Tableaux Vivants Will Bring Historic Newtown Events To Life

By Shannon Hicks

Newtown’s next tercentennial event will be a collection of four living pictures, or tableaux vivants, presented on the stage of Newtown High School on Saturday, October 1. Performances for “Tableaux Vivants: 300 Years of Newtown History in Living Pictures” — one of the final public tercentennial events planned this year — are scheduled for 2 and 7 pm.

More than 100 residents have volunteered to participate in the event, which has been in the works for over a year.

The art form of tableaux vivant (pronounced “ta-BLOW vi-VAHN”) dates back to the Greeks and Romans, says Amber Edwards, the producer and one of three directors for this weekend’s big event. Using costumes, props, and architectural elements, people would pose reenacting a scene from history or legend.

 “By the turn of the century, tableaux vivants had moved from the parlor into the public sphere, as community theater and pageants, sometimes involving thousands of residents,” she continued. Newtown’s event offers decisive moments of commerce, conflict, romance and illicit liaisons, and generosity.

Dan Cruson has been tapped, quite appropriately, to serve as the narrator of the four scenes. Mr Cruson has also served as historical consultant for the tableaux.

The four scenes to be presented are Land For Sale — Cheap, directed by Karen Pinto, which depicts the purchase in 1705 of the land that became Newtown; You Say You Want A Revolution, directed by Mike and Joy Filler, a three-scene depiction of the arrival and impact of the Revolutionary War in Newtown; The Moral Outlaw, being directed by Ms Edwards, concerns the 1888 murder of Andrew Peck, and the women in his life… including one, his wife, who ran “a house of ill repute” in New York state; and Tableau Four, Our Benefactress, also being directed by Ms Edwards, which pays tribute to Mary Hawley.

Finally, to entertain the audiences between the tableaux there will be vaudeville-style performances. Olios, another old-fashioned element, will offer musical diversions in front of the curtain while scenery is being changed between tableaux.

Mixed Notes (Judy Lang, Patti Lavernoich, Kathleen Mahan, and Colleen McMorran), Horvath & Horvath (Ray and Adam Horvath), The Stardusters (the dance company from Lathrop School of Dance), Malenkee Ballet Repertoire Company (from Newtown School of Ballet), the barbershop quartet Rare Occasions, musician Mat Kastner, and Phillips and Phillips — the mother-daughter dance team of Mary Ann and Taylor Phillips — are all scheduled to offer short vaudeville-style numbers.

(The previously announced NHS Markettes performances has been scratched.)

The directors have involved residents of all ages and backgrounds to act in these scenes, making this truly a townwide experience.

“These living pictures celebrating Newtown’s 300th birthday are the culmination of more than a year of planning and production by more than 100 volunteers who share the goal of creating an entertaining, educational, memorable theatrical event,” Amber Edwards said last week.

“Like previous generations of tableaux makers, we want to present history, legend, artistic masterpieces, moral uplift, comedy, tragedy, and drama — all without moving a muscle or uttering a word.”

“Tableaux Vivants: 300 Years of Newtown History in Living Pictures” will be staged at 2 and 7 pm on October 1 at Newtown High School.

Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for children and seniors if purchased in advance. All tickets will be $10 at the door.

Tickets are available at C.H. Booth Library, Drug Center Pharmacy, Lexington Gardens, and Newtown High School.