Some candid photos from the camera of Barbara Morrissey (Emma Borden), at the Borden House, Oak Grove Cemetery and Maplecroft on August 4, 2009.
“Emma’s”Memories Album
14 08 2009 Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Lizzie Borden & Friends, Pear Essential Players
Categories : Bloopers, In the Spotlight, Playing Miss Lizzie, Second Street Cast 2009, Second Street Re-Enactments, The August 4th Annual Re-Enactments, The House on Second Street, Uncategorized
More from August 4th! And a new address!
13 08 2009A 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.
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Tags: 2009, August 4
Categories : Now Playing, Orchids to . . ., Second Street Cast 2009, Second Street Re-Enactments, The August 4th Annual Re-Enactments, The House on Second Street
Joe Radza as Uncle John Morse
1 08 2009
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!
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Tags: Borden Case Suspects, Cast Interviews, Lizzie Borden's Peculiar Uncle, Uncle John Morse
Categories : Favorite Photos, In the Spotlight, Now Playing, Second Street Cast 2009, Second Street Re-Enactments, The August 4th Annual Re-Enactments, The House on Second Street
Taking on Bridget Sullivan
29 07 2009
This year the role of Irish maid, Bridget Sullivan from County Cork will be played by P.E.P. newcomer Kristin Pepe. Shown above getting into the character on June 20th at Lizzie Borden Live, Kristin’s greatest worry is getting down the Irish brogue, which may “for an Italian gal”- be a bit of a challenge. Kristin joins the P.E.P. Players fresh from the Lizzie Borden Society Forum and is an intrepid Mutton Eater First Class! A few years ago Kristin solved the pressing mystery of where Lizzie’s sister Emma went to school-Wheaton Female Seminary, now Wheaton College in Massachusetts, and has since enjoyed researching other Borden-related projects.
Over the years, Borden house employees Kathleen Cramer-Troost, Samantha Carey, Amanda, and former general office manager Michele have taken a stab at playing the Borden maid. Looks like Kristen already knows how to serve up something tastier than mutton!
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Categories : Costuming the Cast 1890's Style, Favorite Photos, Second Street Cast 2009, Second Street Re-Enactments, The August 4th Annual Re-Enactments, The House on Second Street
Lorraine Gregoire debuts as Miss Lizzie Borden
11 07 2009
It’s nearly August 4th again on Second Street and the cast for the Tuesday re-enactments is busy with costumes, learning lines and figuring out how to spirit gum false beards on chins. Cast parts have been assigned and this year there will be a few new characters and faces as well as a few familiar faces from years gone by. Naturally everyone wants to know who will have the starring part of Miss Lizzie Borden. Over the years the house on Second Street has seen the role taken on by Deborah Alie, LeeAnn Wilbur, Shelley Dziedzic, Dee Moniz, and accepting the Lizzie challenge this year is newcomer Lorraine Gregoire. Lorraine joined P.E.P. last year in the fabricated role of “Miss Manning” of the Fall River Herald- roving Girl Reporter and was such a hit in that part, now even playing Lizzie Borden would not be daunting. Fresh from a successful portrayal of long-time Borden friend and confidante, Alice Russell, at the performance of Lizzie Borden Live on June 20th at the Eagle, Lorraine is dyeing her blonde hair brown and getting ready to channel the “spirit” of the cool Miss Lizzie B. Now that’s dedication! Good Luck Lorraine!
Cast 2009 More on our cast coming soon!
Uncle John- Joe Razda
Bridget- Kristin Pepe
Undertaker Winward- Andrew Correia
Dr. Dolan- Ted Gregoire
Lizzie- Lorriane Gregoire
Mrs. Bowen- Ellen Borden
Mrs. Churchill- JoAnn Giovino
Abby Borden (deceased)- Shelley Dziedzic
Alice Russell- Sue Hauck
Mary Doolan- Kathryn Woods
Officer Medley- Ben Rose
Emma Borden- Barbara Morrissey
Andrew Borden (Under the Sheet)- Jeff Massan
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Tags: New Lizzie Borden on Second Street, Playing Lizzie Borden
Categories : Playing Lizzie Borden, Playing Miss Lizzie, Second Street Cast 2009, Second Street Re-Enactments, The August 4th Annual Re-Enactments, The House on Second Street
Spotlight on Colleen Johnson
19 08 2008
Miss Alice Russell
One of the few actual Fall Riverites in the cast, for Colleen,”Lolly”, Lizzie Borden is a family affair! Cousin Andrew, ( Undertaker Winward) was a lively addition to the cast in 2007 and 2008, and son Logan is also an employee at #92. Colleen brings plenty of acting experience to any role she plays and has, in addition to a beautifully melodic speaking voice, an effortless ability to become the character. Alice Russell, Lizzie and Emma’s neighbor over many years, was in a unique position to observe the doings in the house after the murders as she stayed with the family for some days. It was Alice who testified to seeing Lizzie burn a dress in the kitchen stove on the day after the Bordens’ funeral, and Alice’s testimony which was a deciding factor in indicting Lizzie. Alice Russell is often voted the witness with whom most people would love to have had a private interview! Her testimony about Lizzie’s visit on the night before the murders hinting of poison and her father having an enemy makes riveting reading.
Colleen as Alice in The House of Women- House of Mourning 2007
In Her Own Words- An interview with Colleen Johnson, August 19, 2008
1. I was born and raised in Fall River and am living back in the city after an absence of about five years.
2. I started acting and singing when I was about 11 years old. I’ve had the good fortune to play both Anastasia Romanov and Lizzie Borden in plays about their lives. The Lizzie role was for a student directed production of Sharon Pollock’s Blood Relations produced for the Centennial Conference at BCC. Mine was the dual role of Lizzie/Bridget.
During my “mis-spent” youth, I was part of an all originals band called first Explorer, and then Internal Affairs. During my stint with them we were lucky enough to open shows for both The Marshal Tucker Band, and Charlie Sexton.
I’ve worked at King Richard’s Faire for the last 17 years, and will be back there again this season.
3. My current regular job is guiding tours at the house. I’m looking for a second job, but no luck so far! 
4. Personal interests include: Singing, making beaded jewlery, baking pastries and working with chocolate, a bit of sewing, and tramping around cemeteries, because it’s fun.
5. Ahhhh, who committed the murders, indeed! I’m fairly unpopular I think, in that I believe there were actually two murderers, and that neither one of them was Lizzie! I believe John Morse committed Mrs. Borden’s murder. Who did the second one? When I figure that out, I’ll write my book!
6. Other facts about me: Hmmmm…My hair is pink, my nose is pierced, and I wear combat boots as every day shoes. The rest is subject to change without notice!
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Categories : In the Spotlight, Playing Miss Lizzie, Second Street Re-Enactments, The August 4th Annual Re-Enactments, The Cast 2008, The House on Second Street
Remembering August 4, 2007
15 08 2008
Last year we were without an Andrew Borden, and at the last minute dramatic changes had to be made to the usual script which features Andrew. How we could have used a Mr. Winward at the House of Mourning then! The premise became that visitors to the house were arriving for calling hours on August 5th, late in the afternoon to pay their final respects to Andrew and Abby. The coffins had not yet arrived from Mr. Winward’s but the house was swathed in black crepe, mirrors covered in deepest black, the clock stopped on the mantel at 11 a.m., Andrew’s time of death.
The ladies, dressed in somber black, waited to receive the mourners.
(L to R) JoAnne Giovino, Shelley Dziedzic, Colleen Johnson,
Samantha Carey, Barbara Morrissey
Although the Bordens were not really laid out on the diningroom table, in the absence of coffins, the story was given out that the bodies had just been prepared for the laying out, and only the feet protruded from beneath the shrouds. The feet on the right were ably portrayed by this year’s Mr. Winward, Andrew Correia. Mr. Correia, himself a mortician, then had a inkling of what it was to be on the other side of the sheet!
Guests were ushered into the parlor, in such a subdued spirit that one would have sworn a real wake was in progress. A few of them even arrived dressed in head to toe mourning so as to be ready to play along with the cast. The role of Bridget was played by day tour guide, Samantha Carey. Miss Lizzie, portrayed for positively the last time by Shelley Dziedzic, greeted guests in her upstairs room as she bustled about laying out her mourning attire. Mrs. Dziedzic, who clearly had not seen Lizzie’s age of 32 in over two decades informed the guests that the “ordeal” had added over 20 years to her face overnight. Alice Russell (Colleen Johnson) hovered solicitously around Lizzie’s room, telling the visitors about Lizzie’s Wednesday night visit to her house and Mr. Borden’s “enemy”. Quite by surprise, an unexpected visitor arrived in Lizzie’s room declaring he was Mr. Hathaway from the Metacomet mill. He was dressed to the nines in full Victorian regalia and tendered his condolences, reassuring Emma and Lizzie that “the girls” would be kindly “looked after” by the Board of Trustees. You just never know what will happen on August 4th.
Emma Borden (Barbara Borden Morrissey) baked funeral cakes on the old black stove in the kitchen along with her neighbor, Mrs. Addie Churchill, played by JoAnne Giovino. The pair had plenty to say about Lizzie and their theories. Guests were asked if they wished to see the cellar where the hatchets and axes were found and thus ended their calling hour with lemonade and cookies after signing the condolence book and receiving a Victorian funeral card as a remembrance. This year we decided it was a pretty good thing to have the fellows! But for a one-time, 9 performances only script, -it was a novelty act. After all- the show must go on!
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Tags: Re-enactment 2007
Categories : Playing Miss Lizzie, Second Street Re-Enactments, Set Decorating, The August 4th Annual Re-Enactments, The House on Second Street
Spotlight on Ted & Lorraine Gregoire
14 08 2008
It’s hard to believe that August 4th was Ted and Lorraine Gregoire’s first plunge into the dramatic arts. The pair, now married for 36 years, was as calm and confident as Tracy and Hepburn! Both of them were born in Webster, MA. but now live in Dudley, MA. Ted works in the Security Dept at Commerce Insurance in Webster, MA. His dapper and distinguished bearing lent a real believability to the role of Dr. William Dolan, city medical examiner. There’s something about a moustache!
Dr. Dolan arrives in the Borden parlor
Lorraine works at Gentex Optics in Dudley and is part of the polarized division that makes polycarbonate lenses for prescription sunglasses. Miss Manning was an ideal part for Lorraine, whose natural friendly “approachability” and skill at ad libbing on the spot gave visitors the feeling it was really 1892!
Getting ready for the first tour- always a large crowd
As far as their personal interests, Ted works many hours, so to relax likes to work around the house. Lorraine loves the old black & white movies from the ’30′s & 40′s and books, especially mysteries which of course led to the Borden case. ”It’s never boring because there is always some new fact about someone involved that makes it interesting.”
Dr. Dolan looks down upon the body of Abby Borden, “This was no heart attack!”
Ted thinks Uncle John did it. Lorraine thinks it was a collaboration between Emma, Lizzie and Uncle John, with Bridget getting caught up in the middle, and just wanting to get out and away without having to say any more than she had to. Ted and Lorraine are both Second Street Irregulars and members of the Noble Order of Mutton Eaters. Stay tuned for more great things from this pair!
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Categories : Costuming the Cast 1890's Style, In the Spotlight, Orchids to . . ., Second Street Re-Enactments, The August 4th Annual Re-Enactments, The Cast 2008, The House on Second Street
Miss Manning’s “Copy” for August 4th
13 08 2008
Miss Manning, a.k.a. Lorraine Gregoire in real life, posed as The Fall River Herald’s Ace Girl Reporter out under the “pear trees” of #92′s parking lot on August 4th.
Dressed in a green plaid summer cotton frock with jaunty black straw hat, Miss Manning had her steno pad in hand to interview guests and visitors as they exited the Borden cellar. As history records, John Cunningham, the chap who was ambling down Second Street after exiting Wade’s market, overheard Mrs. Churchill exclaiming to a friend in front of Hall’s Livery about the shocking assault on Andrew Borden. Cunningham, being an enterprising and helpful sort of guy, beat feet to Gorman’s Paper and Paint Store down the end of Second Street and rang up several newspapers and eventually got around to calling the police too!
Mr. Manning, from the Herald, was soon dashing up to #92 in his carriage as one of the first on scene. We had a “Miss Manning” this year, who filled a much-needed role of transitioning guests from the gift shop to the house, setting that 1892 tone immediately, and continuing it at the exit. Visitors were amused, and naturally very chatty about what they had seen inside. Miss Manning’s easy, friendly warmth and vintage charm disarmed the crowds- for who in this day and age doesn’t enjoy escaping into the Past- even for a little while? And of course- EVERYBODY wanted to give their opinions on whodunnit!
Read all about Miss Manning’s Big Day in the Pages section to the right.
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Categories : Costuming the Cast 1890's Style, In the Spotlight, Orchids to . . ., Second Street Re-Enactments, The August 4th Annual Re-Enactments, The Cast 2008, The House on Second Street
Thanks to this year’s August 4th cast!
12 08 2008
Lizzie Borden- LeeAnn Wilbur
Abby Borden -Shelley Dziedzic
Andrew Borden – Jeff Massan
Bridget Sullivan- Kathleen Troost-Cramer
Emma Borden- Barbara Borden Morrissey
Mrs. Churchill- JoAnne Giovino
Mrs. Bowen- Susan Hauck
Mr. James E. Winward, Undertaker- Andrew Correia
Miss Manning from the Fall River Herald- Lorraine Gregoire
Dr. Dolan- Ted Gregoire
Detective Seaver- Ben Rose
Little Abbie Whitehead- Kathryn Woods
Alice Russell- Colleen Johnson
Ellen Borden- Hairdressing 
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Categories : Costuming the Cast 1890's Style, Second Street Re-Enactments, The August 4th Annual Re-Enactments, The Cast 2008, The House on Second Street
