On May 16 and 17, the Sparkle on Stage Cultural Arts Center hosted its first set of productions inspired by the 250th anniversary of the U.S. by performing “Colonies vs The Crown.” The play tells the story of how colonists living on Long Island were divided in 1775 between remaining loyal to England or embracing the ideas of independence and cession to form a new nation.
This play was originally written and performed at the St. George’s Episcopal Church in Hempstead, where most of the play takes place, in 1975, and was redone a year later at the Freeport Presbyterian Church before Regina Feeney, the Village of Freeport historian, found a copy of the script at the Freeport Historical Society.
“I brought it up to the Arts Council and said, ‘Would you guys consider redoing it?’” Feeney said. “Robyn (Workman) said, ‘We could probably do something together at Sparkle (on Stage).’ So that’s how that all came about.”
Workman, who is the owner of Sparkle on Stage and served as the director and producer of “Colonies vs The Crown,” said that Feeney was a tremendous help to the production beyond providing the script. The Freeport Historical Society and Sparkle on Stage partnered together to earn a $5,000 250 Commemoration Grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, which helped fund the costs of historically accurate costumes, printing and other production expenses.
“Colonies vs The Crown,” predominantly features speeches by some of the most influential figures in the towns of Hempstead and Oyster Bay prior to the Revolutionary War and the brutal British Occupation of Long Island from 1776 to 1783.
These figures included stern British loyalists like Colonel Richard Hewlett, played by Workman, Reverend Leonard Cutting, played by Matthew Cavanagh, and Gabriel Ludlow and Judge Thomas Jones, both played by Alessandra Laucella.
Their opponents were the rebellious American colonists who spoke out about the harshness of brutal rule and the disenfranchisement that King George III, played by Penelope Escoto. Ava Mentor, as Adrian Onderdonck, Kathryn Kuehn, as Martin Schenck, and Jackie Anner Kimlingen, as Samuel Townsend, were the American rebels.
Along with the acting performances, the Folkestra Music Group provided live background music that was inspired by British and American music of the late eighteenth century.
Feeney hopes that more Freeport residents and Long Islanders recognize the importance of the region’s history and how it can provide a lesson of dealing with conflict today.
“(This play shows) how we don’t understand the revolution, especially on Long Island, how it was a civil war and that we weren’t all patriots,” Feeney said. “We were split between patriots and loyalists, and what people don’t understand is that for seven years we’re going to be occupied territory, and times are really hard. The lesson that gets learned is that we persevered and at the end of the seven years we have to come together and we have to govern.”
Another Sparkle on Stage production celebrating America 250 will be a performance of an originally written play “Almost Hamilton,” on June 27. Tickets and further details are already available on Sparkle on Stage’s website.
