Fruitcake Festival

31 N. Alabama Avenue,Monroeville AL 36460

13 November, 2021

Description

Master storyteller Dolores Hydock relates an engaging story based on the diaries of Sallie Independence Foster, followed by a reception. Veteran storyteller Dolores Hydock will present “A Sweet Strangeness Thrills My Heart: The Journals of Sallie Independence Foster, 1861-1887,” in a one-woman stageplay Nov. 13 and 14 at the historic Old Courthouse Museum. Young Sallie's journal is a uniquely personal chronicle of daily life in Florence, Alabama, in the years before, during and after the Civil War. Ms. Hydock discovered the journal in the archives at the University of North Alabama, where Sallie's family home is now part of the campus. Using the journal, along with Sallie's letters and other period documents, Ms. Hydock vividly blends the modern experience of finding and exploring this 150-year-old treasure with Sallie's life experiences, as her innocence collides with the reality of war. “Dolores becomes Sallie, and we see life through Sallie's eyes,” said Gail Deas, president of the Monroe County Museum Endowment board, the play's sponsor. “She shares everything -- as diaries do-- from schoolgirl crushes, to the anxiety of having Yankees on her front porch and brothers gone to war, to navigating a radically changed world as a reluctant adult. It's not often that ancestors share their private thoughts, and speak to us in their own words. This is a real treat.” The play is the keynote event for the endowment's annual autumn Fruitcake Festival. In addition to the performances, there will be a silent auction Saturday night. Performances will be Saturday, Nov. 13 at 5 p.m., and Sunday Nov. 14 at 2 p.m. Saturday tickets are $40, which includes a wine and cheese reception following the performance, and $30 for the Sunday matinee. Student tickets are half-price. Tickets and information are available at the museum, by calling 251-575-7433 or via Eventbrite. Find more information at the museum's website: www.monroecountymuseum.org. The Monroe County Museum Endowment board generates longterm financial support for the maintenance and preservation of the historic Old Courthouse Museum on Monroeville's downtown square. Monroe County Museum is housed in the Old Courthouse located on the square in historic downtown Monroeville, AL.  Complete with permanent exhibits on famous writers Truman Capote and Harper Lee, the Museum is most proud of its main exhibit, the 2nd floor courtroom replicated on a Hollywood sound stage for the film version of To Kill a Mockingbird.