Congratulations to cast and  support crew on a great effort and performance this year!

The cast enjoyed a great day at the Lizzie Borden  Bed and Breakfast Museum as they, for the 14th year, adapted the facts of the case for performance to the public.  Tickets were sold out well before the afternoon, with starting times on the half hour this year.  An exit poll was given to the visitors and over 60 % of those who filled out the form decided Lizzie was the guilty party, with Uncle John Morse coming in a distant second.  There was a drawing at the end of the day for a gift certificate to the popular B&B.  Some of the cast is shown above after the day was ended, before being treated to a tour of all floors of Lizzie’s home on French St., Maplecroft.  For more about the day visit the Fall River Herald site article http://www.heraldnews.com/news/x84685033/Fall-Rivers-infamous-Borden-murders-reenacted-on-118th-anniversary

More script details and cast photos coming soon!

Logan Livesey will be a first-time cast member in 2010 although he is no stranger to the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast Museum.  Logan has worked as part time chef and primary housekeeper for nearly two years.    Some who frequent the King Richard Faire in Carver, Massachusetts may recognize Logan from years gone by where he was a costumed medieval re-enactor with his mom, also once an employee at the Lizzie B&B who once played Borden friend, Alice Russell.

Logan enjoys the work at the house, which requires some muscles to lift the weekly tons of laundry down to the cellar laundry room.  The worst part of the housekeeper’s job- folding all the sheets!  The cooking takes some getting used to, especially pacifying the old black cast iron stove.  

As for all the paranormal focus on the house in recent years, Logan says, “ Some rooms have a certain feeling , as if someone did not want you around- a sort of feeling of foreboding.”

If he could be one person in the house on the day of the murders, it would not be a person at all.

“I would love to be a fly on the wall- or maybe on Lizzie’s shoulder!” 

As to the guilty party, Logan has no hesitation- “Lizzie did it- no other and no accomplice. Bridget had no motive and Lizzie had everything to gain.  Plus she was on the spot.  I think Andrew was respectable, but not likeable, and very hard in his business dealings.  Age and life affected him..”

As to whether Andrew deserved what he got- “ Hard to say- it was a bad end.  But in the end, nobody was worse off for his demise- and two were better off!”

Logan is Fall River born and raised and will play the part of Andrew Borden (under the sheet).  The hardest part “will be staying perfectly still on a very uncomfortable sofa.”

Some of our cast will be appearing at the Fall River Public Library on Tuesday, August 3rd at 6:30 for a special reading by Richard Behrens from the new Lizzie Borden: Girl Detective!

Lizzie Borden:  Lorraine Gregoire

Detective Seaver  Ben Rose
Abby Borden:   Shelley Dziedzic  (flat on the floor)
Andrew Borden: Logan Livsey (under the sheet)
Bridget Sullivan  Kathleen Troost-Cramer
Emma Borden:  Barbara Morrissey
Addie Churchill:  JoAnne Giovino
Alice Russell:     Kristin Pepe
Uncle John:  Joe Radza
Officer Medley:   Justin Dunne
Miss Manning from the Herald:   Molly O’Brien
“Cub reporter and Girl Detective” from the Herald, and Miss Manning’s assistant: Kathryn Woods
The Distinguished Undertaker Winward:  Michael Brooks
Officer Harrington:  Will Clawson
Marshall Hilliard;  Ray Mitchell

Book Reading

Tuesday, August 3rd, 6:30-7:30pm

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

 Author Richard Behrens

will be presenting a reading from his latest book

Lizzie Borden: Girl Detective

PLUS:  A visit from 

The Pear Essential Players

The reenactment group from the Lizzie Borden B&B including :

 Marshal Hilliard, Miss Lizzie Borden, Mrs. Churchill, Alice Russell,  Abby Borden, Uncle John Morse, Officer Phil Harrington and Miss Nellie Drew (Girl Detective Reporter for the Herald)

Fall River Public Library

104 North Main Street,

Fall River, MA

Main meeting room, basement

Light refreshments will be served

Chances are good that if you have dropped in at #92 Second Street, you will have met Will Clawson.  The genial cook, daytime tour guide, night time innkeeper and gift shop employee is a presence all around the house.  Will started work last October helping out retired past chef, Dave Quigley- and has now mastered the art of jonnycake-making on the cranky old black 1905 kitchen stove. 

 Will originally hails from California and inherited his interest in the Borden case from his Dad.  After a few years at school in Toronto, and a Master’s degree in Spanish Medieval History (“so helpful to the Borden case,”  he jokes),  Will has landed in the Fall River area.  After taking a day tour at the house, Will applied for a job at “Lizzie’s” and was immediately hired.

“There’s a lot of nuance with Lizzie.  Although I am convinced of her guilt and have no sympathy for her, I think she may have had a genuine affection for her father.  Andrew was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Will enjoys the night tours most- with lots of time to have relaxed conversations with guests about the famous case. 

“The case is a total snapshot of Victorian society in New England in 1892,” says Will, an avid history buff.

As to the paranormal aspects at the house which seem to have developed greatly recently,

“I’m a skeptic, but some odd things do happen!”

If Will could be anybody specifically on the day in 1892, it would be John Morse, Lizzie’s uncle; “He was right in the thick of it!”, or Officer Fleet who had the chance to interrogate Lizzie.  The Crowe’s barn roof hatchet is Will’s pick for the murder weapon.  “The handless hatchet was not new and did not have a sharp edge with gilt.”

Will portrays Officer Phil Harrington in his first time out as an actor.  “Harrington had an extraordinary eye for fashion,” says Will, referring to Harrington’s remarkably detailed description of Lizzie’s pink wrapper.  Harrington tragically died on his honeymoon shortly after Lizzie was acquitted in 1893.

Will is also a new member of The Second Street Irregulars and passed his initiation with flying colors to become an official “Mutton Eater” this past April.

Presenting Miss Manning- Molly O’Brien!

Good things do come in small packages. The petite Molly O’Brien joins our cast this year in the “imagined” role of Miss Manning, reporter from the Fall River Herald.  Molly has some serious acting chops and costuming credits for a young ingénue!  Arriving at the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast in October of 2009, she has become a welcome addition to the staff of daytime tour guides with her bubbling enthusiasm for the case, and cheerful presence. Molly’s character will be a take-off on the real Mr. Manning, who, after a timely call from passerby John Cunningham, arrived at the Borden house soon after the discovery of Andrew Borden’s body on August 4, 1892.  “Miss Manning” will be interviewing Lizzie’s Uncle John Morse, hoping for a “scoop”.

“Lizzie did it.  She was in the right place, had the time, and most of all- she had the best motive.  But I think Bridget saw and knew something about it all,” said Molly on the topic of whodunnit.

If Molly could be one person on the fateful day, it would be Alice Russell, who was in a position to observe everything as she stayed at the Borden house after the maid quit on Friday. The weapon, she feels, was the hatchet later found on the top of Crowe’s barn and was the weapon for both homicides.

On the topic of whether or not Lizzie Borden deserves any sympathy for her life after the acquittal Molly believes, “If you are convinced she did it, she deserves none- nobody should have to die the way the Bordens did.”  Molly was inducted this past April into the Noble Order of Mutton Eaters and is a member of the Second Street Irregulars. Uncle John will not be able to resist the charms of Miss Manning!