Photograph, Theater - Production of "Mother Goose Garden"
1918 – 1930 (Date manufactured/created)
4 1/4 in. H
X
7 1/4 in. W
8 1/2 in. H X 11 in. W
8 1/2 in. H X 11 in. W
Copy of a black and white photograph of the producition of "Mother Goose Garden", as identified by a sign in the photo. The play was written by Constance Grenelle Wilcox and performed in the Oakledge garden on September 4, for the benefit of the Madison Public Health Nurse. The actress in the photo is likely Ethel Wilcox, who played Mary Mary Quite Contrary.The play was published in "Told In a Chinese Garden, And Four Other Fantastic Plays for Out-doors Or In-doors." in 1920 by Henry Holt and Company, New York, and reprinted as "Mother Goose Garden: A Fantasy for a Garden in One Act" in 1920 by Samuel French, New York/London. Madison was home to the country's earliest summer theater. In 1918, Constance Grenelle Wilcox and Alice B. Keating founded the Woodland Garden Plays. The first performances were held in the woods behind the Wilcox home on Island Avenue, but later moved into an old barn on the property, called the "Playbarn". The plays were popular fundraisers for charitable causes including post WWI relief, the Madison Historical Society and the preservation of the Lee Academy.
A2023.JitneyPlayers.011