On Tuesday, August 10, Catherine Ladnier will perform her one woman play, Dear Sis, as part of the Wright Museum’s 2021 Lecture Series, presented by Ron Goodgame and Donna Canney.
“Dear Sis is based on the letters my Uncle Bill sent to my mother, Eva Lee, his beloved older sister, during World War II,” according to Ladnier. In deciding to turn the letters into a play, she said, “I am a theatre junkie—I see a play in so many stories.”
Ladnier’s mother, Eva Lee Brown, kept things running on their family farm in South Carolina while her brother Bill Brown served in the China Burma India Theater of the war. In their letters to each other, (Eva Lee) Brown told of the day-to-day life in their small town, while her brother (Bill) wrote of his duties abroad and his longing to return home.
According to Wright Museum Executive Director Mike Culver, Dear Sis is the type of story “that makes WWII come alive.” “It really brings to life the horror of war, the family connections kept and broken, the unfathomable contrasts between the battlefield and the home front, and the longing for what had been a peaceful life lived in a familiar environment,” he said. “This is a tale of one family, but it stands accurately for all the American families who were caught in the web of world war.”
Dear Sis begins at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, August 10 at the Wright Museum, 77 Center Street in Wolfeboro on the first floor of the new DuQuoin Education Center. Admission is $3 for members and $8 for non-members.
Masks are optional for all fully vaccinated audience members. Reservations are strongly encouraged and can be made by calling 603-569-1212.
The region’s leading resource for educators and learners of all ages on World War II, the Wright Museum features more than 14,000 items in its collection that are representative of both the homefront and battlefield.
