Judge Lynch, The Minuet, and Cavalleria Rusticana

Performances

October 15, 1926

Venue

Bloomington High School Auditorium

Synopsis - Judge Lynch

This one act drama was set on the back porch of a Joplin farmhouse, somewhere in the South, just after dusk. This play was the winner of the National Little Theatre Tournament 1924 Belasco Cup Prize.

Synopsis - The Minuet

This short one act play was told in verse. It is set in the living room of the goaler’s office in the Prison of the Conciergerie, during the reign of terror in France.

Synopsis - Cavalleria Rusticana

“Cavalleria Rusticana” is a short opera that has all of the elements of a Grand Opera compressed into a single highly dramatic time span. It is the story of love, lust, blood-feud and betrayal played out against the pageantry of Easter celebrations in a Sicilian village.

Judge Lynch - Author: John Wm. Rogers, Jr.

The Minuet - Author: Louis Parker

Cavalleria Rusticana - Author: Pietro Mascagni

 

Historian’s Corner

At the curtain speech between act two and three, Davis Ewing, president of the organization explained since action to prose, and action to verse had been shown to the audience, the step from verse to song was so short that it, too, was presented. This was done so that the members of the organization might be given a concrete example of the pleasure which may be gained from opera. Through the courtesy and co-operation of Professor Arthur E. Westbrook, Dean of the Illinois Wesleyan School of Music, students of music from Wesleyan presented “Cavalleria Rusticana.”