The Belle of Amherst

The Belle of Amherst, the first live performance at Sandwich Town Hall since 2020, is a captivating glimpse into the life of Emily Dickinson. The Sandwich Arts Alliance is thrilled to present William Luce’s one-woman show with actor Linda Monchik tracing Dickinson’s life through her works, diaries, and letters.

The Glass Town Stage at Sandwich Town Hall will be host to the three performances taking place Friday and Saturday, March 18th and 19th at 7 pm, and on Sunday, March 20th at 2 pm. The doors open at 6:30 pm both nights and at 1:30 pm on Sunday with pianist Stephen Zulkhe entertaining before each performance. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased online at www.sandwichartsalliance.org, at the SAA Center, 124 Route 6A, Sandwich – or at the event.

In the words of William Luce, “The Belle of Amherst is a love affair with language, a celebration of all that is beautiful and poignant in life. As it turns out, shy Miss Emily was writing for theatre as surely as she breathed. In her every evocative phrase there is theatrical texture. On stage, the strange ways of Emily Dickinson become dramatic qualities…Thus, the theatre seems a thoroughly appropriate setting for Emily’s life and art, enabling actor and audience to ‘climb the Bars of Ecstasy’ together.”

According to the play book published in 1976 by Houghton Mifflin Company, compiled by Timothy Helgeson, “The Belle of Amherst brings Emily Dickinson to life before your eyes. Drawing heavily on the poems, letters, and firsthand accounts of the poet from close relatives and friends, William Luce has written a one-woman play that is in effect a biography of Emily Dickinson. We hear from Emily herself about her childhood, her strangeness, her recipes, her thoughts, her habits, her writing, her sister’s cats, and her longing to be published. We meet the people and share the major events of her life. It might well be called a self-portrait of the poet.”

Actor Linda Monchik shared, “Emily flirted with nature, and her poems reflect not just that love but its power. Through her poetry is a great drive, Emily looking for herself through ‘a master’ of the unknown. I hope to embody Dickinson as I myself know her, to share and deliver her message to the world. It’s very personal with her and me. It’s the dress on the outside that people see. The rest is private, like undergarments and stockings”.

Sunday’s audience will have the opportunity to interact with the Ms. Monchik as she shares her extensive knowledge of Emily Dickinson’s poetry.

Monchik studied theatre at Smith College, Brown University and Shakespeare & Co., earning a Master’s in Theatre from Emerson. She has been performing for the past 30 years in theatres throughout New England having received Motif nominations as well as being selected as an outstanding performer on Cape Cod for her performance of Rose.

The Belle of Amherst is the first of three plays being presented by the Sandwich Arts Alliance as part of the 2022 Spring/Summer “Village Drama Triptych”, a trio of performances focusing on ‘The Tortured, Triumphant Lives of Artists’. According to SAA Performing Arts Coordinator Todd Herrmann, Sandwich residents and visitors can look forward to TRU starring John Weltman as Truman Capote coming in June, and in late summer, an original musical by Dru Sunderman, about Isabella Stewart Gardner’s life.