Actors stage play at Winter Quarters
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OMAHA, Neb. — A new play centering on four Latter-day Saint women who lived at Winter Quarters between 1846-48 was recently presented at the Church's Mormon Trail Center at Historic Winter Quarters.
"Voices of Winter Quarters" was written by Omaha resident Carole Waterman, who is not a member of the Church. It was initially conceived as a one-woman dramatization for her daughter, Marie Adams, but was expanded to include four characters: Mary Ann Weston Maughn, an English immigrant; Fanny Parks Taggart; Rebecca Garner Clark; and Louisa Barnes Pratt.
The dialogue for the play is true to journal entries and biographies from which the script is taken. Although there is not evidence that the four women were acquainted at Winter Quarters, the playwright and the cast believe it to be representative of the sisterhood that existed among the saints at a time when, with more than 3,000 women and 502 men, their strength and faith were sorely tested. Feelings of hardship, sadness and joy are woven throughout the play.
Characters were portrayed by members of the Agoura Hills 1st Ward in California who, in addition to Sister Adams, included Ann Maughn, Jennifer Brown, Catherine Wallet and Katherine Mackay. The troupe's stage manager, Shelly Jordan, is also a member of the ward.
The play was sponsored locally by the Pioneer Heritage Society and performed at the center, which is adjacent to the Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple and the Pioneer Cemetery, where approximately 600 saints who died during that first harsh winter at Winter Quarters are buried.
