The Play

Celebrate Earth Day with Earth’s First Couple

St. James Episcopal Church’s Center for Spiritual Formation presents Mark Twain’s The Diaries of Adam and Eve with one performance Thursday, April 15th and two performances Sunday, April 18th in conjunction with the annual downtown Earth Day Celebration. Thursday’s performance is at 7:00 pm; Sunday’s performances are at 2:00 pm and 6:30 pm. All performances are free and open to the public and will be held in the Chapel of the Twelve Apostles, 208 N. Fourth Street on the St. James campus. The Thursday performance will be preceded by a reception at 6:00 pm in the Parish Parlor, adjacent to the Chapel.

The play is structured as a series of diary entries by Adam and Eve. Twain’s Garden of Eden shines with wit, laughter and the poignance of first love and first loss.

Scott Paetty (Adam) is an actor trained in London and Los Angeles who has appeared in film (including Live! and Dance with Me), television (including Friends, Felicity, 6 Feet Under, Party of Five, Beverly Hills 90210) and in numerous off-Broadway and regional theater productions. A Louisiana native, he returned to Baton Rouge to serve as a law clerk for the Hon. James Brady.

St. James parishioner and local actress Nancy Litton (Eve) teaches at LSU and has appeared in numerous productions of the Baton Rouge Little Theater, Swine Palace, Playmakers and Baker Little Theater.

Paige Parsons Gagliano directs Adam and Eve. She has extensive directing experience with Playmakers, LSU, Baton Rouge Little Theater and directed the award-winning stage and television versions of Evangeline the Musical.

Lighting is by Louis Gagliano and set design by Nancy Jo Poirrier. Gagliano has worked as a lighting designer at professional theatres in New York, Tennessee, North Carolina and in Baton Rouge, where for the past twelve seasons he has been the principal lighting designer for the Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre.

Poirrier has directed plays for the Acadian Players and worked in theatre as a volunteer.  Since retiring from teaching art in 1998, she has pursued her lifelong interest in painting.  Her work hangs in homes from coast to coast and is shown locally as well.

Twain, the American humorist best known for Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, revealed a softer and more reflective side in these diaries written late in his life. Many speculate that Eve’s character was inspired by his beloved wife, Olivia, who died before he did. Originally written as two pieces which Twain later expanded, revised and combined, the diaries were adapted for the stage by noted actor David Birney and originally broadcast on American Playhouse.

According to Larry Howe of the Mark Twain Forum, “For many readers familiar only with Twain’s tales about mischievous boys or cranky vernacular characters, this work—one of the great love stories of all time—will come as a real surprise … Twain manages to indulge sentiment—personal and cultural—without succumbing to what Huck calls ‘soulbutter and hogwash’.”

For further information, contact the Rev. Laurie M. Brock, Associate Rector, St. James Episcopal Church at 225-387-5141.

If you are interested in an interview with the cast or director, please contact Paige Gagliano.