Edith Wharton’s Summer on stage at The Mount

Submitted by Lesley Ann Beck on August 17, 2010 - 6:56pm

 

Charity Royall, the main character in Edith Wharton’s novella Summer, longs for romance. But a girl who comes of age in 1890 has to be careful when choosing the object of her affections. In Wharton’s poignant tale, set in the Berkshire hills, Charity learns that there are consequences once the passion fades.
 
 
A new Wharton Salon production of Summer, adapted for the stage by Dennis Krausnick and directed by Catherine Taylor-Williams, runs from August 18 to 29 at The Mount in Lenox, Mass. The Summer cast features Adam Gauger, Reilly Hadden, Rory Hammond, Miles Herter, Alyssa Hughlett, Diane Prusha, and Robert Serrell, with music for violin composed and performed by Alexander Sovronsky.
 
 
Summer was published in 1917, after Wharton had left The Mount and moved to France. Wharton referred to Summer as her “hot Ethan,” meaning her 1911 novel Ethan Frome, also set in the Berkshires.
 
 
Charity Royall is an orphan, living with her guardian and working in the library to earn enough money to escape her small-town existence. She meets Lucius Harney, a well-off New Yorker doing research for a book, and a secret relationship begins. Charity has to escape the unwelcome and inappropriate overtures of her guardian, but her romance with Harney is, ultimately, no refuge.
 
 
The Wharton Salon, founded last year by Taylor-Williams expressly to perform stage adaptations of Edith Wharton’s work at The Mount, had a success with last summer’s sold-out show, the sly and funny Xingo. This year’s production, Summer, is scheduled for two weeks of performances. Tickets are $35 general admission, which includes a day pass to The Mount. Performances are in the Stables Auditorium at The Mount, 2 Plunkett Street, Lenox.
 
 
Show times are Wednesdays and Thursdays, August 18, 19, 25, 26, at 5:30 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays, August 21, 22, 28, 29, at 10:30 a.m. For tickets, call the box office at 413-551-5113. For more information, visit www.edithwharton.org or www.whartonsalon.org
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