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ELCOIT)6

uLE A Midwinter Celebration

December 9th, 10th and 11th, 2016

Shea Theater

Turners Fa

lls, Massachusetts �

� PERFORMERS

CHORUS

Hattie Love Adastra Montserrat Archbald

Bart Bales Joli Bear

Owen Bear Alden Booth

Phoebe Burch Larkin Christie

Margaret Christie Kirk Dale

Joan Deely Louise Doud

Bob Drinkwater Lissa Greenough

Elijah Jackson Rose Jackson Calla Jones

Becca Lipton Morgan Lobrose

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Saralinda Lobrose Allan MacIntyre Alan McArdlc Jinny Mason

Fred Momaney Loril MoonDream Christine Parshall

Lucius Parshall Rita Reinke

Kate Richardson Andrea Rogers Fiona Rogers Geoff Rogers Jim Rutter

Amelia Sawyer Ed Smith

Granger Smith-Massa Liz Smith

Mary Tyner

CHILDREN'S CHORUS

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Ramona Lamoureux Amrita Rutter

Samara Sawyer

Sita Rutter Ajika Sawyer

MUSICIANS

Montserrat Archbald Alan McArdle Joli Bear

Lissa Greenough Jim Leviton

Ed Smith

DANCERS

Blue Willies

Michael Pattavina Lucius Parshall Geoff Rogers

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) STAFF f7

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Producers: Alan McArdle, Jinny Mason

Artistic Director: Kate Richardson

Stage Director: Jed Proujansky

Choral Director: Kate Richardson

Assistant Choral Directors: Alden Booth, Becca Lipton

Children's Choral Director: Hattie Love Adastra

Instrumental Music Director: Geoff Rogers

Stage Managers: Eaden Marti, Daniel Black

Vocal Arrangements: Bill Venman, Thomas W. Hutcheson

Puppets: Jinny Mason, Cass Mason, Montserrat Archbald

Mummer's Play: Jinny Mason

Mummer's Play Director: Jed Proujansky

Dance Coordinators: Andrea Rogers, Lucius Parshall

Costumers: Marsha Smith, Karro Frost, Jinny Mason, Axel Mason

Lighting Design: Gen Shepard

Set Design: Jed Proujansky

Props: Axel Boy, Cass Mason, Jed Proujansky, Jinny Mason,

Joan Deely, Al McIntyre

Lighting, Set and Stage Crew: Daniel Black, Axel Boy, Eaden Marti,

Joan Deely, Louise Doud, Jinny Mason, Jed Proujansky, Tom Shattuck

Light Board Operator: Stephen Davis

Poster Illustration: Karen Gaudette Program Layout: Joan Deely

Front of House : Matt McDonough, Marie Paquette, Benjamin Coan­

Nixon, friends of Welcome Yule

Publicity: Jinny Mason, Louise Doud, Joan Deely

Produced by Welcome Yule, Inc. & The Shea Theater

SPECIAL THANKS TD

BROADSIDE BOOKS .ro JONES LIBRARY .ro WORLD EYE BOOKSHOP

THE TEXTILE COMPANY

Act I rr Chanticleer: Chorus Text by William Austin appeared in Devonius Augustitianae Flam ma in 1635;arr. Frances Judd Cooke, adapted from an English traditional melody.

Story-Part I: Fred

The Fairest Maid: Women's Chorus Words and music by Annabell Gretz. Bidding farewell to the old year andwelcoming the new year.

Deck The Hall: Chorus An old Welsh carol. Sing along to our arrangement of this well-known tune.

There Was A Pig: Children Traditional English country song featuring animals performing the daily laborof agriculture.

John Ball: Chorus Sydney Carter wrote this song about a 14th century visionary who imagined aworld of social equality. Our village's "Chanticleer" exhorts the chorus to"crow like a cock and carol like a lark in the light that is coming in the morn­ing!"

Shepherds and Lasses/Yule Log Processional: Woodsfolk A traditional English wassailing carol and a Jong-time favorite ofWelcome Yule. The Yule log is brought to the fire where it will ensure goodfortune and health in the coming year. Touch the log with your sprig of hollyfor luck as it comes by.

The Shortest Day: Chanticleer and Reynard A poem written by Susan Cooper and used with permission of Revels, Inc.Please join us in calling "Welcome, Yule!" at the end.

Furry Day Carol: Chorus A Welcome Yule standard to start winter festivities for both townand wood folk.

Dance: Bransle de Chevaux A Bransle is a type of dance popular since the early 16th century.

Jacobstowe Wassail: Townsfolk

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Traditional, arr. by Will and Lynn Rowan. In the old custom of wassailing,people go from house to house asking for food and drink. Sharing with thembrings luck and good will to the household. Here the farmers praise their'mascot' Chanticleer.

Here We Come A-Wassailing: Woodsfolk Traditional, English. The forest folk respond with a wassail that asks pity forthe old Fox.

Jolly Old Hawk: Chorus The Waterson's version of a twelfth night song collected in Bridgewater, Eng­land from the singing of William Chorley. The townsfolk and the woodsfolkend their friendly rivalry with expressions of unity in the final chords.

King Herod and the Cock: Chorus From the Oxford book of Carols. We sing just a portion of this old carol thatdescribes the miraculous resurrection of a rooster.

Mummer's Play: Alan, Fred, Joan, Loril, Phoebe, Margaret,

Jinny, Bart, Elijah

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A venerable midwinter custom that reenacts the battle of light and�dark with a good measure of tomfoolery.

�Gallery Carol: Chorus Traditional, use by permission of Andrew Watts. A rollicking versionof a wassailing song as sung by Maddy Prior's Carnival Band.

f,0 Intermission

Act II

Gl.1.

Foxes Go Hunting: Geoff, Andrea, Children Used with permission of Jane Coombs, this songs tells a true story aboutsome foxes.Story-Part II: Jim

Tomorrow the Fox: Becca, Geoff, Hattie, Lucius, children An old English Civil War song, from Thomas Ravenscroft, Deuteromelia,1609.

Molly Dance: Various Cast Members During the lean days of deep midwinter, farm laborers donned disguisesand went door to door, dancing in hope of receiving food, drink and coin.A stingy host might find their dooryard marked by the furrows of thedancers' plow.

The White Shepherd: Amelia, Bart, Ed, Joli, Kirk, Montserrat, Owen Mike OConnor. A midwinter carol written in Strath Conon, Scotland as the first snows of winter fell.

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Abbots Bromley Horn Dance: Lucius, Louise, Joan, J inny, Fred, Kirk, Alan, Andrea An ancient ritual dance first chronicled in Staffordshire, England over 600

years ago. This year we perform the dance with deer antlers along with

some stock characters.

Song for New Year's Eve: Fiona, Granger, Loril, Amelia Robert Graves. A shivery welcome to the winter season.

We've Been Awhile A-wandering: Children Children's candlelight procession with a wassail song that echoes

the wassail of the woodsfolk.

Story-Part Ill: Saralinda

Until the Dark Time Ends: Chorus Alouette Iselin. About the importance of community and song.

The Cocks Are Crowing: Liz

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Sydney Carter. "My love is rising like the sun, and now the night is over"

See the Sun A-Rising: Chorus The tune is an old setting of Dona Nobis Pachem. The words, often used

in Solstice celebrations, are from the EarthSpirit Community.

Carol of the Birds: Chorus A new arrangement of an old Spanish carol-hear the birdsong!

Gaudete: Chorus A sacred Christmas carol thought to have been composed in the 16th cen­

tury, and published in Piae Cantiones, a collection of Finnish/Swedish

sacred songs published in 1582.

My Brightest Days: Chorus Isaac Watts, 1707; O.A. Parris, 1959. A shape-note song from The Sacred

Harp, also known as the Denson Book.

The King: Chorus We cannot go a year without singing this Welsh ode to the wren, the King

of all the birds. Traditionally sung on St. Stephen's day to commemorate

the ancient custom of wrenning. Words in the program-join us!

Much of the music in the show was arranged by or adapted from arrangements by Bill Venman and Thomas W. Hutcheson

) WORDS ID THE SONGS Sing along if you wish!

FURRY DAY CAROL (Chorus)

With hal and toe, sing merry-o,

With hal and toe sing merry!

With hal and toe sing merry-o,

With hal and toe sing merry!

THE KING

Joy health love and peace, be all here in this place,

By your leave we will sing, concerning our king.

Our king is well-dressed, in silks of the best,

In ribbons so rare, no king can compare.

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We have travelled many miles, over hedges and stiles,

In search of our king, unto you we bring.

We have powder and shot, to conquer the lot.

We have cannon and ball to conquer them all.

Old Christmas is past, Twelfth Night is the last,

And we bid you adieu, great joy to the new.

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( NOTES from the l

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Welcome to the 32nd production of "Welcome Yule!"

In our imaginary medieval village, some of the folk make their living in the town and on farms, and others spend their time hunting, gathering firewood and other woodland treasures, heading out from their base camp in the forest.

There's a friendly rivalry between the farm folk and the woods folk, but in the end they know they depend upon each other for their live­lihood and comfort.

The central story about Chanticleer and Reynard was told by Chau­cer in the Nun's Priest's Tale, and featured characters that were al­ready familiar in folk tales. Chanticleer the Rooster embodies the val­ues (and perhaps the flaws) of the farm folk, while Reynard the Fox does the same for the woods folk.

As a larger seasonal metaphor, Chanticleer represents the light half of the year and Reynard the dark. Theirs is not a battle of good vs.

evil, but rather a balancing of different energies. We need the plan­ning and industriousness of the rooster's farmyard in the months of growing, but we also need the fox's determination and cunning to get through the hard times of winter and cold.

As a first-time artistic director, I must extend deep appreciation to the production team and the cast for bringing my ideas to life.

May your winter months be blessed with fellowship, warmth, and joy.

W�!

Kate