A post by Roberta Gasbarre, Artistic Director
Apologies for this belated letter… I had promised to catch up with you later in the process of mounting The Christmas Revels — and I guess strictly speaking this is later… only much later! As our royal carriage gallops further away from 2018 and our visit to Norwich with Will Kemp and Her Majesty the Queen, here are a few parting thoughts about this year’s sumptuous, boisterous, exquisitely melodious Elizabethan Revels.
A guest post by Susan Swope
Susan Swope and her wife Shirley live near Gettysburg, PA and have been attending The Christmas Revels for nearly 20 years. Last Spring, Susan took a chance during our Spring Gala and submitted a winning bid to appear in a performance of the 2018 production. This is her story.
A post by Roberta Gasbarre, Artistic Director
Hello from mid-way through our Elizabethan Revels process (or should I say, “progress”)! This is always my most favorite time of the Fall. Everyone is cast and in rehearsal — Adult, Teen and Children’s Choruses — and all are learning the beautiful, rousing and fun musical pieces we will share with you in December. This is some really exquisite music we are singing, and the chorus already sounds terrific. I think of the music as the “glue” that holds our play together and moves us forward, company and audience experiencing the event in real theatrical time. In our earliest rehearsals, we only sing — no blocking (that is, giving stage direction) until we’ve devoted almost a month to focusing on the notes, the words and the harmonies of these songs.
Posted by Washington Revels
So a dragon, a hobby horse, and a jester walk into Takoma Park… It sounds like the beginning of a joke, but it becomes reality each 4th of July when Washington Revels steps out and sings out at the Takoma Park Independence Day Parade. Whether the temperatures are in the 70s (this year) or inching towards the 100-degree mark (2012), several dozen revelers of all ages can be relied upon to sing, play, and march their way through a community institution, and share a few centuries-old traditions in the process.
A post by Andrea Jones Blackford, Director, Jubilee Voices & Co-Director, Heritage Voices
On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered an address at an event in Rochester, New York commemorating the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Douglass’ words reveal the reality that the Founding Fathers’ vision of freedom in the Declaration of Independence did not include enslaved people, who were considered then property or livestock. His speech included the sights, sounds and stories of the enslaved, and of his own experience under slavery, underscoring the hypocrisy of celebrating freedom while benefiting from “cargoes of human flesh.” His words were a warning to the young republic — then 76 years old — to reconsider this paradox.
Posted by Washington Revels
The Fourth of July is a special holiday for Washington Revels. It’s a chance for Revelers from across our community to spread the joy of shared music, dance, and play with our largest single audience: parade spectators! Even more wonderful for us, these onlookers are our Takoma Park neighbors, who turn out each year to cheer on the many great community groups that participate in the historic Takoma Park Independence Day Parade (129 years and counting).
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