissful peace” after sad times, has been and continues to be a kind of providence for me. I hope that we can bask in that providence together for the journey into Enchanted April.