BRATTLEBORO — To celebrate Mothers' Day on Sunday, May 10, All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church will present Cyclone in Calico, a monodrama written by Peter Nadolny and performed by Jeanne Austin. The program, which begins at 10 a.m., is offered free of charge and is suitable for all ages.
Cyclone is the story of Mother Mary Ann Bickerdyke, a widow who left her sons in the care of others in Galesburg, Ill., at the outset of the Civil War in order to follow the armies of Grant and Sherman. Nurses serving these armies in the West got much less press than the more famous nurses in the Eastern Theater.
This monodrama, set in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1887, just before a reunion banquet for soldiers of Grant's Army, finds Mother Bickerdyke in an interview conducted by a young local reporter. She explains how she used her common sense to achieve her ends, usually at the expense of Army regulations. She tells her story with compassion and humor.
Austin has played roles in off-Broadway, regional, stock, and dinner theater, made radio and television commercials, and appeared in theatrical and television movies.
A member of Actors' Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA, she attended Mt. Holyoke College and holds a BA in Fine Arts from Colorado College. Presenting the stories of the women of the past to the women and men of the present has been the mission of her creative organization, HerStory Productions.
Peter Nadolny, a retired clinical chemist and Quality Assurance consultant for the medical products industry, researches and writes the monodramas for HerStory Productions.