Pontine Theatre Performs A WHITE HERON & THE STAR SPLITTER
March 14 - 30, Fri @7pm, Sat @3pm, Sun @2pm / Tickets; www.pontine.orgo
Pontine’s original stagings of Sarah Orne Jewett’s tale, A White Heron and Robert Frost’s The Star Splitter
A White Heron was published in 1886. Born in 1849 in South Berwick Maine, Jewett was the daughter of the town doctor. As a child, she often accompanied him on his rounds to rural farms in the area. She would sit and listen to family members talking together while waiting for her father. She came to love the wit and wisdom of these country folks and they became the subject of her writings as an adult. She wrote of the rural folk of Maine and the beautiful landscape they inhabited.
Robert Frost’s The Star Splitter, published in 1923, explores the conflict between societal expectations and individual passions. A farmer’s reckless pursuit of a telescope, leads to the loss of his farm and home. This loss initially evokes ridicule from the townspeople. However, their subsequent contemplation reveals the importance of forgiveness and understanding. Frost uses the image of a telescope, "a star-splitter," as a symbol of the farmer’s unconventional path toward cosmic understanding.