Burning Patience

Burning Patience by S.S.I.S. – Contributed image

World Premiere of Burning Patience, written and performed by the 5th, 6th and 7th Graders of Spring Street International School 2014

June 8th and 9th, 7:00 pm
San Juan Community Theatre

Here’s a note from Kate Small about this event…
Our Humanities class looks at the lives of teens in a given historical moment. We each adopt an identity drawn from a primary source document; in this case, tax records from feudal manors in England, kept in 1380. Each of us spends the school year creating a diary for a single life otherwise lost to history, based upon the data: name, date of birth, location, village, date of tax collection, and goods and services collected. Research into what feels like limited information, begins to reveal a richly detailed world, and over time, a very big story.

The generation of teenagers following the Black Death grew restless with the numb resignation of their parents, who had barely survived the holocaust of a global pandemic.

Our characters began the Peasant Revolution that signaled the death of European feudalism as well as the end of the 100 Years War with France. We try to walk a mile in their shoes and look at the world through their eyes. This play was created from our diaries. We dedicate it to the real children whose names we have carefully borrowed.

The Players:
Addi Kessler – Elowen, Daughter of the Somethorpe Woman
Aiken Durham-Guckian – Aldred the Kitchen Boy
Alex Frampton – Geoffrey the Shearer’s Son
Cameron Sinclair – Isolda, Daughter of the Webster Woman
Cole Hamilton – Richard II, King of England
Eden Light – Gwenda, the Keeler’s Daughter
Emma Freedman – Willow, the Reeve’s Daughter
Galen Westervelt – Eli, a Jew, Outcast of Hills End
Isabella Davis – Ada, a Jew, Outcast of Gloucestershire South
Matthew McElrath – Brom, the Manor Farrier’s Son
Leah Black – Patience, of the Abbey Toxall
Marcella Kirkland – Sarah, a Jew, Outcast of Gillagate
Ren DiBona – Sybilla, the Packman’s Daughter
Silas Holden – Barlow, Clayborn’s Son
Skyler Reynolds – Piers the Town Crier, Son of Tanner
Solana Mehl-Zobrist – Rhoswyn, Daughter of Skinner
Stella McCauley – Maude, the Taberdman’s Daughter
Ronan Rankin – Watt Tyler, the Brewer’s Son
Rotor Luigs – Terrowin, Runaway
Ula Grace – Ruth, a Jew, Outcast of Bishops Bridge

The GrownUps:
Kate Small – Producer, Supervising Teacher
Grace Castle – Co-Director
Mike McElrath – Light Alchemy
Krista Strutz – Vocal Coach

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