Share: 

Tales of America’s Gilded Age program set June 28

May 31, 2023

The Rehoboth Beach Public Library will present “How the Other Half...,” a story hour for grownups, at 5:30 p .m., Wednesday, June 28, at 226 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth Beach.

Two vibrant tales from America’s Gilded Age will gleefully remind attendees that people haven’t changed in 100 years. Professional actress Michèle LaRue inhabits eight very different roles in two tales by O. Henry and Mary E. Wilkins Freeman.

“These stories were written to be read aloud, like little plays,” said LaRue “Before TV, before radio, people of all ages made their own entertainment at home, and popular magazines offered fiction that encouraged performance.”

The program opens with O. Henry’s “Transients in Arcadia” (1907). The mysteriously elegant Madame Beaumont checks into an exclusive Manhattan hotel, impressing all with her self-containment and exquisite attire. The worldly Harold Farrington arrives soon after, and the two commence a genteel but intimate acquaintance. There follows the twist.

Next, two couples collide in Mary E. Wilkins Freeman‘s “The Apple Tree” (1903). The elder woman drudges compulsively, ignoring the surrounding rural beauty; the indigent younger man relishes all nature provides. When the old lady demands the young man’s help with spring cleaning, a lesson is learned. Arching elegiacally over the comedy is the magnificent apple tree of the title.

“Mary E. Wilkins Freeman was as popular as O. Henry in their day,” LaRue said. “With my repertoire of Tales Well Told, I love introducing audiences to these gems from American’s Gilded Age and Progressive Era writers.” The actress has specialized in performances from this period for 40 years. She honed her unique style on the porches and in the parlors of Victorian Cape May, N.J., and tours nationally with 30 stories by authors both famous and forgotten.

For more information, go to michelelarue.com and rehobothlibrary.org.

Subscribe to the CapeGazette.com Daily Newsletter