Professor Dan Krieger

San Luis Obispo County Historical Association

San Luis Obispo CA

August 22, 1994

Dear Dan,

Thanks very much for taking the time to show me around the Mission on Friday. It was a thrill to see parts of the place that had always been behind closed doors, and it was especially interesting to see the painting of the baptism of Christ brought here by Father Serra. I enjoyed the service that I happened to barge in on--the wonderful passage about bones rising from Ezekiel and the celebration of the canonization of San Luis himself made the occasion memorable for me.

Following your suggestion, I'm writing to make a formal request to use the Mission facilities for a series of performances of Shakespeare's play, The Winter's Tale, by students in my graduate Shakespeare class during the first week in December. Staging a full production has been part of the class work for this seminar on two previous occasions. We did Twelfth Night in the Wine Cellar at the Madonna Inn in 1989 and Macbeth in the Ag Engineering Shop at Poly in 1991. In both those situations the unusual settings energized the audiences and inspired the actors, most of whom never had performed on stage before.

ForThe Winter's Tale, I can’t think of a more appropriate setting than the Mission. Although the play has no explicit Christian reference, its themes are fundamentally religious. It tells the story of families ravaged by spousal and child abuse arising out of a failure of love, trust, and reverence. The tragic sequence of the first three acts is reversed in the passage of sixteen years, as a lost infant saved from the persecutions of a mad tyrant matures under the foster care of shepherds. Having discovered his sins and errors, the tyrant repents, those falsely accused are redeemed and the families are reunified. The last scene takes place in a chapel, where a statue of the long lost virtuous queen comes to life in the presence of those who have come to admire it after they have been told, "You must awaken your faith."

I would like to schedule use of the Mission facilities at the end of the last week of Poly's Fall Quarter, December 1,2, and 3, the Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights after Thanksgiving, from 6:30 to 11:00 P.M. We would also need to use the Mission for three rehearsals earlier that week. I expect an audience of about 150 people for each of the performances. The large square room you showed me would be ideal for the first three tragic acts. The fourth act, which takes place in a rural pastoral setting and includes song, comedy and dance, would take place in the garden, weather permitting, or in the arcades surrounding it. And the last scene, which lasts about 20 minutes, would take place in the sanctuary, if you and the Mission authorities consent. Before last Friday I didn't think it would be appropriate to ask for the sanctuary itself, but since you mentioned that possibility, and after attending of the service, I concluded that using the church for this purpose would be no more incongruous than using it for a choral concert. Because the Mission facilities are so beautiful and so apt for this play, we would need to import no sets, lights or seating and could easily set up and strike each time we are there.

We will be charging two and three dollars for admission. In the past this has worked out to make it financially possible for us to offer a contribution of about $200.-- for the use of facilities. If this is not sufficient or if any of the requests I've made need to be adjusted, I would be glad to reconsider them.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Steven Marx

Associate Professor of English