Our current show, Mildred Taken Crazy, is an original two-person play about a Vermont crime of 1897: the killing of one young lady by another over a man they were both engaged to. The case was a sensation throughout the eastern US, then disappeared from the public record for many decades. Only now has the eventual fate of its perpetrator come to light.

The play is 40 minutes long and spans five decades in epic fashion with two actors and a single chair. It uses a fresh combination of song, drama and storytelling to help the audience feel and think its way through a moment of violence with far-reaching consequences.

Why Mildred?

For many years an old friend in New York City had a quaint poster hanging in her kitchen: this poster was the printed sheet of portraits peddled by the Montpelier Daily Record when the Brewster murder trial was a national sensation. Last year, looking for a Vermont crime that deserved its own play, we googled the names on the poster and found almost nothing - but the date of the crime was enough to send us to the Vermont State Library's microfilmed newspaper files, where most of the facts in the play were located. For Mildred's long-term fate we had to look further.

What makes the Brewster case so compelling is not merely the violence of the passion, though that's part of it. It's also the human complexity involved, the contradictions of Mildred Brewster and Jack Wheeler throughout their lives, and the questions this story raises about who we are and how much we can change, questions that only get deeper the longer we live. Mildred Taken Crazy will be touring New England in the fall of 2008. For a booking, write to us at mudtimetheater@gmail.com

Mildred's UPCOMING PERFORMANCES

Sunday September 14 at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Chester 6:00PM
Admission $15, a benefit for the church
Tickets at Misty Valley Books and at the door

Monday September 15 at On The Rise Bakery in Richmond at 7:00PM
Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $5

Thursday September 18 at the Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro at 7:00PM
Admission is free

Friday September 19 at the Hardwick Town Hall at 8:00 PM
Admission is $5 at the door

Saturday September 20 at River Arts in Morrisville at 8:00PM
Admission is $5 at the door

Friday September 26 at St Francis Episcopal Historic Church at 503 Old Long Ridge Road, Stamford, CT at 7:30pm

Mildred's PAST PERFORMANCES

Main Street Arts, Saxtons River

Jamaica Town Hall

The Old Firehouse, Bellows Falls

The Vermont Statehouse, Farmers' Night, Montpelier

Vermont Correctional Facilities in St. Albans and Windsor

Ernst Busch National Theater School, Berlin, Germany

Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland

A farmhouse in Windham VT

Langdon Street Cafe, Montpelier

CUNY/Borough of Manhattan Community College

On the Rise Bakery, Richmond VT

For further information on venues and tickets, write to us at mudtimetheater@gmail.com