The San Francisco call., 1910-07-03
n n EANWHILE Carmel. as I found
V it few days ago, is doing lit
= tie else but working for the suc-

n EANWHILE Carmel, as I found
Vl it a few days ago, is doing lit
- tie else but working for the sue
cess Of the first production. Carmel
is a scattered settlement; the streets
are fortunately not too much like city
paVements and the population is more
neighborly than thick. There is a
unanimity of effort in the town such
as no dramatic project save perhaps
that Of Oberammergau has even en-
joyed.
Take the leading lady. for instance.
She is young girl, Miss Helen Cooke,
whose beauty even Doctor Genthe, who
himself is a Carmelite, raves over. She
plays MichaL the daughter of Saul, and
her girlish winsomeness should be as
unusual as effective on the stage where,
ordinarily, sophistication stalks. She
IS the daughter of Grace MacGowan
Cooke and the niece Of Alice Mac
Gowan, both of whom are known to the
world Of letters. Alice MacGowan plays
the role of Astar. Maude Lyons is a
shepherdess in the play and short
story writer whose works are seen in
magazines. Bertha Newberry, wife of
Perry Newherry, and content to live in
a reflected glory and Carmel. is Sarah,
a firing woman, whose companion in
the play, Elisheba. is played by Mrs.
Jessie Francis Short, known in the
world of pictures as an artist whose
forte is landscape, as seen in the pic
turesque portion of Monterey county,
where most Of her brushes are kept
busy. George Manship, protege of Gar
net Holme, who discovered the young
mans talent in Berkeley. has been i'm
ported TO play the role OF Saul. George
II. Boke is to be the prophet Samuel for
an evening and then reassume his rela-
tions with a practical world as profess
sor Of law in the University of Cali
fornia. Ferdinand Burgdorn, the artist
viii be Nadab, the captain of a host;
J. ". Hand, who sells real estate in
Carmel, but who is, they say, A humor-
ist at heart, will be HuShai, a shepherd: !:
J. Z. Beck is another humorist, who in
serious moments sells drugs TO COM
nunity that rarely requires them;
Reardon is the plumber of Carmel and
q captain in the play; Frederick Leidig
is another captain in the drama and a
captain Of industry in the town, selling
groceries between rehearsals; b. Heinz
is a student at Lick, who sojourns in
Carmel and win be a soldier boy;
Reimers is a husky student from Call
fornis, who is Holmes business aid and
also soldier in the play; Miss Aida K.
ReimerS will associate with Mrs
George Sterling and will mourn at suit
able intervals during the action of the
drama. and Vera Connolly, mother
mourner in the play stops writing
short stories long enough TO rehearse
under the trees that roof the forest
theater.
You see, there couldn't be a finer ex-
hibition of the democracy of art. Sin
clair himself could not desire a closer
mixing of brains, Drawn and CONNER
cial sagacity than is collected together
in Carmel to play Constance SINNERS
drama, David" All the world is rep
resented in the diverse vocations, from
plumber TO poet. and all the world is
invited to see the spectacle next Sat
urday night.
IT HIS is the story that the play
win tell:
The play opens where the
youthful shepherd is met by the
high priest Samuel and snointed by
him king Of Israel. The dramatic
rejection of Saul by the high priest
the mad Jealousy Of the discrcwned
monarch, the treachery by which he
seeks TO destroy David, sending his
young daughter. Michal. as wife to
the shepherd king, and designing
that she shall be his instrument of
vengeance-this makes a swift,
brilliant drama
The love story is peculiarly
touching, shadowed from the first
by tragedy, when young Michal
and the shepherd lad love each
other at sight. unguessing the fu-
ture where Saul shall slay his
daughter Fith his own hand, mis-
taking hef for David.
The poe king of the bible story
IS often taken as a type of optim-
ism vanc aishing the powers of
darkness. His slender might Of
fering the weapon Of song against