John Bailey, JoAnn Sellars, Maida Withers, Brook Andrews

(1975) September 13 – 14 (Sat/Sun) check dates, Washington Project for the Arts and Holly Rood Cemetery – newspaper date)  WHITE MANSIONS (Date to be determined – WPA archive?)  “The South” – a facade – eloquence lost.”  60 minutes
The first performance took place at the newly renovated Washington Project for the Arts space on 1227 G Street NW,  Washington, DC in 1975.  Dancers, assisting in cleaning out the pigeon dung in the 3rd floor space, discovered a long piece of white silk fabric that inspired the characters and historic view of the deep SOUTH, characterizations that no longer dominate.  The end of Gone with the Wind perspective.  For White Mansions, each MWDCCo dancer developed a character:  Maida Withers was the death figure; Brook Andrews, Rhett Butler; John Bailey, Tom Sawyer; Betty Tittsworth, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; JoAnn Sellars, a fussy Southern Belle.

1975 –Saturday and Sunday  dates TBD (6:00 pm)
White Mansions – A 60 minute site specific performance at dusk in the historic Holy Rood Cemetery located in upper Georgetown in Washington, DC.  Holy Rood is one of the oldest cemeteries (1832) in Washington, DC.  White Mansions was performed for two evenings at dusk, Saturday and Sunday, by Brook Andrews, John Bailey, JoAnn Sellars, Betty Tittsworth, and Maida Withers, founding dancers for Maida Withers and the Dance Construction Company. Dance Construction became a federally tax-exempt cultural organization in 1974 in the District of Columbia. In addition, ten community and university dancers and young children all dressed in white, appeared to be occupants, of sorts, in the cemetery.  The cemetery was their home. Some carried flowers.  The children played games.

For the performance, we had installed hundreds of yards of white stretch fabric through the trees and around the tombstones in the cemetery.  The stretch fabric was provided by an elementary school recycling center in New London, Connecticut where Maida and JoAnn had been in a residency with Artists-in-the-Schools National Dance Program.  Sadly, the fabric was removed (stolen?) from it’s installation and removed from the cemetery overnight and unavailable for the Sunday performance consequently.  A local radio station kindly broadcast a request for the return of the stretch fabric while inviting the DC audience to attend the unusual performance in the beautiful, peaceful, Holy Rood Cemetery.

The long white piece of silk found earlier at the WPA site served as a connector throughout the piece, White Mansions, as it became a wedding veil, a table for celebration, a wrap for death, other.

Several children and adult performers were in the cemetery carrying flowers and playing in white clothes engaged as if they lived there, suggesting the continuity of life after death.   Music: Marimba (keyboard) was performed live in the cemetery.  (Musician unknown at this time). Church Bells in the neighborhood, playing, were a spontaneous, delightful, addition to our performances.

The cast, dancers, departed the cemetery in a gold Rolls Royce leaving the audience in the cemetery in the dark…perhaps confronting his/her view of death. The Rolls Royce was driven by the beloved Charles Stinson (Charles The First, celebrated DC salon).

The performance  had what we call “scenes” where each character was featured: A dining scene around a long white silk table with somewhat fussy behaviors, a marriage/wedding scene, a playful scene of hide and seek, and ultimate scenes involving the death figure.  The audience became very comfortable during the event and stood among, even rested on, the large headstones.  As it became dusk, we got into a gold Rolls Royce and drove out of the cemetery with playing a haunting song on the car radio….leaving the audience in the dark.

The Washington Post covered the story with a full page photo, of Betty Tittsworth, the bride. This overt recognition was important introducing the greater public to Maida and the Company’s interest in “site specific work” as well as “interactive stage performances.”Betty Tittsworth and Brook Andrews
Betty Tittsworth (promotional photo for press)
Betty Tittsworth and Brook Andrews
John Bailey, JoAnn Sellars, Maida Withers

Cathy Borteck, group adults and children residing in the cemetery!

Video was shot, regrettably, on a reel to reel 1/2″ tape that had been used previously, which accounts for intrusive/excessive lines on the video from the reused tape.