Saturday Sunset Series Event
Saturday June 2, 2012 7:30-8:30PM
Robber’s Roost Bookstore, Torrey, Utah
The Entrada Institute presents “In Her Own Hand: The Life and Letters of Mary Hallock Foote;” a play performed by Kim Abunuwara and Nancy Rushforth.
The Story
Mary Foote, accomplished 19th century artist and well-known novelist is celebrated in this 2-woman play consisting of excerpts from Foote’s letters and reminiscence accompanies by a narration explaining the sequence of events and their context. The letters are edited and arranged by Nancy Rushforth, who researched the archives of Stanford and Lilly Libraries where the 500 unpublished letters written by Foote to her life-long friend, Helena de Kay Gilder are housed.
In 1972 Wallace Stegner was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for is novel, “Angle of Repose” in which his fictional female protagonist, Susan Burling Ward, is a prominent artist and writer of Western American fiction. Through Ward, Stegner provides unique descriptions of early Western mining towns, an intimate correspondence with Susan’s friend over a 50 year period, all of which distinguish “Angle of Repose” for its characterization, and historical authenticity. The life, letters and professional works fictionalized in this novel belong to Mary Foote.
The purpose of the play is to acknowledge her life as hers and to allow her voice to be heard as her own.
Slides of Foote’s life and art works accompany the reading.
The Cast
Nancy Rushforth
Nancy Rushforth, Associate Professor of Humanities and Integrated Studies received her B.A. and M.A. in English Literature at BYU where she taught Writing About the Humanities and Introduction to Literature courses for several years. In 2006 Nancy completed a certification in Thanatology. A faculty member at UVU since 2001, she teaches Humanities, Research Writing and Death Education courses.
Kim Abunuwara
After graduating from BYU, Kim received an M.F.A. in Acting from the National Theatre Conservatory in Denver. She then received her Ph.D.in Theater from BYU. She headed the acting program at UTEP for seven years before scaling back her professional life to raise children. In recent years she has taught acting and critical studies at BYU. She currently holds a teaching lectureship at UVU in Humanities.