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(C) image Hollie Dziedzic 2007 The Eyes of Lizzie Borden
The Cast for 2011
Lizzie Borden: Kathleen Troost-Cramer
Detective Seaver: Ben Rose
Abby Borden: Shelley Dziedzic (flat on the floor)
Andrew Borden: Nicole (under the sheet)
Bridget Sullivan Suzanne Rogers
Emma Borden: Barbara Morrissey
Addie Churchill: JoAnne Giovino
Alice Russell: Kristin Pepe
Uncle John: Joe Radza
Dr. Dolan: Michael Shogi
Undertaker Winward Richard Marr-Griffin
Miss Manning from the Herald: Christina Lambertson
Internationally acclaimed world reporter, Nellie Bly- Katrina Shogi
Marshall Hilliard; Ray Mitchell
Mrs. Dr. Bowen: Ellen Borden
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
As the date for the annual re-enactment at the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast approaches, a few new members will be joining the cast for 2010. Over the next couple of weeks, more about this year’s cast, costuming and script will appear. Stop by and visit often!
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!
A big thank you to all who have sent in photos and helped with the big day: the P.E.P. 2009 cast, Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast Museum staff (Dee and John, Donald and LeeAnn, Dave, Logan, Deb and her daughters, Emily, Ed Thibault,), Don Sykes, Bob Shaw, ( there’s a big part for you next year, Don!!), Debbie Allard at the Herald News, the folks at Channel 10, Fall River Spirit, Rick Rebello, the visitors and guests at #92 who support us every year with their enthusiasm and attendance- and Bob Dube who graciously gave us a look at Lizzie’s life at Maplecroft. And now- on to August 4, 2010- with a few surprises in store!
Visit us often at our new address http://pearessentialproductions.org/ the old address will still bring you here. This slide show courtesy of Lorraine & Ted Gregoire.
Joe Madza’ s just too nice a guy to be playing old Uncle John, Lizzie Borden’s so-called peculiar relative. John, who stayed in the guest room where Abby Borden would be murdered the next day has always been a somewhat sinister personality. Many think John knew about the murders, helped to plan and assist the assailant, or maybe even had a hand in it himself! His alibis were nearly too perfect. The only thing not clear was a motive.
Joe ‘s interest in the case began with a vengeance after viewing the 1975 Elizabeth Montgomery television film when he was a college freshman. “I was both admiring and appalled at the same time that a woman could do such a thing.” Many applaud Lizzie’s grit in getting what she wanted and then soothe their conscience by saying the elderly Bordens were not nice and probably deserved what they got! “We have to somehow justify approving of murder,” Joe says sheepishly.
The Victorian and Egyptian eras have a great resonance for Joe- and he wonders if reincarnation is so far-fetched. “I felt right at home the first time I stepped into the Borden House- I had come home again.”
When asked whose eyes he would have liked to have been looking through on the day of the murders, he responded immediately,
“Addie Churchill’s! She was the very first on the scene, and she saw something important that day- something she would not tell. It must have been an eyeful because she never told what it was”.
As to the killer, Joe has no doubt it was Lizzie- all the way, and solo-although others in the house and neighbors on the street knew more than they were willing to tell about the situation in the family and what they saw and heard that day. Joe also agrees with the theory that Abby was the intended victim and Andrew was just unfortunate in coming home at the wrong time before Lizzie could concoct a reasonable alibi for the time of Abby’s murder.
”His was a killing of self-preservation for Lizzie- because who would have known better who could have killed Mrs. Borden and why?”
Joe has researched his character inside and out for his portrayal Tuesday.
“I don’t like Morse- I don’t think he was a very lovable man or a nice one,” Joe admits candidly. “He did not seem surprised at Abby’s death, and his behavior watching and taking it all in while eating pears under the trees in the back yard seems unnatural behavior”.
But the chance to don a fake gray beard and look “peculiar” and sinister under the pear trees was a role too good to miss! When Joe is not time traveling to 1892, he is an eighth grade teacher in Warren, Ohio teaching science and gifted students. I’d bet he’s a favorite with the kids!
“I have a great sympathy for Abby Borden, she had a tough job of trying to mother those two stepdaughters,” says Shelley Dziedzic, scriptwriter for the annual re-enactments. In younger years Shelley took on the role of Miss Lizzie, which was “very difficult as so many people come with differing expectations of Lizzie.” Since 2008, the character of the slain Mrs. Borden has been a silent one, with the deceased Mrs. Borden prone on the floor upstairs.
“I think it is important to have visitors to the house on this day see what Bridget Sullivan the maid, and neighbor Addie Churchill saw on August 4, 1892. It is chilling to bring to life that black and white photo we all have seen of Abby Borden dead on the floor by the bed. To see it in 3-D and in color adds another dimension. Most people are shocked and silent when they enter the room, their eyes going up on the wall to the crime scene photo in black and white of the same scene. This could happen today.”
Since 2007, the body of the other victim, Andrew Borden, has been carefully covered with a blood-stained sheet as he lay on the famous black sofa.
“We tried many things to capture the horror of Andrew Borden’s face- from prosthetic wounds to blood soaked eye patches but I think leaving it to the imagination of the guests by not showing everything works best. Their inner vision of what is under the sheet is far more horrifying than anything we could create with make-up.”
Mostly Dziedzic wants people to know that the re-enactment is done with respect for the victims, and a true attempt to bring to life an historic event.
“I am always dismayed when I read a comment in the local papers or on the Internet that our group is glorifying a tragedy, or they say is a little wacky and gruesome. I think historic re-enactors such as one finds at Gettysburg, Sturbridge, Plymouth, or Mystic Seaport or any number of places do a great service in presenting history in a visual way which will prompt people to want to learn more about what happened so long ago.”
Her dream is to one day have enough actors to take on the role of all the characters who had a part on that August morning- and to do so in real time.
“I think there just might be some real revelations if we could do it.”
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