Thornton Wilder’s Works Celebrated in “Orcas Reads”

From left, Grace McCune, Holly King, Kara O'Toole (Orcas Center director), and Natasha Meskew (Orcas teacher assisting with students) with Antoinette Botsford and Kathryn Thurman in the background

Kick-off party on Tuesday, Jan. 17 at 3:30 p.m. at Emmanuel Episcopal Parish Hall

“Orcas Reads” is a month-long program brought to all islanders by the Orcas Center and the Friends of the Orcas Public Library.

It will feature the work of American man-of-letters Thornton Wilder, including a community-wide read of his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey,  and a production of the iconic Our Town at the Orcas Center.

The “Orcas Reads” events starts with a free kick-off party on Jan. 17 at 3:30 p.m. at Emmanuel Episcopal Church. Guests will enjoy tea-time treats as the related events are announced:

• A “time capsule” in the library forum’s display case. Patrons will be encouraged to bring in the everyday objects that describe their ordinary lives. “It ties in with Our Town’s  appreciation of the everyday and how we appear to our neighbors and friends,” Librarian Holly King says.
• Free copies of Bridge will be given  to the first 50 people who attend the Jan. 17 kick-off.
• Island book clubs will be invited to use The Bridge of San Luis Rey as thier February selection, and an official reading book guide will be provided 6o them.
• Barbara Lewis, the founder and director of  Orcas Writer’s Festival, will lead a literary discussion at the public library.

Orcas has joined in island-wide reading events before, with The Homestead and, in 2010, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Librarians Holly King and Nita Couchman are organizing the reading of this novel. Holly says, “I chose this book because “the themes are close to our hearts — the isolation and the microcosm of five unrelated characters” who happen to be together as the novel opens with the collapse of a Peruvian bridge. The book tells of the quest of Brother Juniper to learn if the event was caused by divine intervention or pure chance.

Holly says, “It’s particularly relevant this time of year that the people who surround us that matter, that sustains as through dark, dreary, rainy days.

Also planned is a Peruvian”Sip and Chop” dinner/cooking class on Feb. 16 with Christina Orchid.

Orcas Center, who with the Friends of the Library was awarded $5,000 by the Orcas Island Community Foundation for this month-long celebration, will present another Wilder classic drama, Our Town. This play relates the circle of life, representing childhood, adulthood and death in a “typical” New England village . The play has become an American classic with universal appeal. 

Orcas Center is presenting Our Town with a cast of  15  Orcas  school students as actors in the production on Jan.19, 20 and 21 at the Black Box in the Orcas Center. This production will be the directorial debut of island singer/actress Grace McCune.  Orcas “Storybird” Antoinette Botsford will create the role of the Stage Manager, which was performed at one time by Wilder himself.