The Ponder Heart
Performances
February 5 & 6, 1959
Venue
Scottish Rite Temple
Synopsis
Uncle Daniel Ponder is an amiable Southern gentleman who buys everyone ice cream cones and invites them all to the big murder trial. He even welcomes the out-of-town prosecutor. The prosecutor is shocked, for Uncle Daniel is the defendant. It seems that one day, realizing that he was getting on in years, he decided to marry a young girl. But during the one-month-trial marriage, she did nothing but send for TV sets, refrigerators, and electric stoves—even though there was no electricity in the house. Still Uncle Daniel loved her dearly. He is so guileless that he does not realize until the start of the trial that the state has accused him of her murder. Then mild Uncle Daniel gets his dander up.
Authors: Joseph Fields, Jerome Chodorov, adapted from the book The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty
Historian’s Corner
An emergency meeting of the board was called on December 9th. Both the Esquire Theatre and Players’ workshop at Front and Main had to be emptied. A generous patron offered free storage until such time as his building was either sold or rented at 1402 1/2 Lafayette Street. The costumes could be stored free of charge on the third floor of the Kenny’s Shoes store thanks to Alice Mulliken. On Thursday, December 18, 1958, the seats from the Esquire, as well as everything else from the flats, doors, and stairways to the hand properties all went from Players’ workshop to the Lafayette Street address.
Cast
Crew
