Come and join us for the fifth season of our own historic take on dinner theater. Dine on a gourmet dinner of your choosing while you are regaled by the historic tales, music, poetry, and personal accounts of some of the most fascinating historic figures in the United States. Reach for the stars with Galileo! Experience Rosa Parks’ stories of activism and perseverance. Explore the history of Pennsylvania through song and artifacts from the first people to the workers of the industrial age. View the American Revolution through the lens of an African American soldier. Celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote with Ida B. Well, Carrie Chapman Catt, and Alice Paul! The series runs from September 2019 to May 2020. Encounter history in a way you have never experienced it before. All proceeds benefit the McCarl Coverlet Gallery at Saint Vincent.
Season Tickets are $245 per person for an $80 savings off of single-ticket prices. (5 performances). Single Tickets are $65 for adults. Members of the Saint Vincent College community are eligible for a discounted ticket rate of $45 with an employee ID card. Students with school IDs from Saint Vincent College and other colleges and universities are admitted for $35. Group Rates of $45 are available for groups of 10 or more.
To learn more about upcoming programming or the McCarl Coverlet Gallery contact Curator Lauren Churilla at 724-805-2188 or email lauren.churilla@stvincent.edu.
2019 | SEPTEMBER
The McCarl Gallery’s History Dinner Theater
Galileo Galilei the Starry Messenger
6 p.m. Saturday, September 14, 2019
Fred Rogers Center
Single performance $65 per person | Children $10 | Student rate $35 |
Group rate $45 for 10 or more |
Season Tickets $245 per person 5 performances |
Telephone 724-805-2177 | www.saintvincentarts.org
To many the Universe is a closed book of secrets never to be read. Almost four hundred years ago, an unknown court mathematician in Italy opened that book and laid the foundation for modern science. Galileo Galilei turned his telescope to the heavens to discover mountains and craters on the moon, four moons of Jupiter, and countless stars never before seen. Even more significant was his method of observation and mathematical analysis. He taught future scientists the way to discover the laws of nature.
The Starry Messenger is a dramatic fun-filled adaptation of Galileo’s short treatise “Siderius Nuncius”. Galileo (dressed in 17th century costume) arrives to present a public lecture on his most recent discoveries made using his newly devised spyglass. As he describes those discoveries, Galileo’s new method of observation and measurement of nature becomes apparent. Throughout the presentation audience members are actively involved in experiments and demonstrations. After the lecture, Galileo answers questions about his experiments, his life and his times.
Mike Francis brings astronomy to life with his Stars Science Theater programs. A physical science and physics teacher and formerly a lecturer for ten years at the Charles Hayden Planetarium at Boston’s Museum of Science, Mike combines the science of astronomy with the dramatic skills of an actor. Whether portraying Galileo, building a solar system with his lunch as the Stargazer’s Apprentice or narrating a tour of the current night sky in his Starlab traveling planetarium, Mike shares his love of the heavens with schools, libraries, museums and special events across the country.
Menu CHOICE OF:
1) Petite filet served with pan seared chicken breast duet with a
burgundy reduction or
2) Ahi tuna steak, pan seared with teriyaki sauce and
topped with wakame
Each entrée will be served with a salad, side dishes, soup, and dessert
2019 | OCTOBER
The McCarl Gallery’s
History Dinner Theater
Rosa Parks
6 p.m. Friday, October 25, 2019
Fred Rogers Center
Single performance $65 per person | Children $10 | Student rate $35 |
Group rate $45 for 10 or more |
Season Tickets $245 per person
5 performances | Telephone 724-805-2177 | www.saintvincentarts.org
Sherrie Tolliver of Women in History will re-enact the life of Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks made history when her arrest on a segregated bus sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Rosa Parks is known as the mother of the Modern Civil Rights Movement, but her life of activism began long before her arrest and continued for decades. Hear the story of this quiet but courageous woman and her recollections of the tumultuous times in which she lived. Tolliver has worked with Women In History, an organization dedicated to education through the dramatic recreation of lives of notable women in U.S. History since 1994 and has accumulated a rich cadre of characters.
Ms. Tolliver has a BFA in acting from New York University where she minored in African-American history. She has extensive training in dance, theater and music. Currently she works as an early childcare educator and performs as an actress and standup comic. She has taught drama at the Cleveland School of the Arts, the Beck Center and the Jerry Leonard Youth Theater. She has performed at the Cleveland Playhouse, Cain Park’s Alma Theater, Karamu House, the Front Row Theater, Jewish Community Center’s Variety Tale Theater and Kennedy’s Cabaret at Playhouse Square. Q&A following presentation.
Menu CHOICE OF:
1) Mediterranean chicken breast or
2) Grilled 10 oz strip steak
Each entrée will be served with a salad, side dishes, soup, and dessert
2019 | DECEMBER
The McCarl Gallery’s History Dinner Theater
Celebrate Pennsylvania! A History In Story And Song
6 p.m. Thursday, December 5, 2019
Fred Rogers Center
Single performance $65 per person | Children $10 | Student rate $35 |
Group rate $45 for 10 or more |
Season Tickets $245 per person 5 performances |
Telephone 724-805-2177 | www.saintvincentarts.org
Award winning performer Paula Purnell performs songs written by and about the people of Pennsylvania, in this Pennsylvania roots music program. From the indigenous people of the Eastern Woodlands to the early English settlers and on to the workers of the industrial age, Dr. Purnell invites audiences to explore how and why people of Pennsylvania have been making music for thousands of years. Sharing artifacts and performing on authentic instruments including the Native American Love Flute and the Appalachian Lap Dulcimer, Paula invites audiences to explore and discuss the daily life, toils, and triumphs of Pennsylvania’s bygone eras. Programs feature a variety of traditional folk tunes. Paula gives special attention to theme, local history, and culture.
Paula Purnell, D.Ed. is an educator and musician from Greensburg. She is the founder of Sense of Place Learning (SPL), an educational company that creates unique learning experiences celebrating the places we live through local history, ecology, and the arts. Paula holds a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she taught for several years before starting her business.
She has released six albums of original music, including three Parent’s Choice award-winning children’s albums. Her band, The NewLanders, researches, records, and performs regional roots music. The NewLanders released two albums and has performed regionally and internationally. Paula has presented Pennsylvania roots music programs and workshops across Pennsylvania, both as a Pennsylvania Humanities Council Commonwealth Speaker and a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Artist in Residence.
Menu CHOICE OF:
1) Herb crusted bistro filet with mushroom-shallot bordelaise or
2) Roasted pork tenderloin, with an apricot-mustard glaze with
dried fruit compote.
Each entrée will be served with a salad, side dishes, soup, and dessert.
2020 | MARCH
The McCarl Gallery’s History Dinner Theater
African American Soldiers and the American Revolution
6 p.m. Friday, March 6, 2020
Fred Rogers Center
Single performance $65 per person | Children $10 | Student rate $35 |
Group rate $45 for 10 or more |
Season Tickets $245 per person 5 performances |
Telephone 724-805-2177 | www.saintvincentarts.org
Learn about camp life and the struggle for African inclusion in the Continental Army, General Washington’s involvement with creating an all-African-American regiment at Valley Forge and why he ordered it to be abolished in 1780. The program uses an array of techniques to tell the story in song, activity, demonstration, Q&A or with poetry. The program tells the story of these Black soldiers, free or enslaved, rebel or loyalist, and their hero, “Jack Sisson,” will illuminate their forgotten service at the birth of the nation, the reasons for the war, conditions of camp life, and their equipment.
Joe Becton, of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, was introduced to history by his father, a history and social studies teacher in the Philadelphia school system. Becton earned associate degrees in social work and social science from Reading Area Community College, and a bachelor of arts degree in history education from the University of West Florida. He has been a Marine, a park ranger, counselor, teacher and director of visitor services. Presently he is a park ranger supervisor at Independence National Historic Park, and was director of visitor services at Historic Fort Mifflin. Musically, he plays 18th, 19th and 20th century instruments from the electric guitar to the glass armonica, and leads the Cobalt Blues Band.
Becton is a member of the Association for the Study of African-American History and Life, and the Pennsylvania Historical Society. He is cofounder of the 3rd Regiment United States Colored Troops Civil War reenactors and the First Rhode Island regiment American Revolutionary war reenactors.
His research at Valley Forge helped the Delta Sigma Theta construct a monument to Patriots of African Descent in 1993. He and his wife have five children and three grandchildren.
Menu CHOICE OF:
1) Roasted vegetable wellington
2) Seared salmon with minted blood orange champagne sauce.
Each entrée will be served with a salad, side dishes, soup, and dessert.
2020 | MAY
The McCarl Gallery’s History Dinner Theater
Women for the Vote
6 p.m. Friday, May 22, 2020
Fred Rogers Center
Single performance $65 per person | Children $10 | Student rate $35 |
Group rate $45 for 10 or more |
Season Tickets $245 per person 5 performances |
Telephone 724-805-2177 | www.saintvincentarts.org
Carrie Chapman Catt, Alice Paul and Ida B. Wells are among the suffragists who worked so hard to achieve the vote for women. The historical educators of Women in History portray these three notable American women in this centennial celebration of the Nineteenth Amendment. Ida B, Wells, Carrie Chapman Catt, and Alice Paul, were three of the most pivitol women in the fight for suffrage. In this program, these women discuss their personal lives, their challenges and their victories, the cultural and political circumstances that motivated them to fight for the right to vote in America.
Women in History educators have been portraying over 100 notable American women for over 25 years in schools, libraries, museums and civic groups throughout Ohio and beyond.
Menu CHOICE OF:
1) Santa Fe chicken
2) Roasted pork tenderloin, with a Cajun seasoning and a red onion marmalade
Each entrée will be served with a salad, side dishes, soup, and dessert