Hedgerow Theatre Stages THE BELLE OF AMHERST, Now thru 5/19

Hedgerow Theatre invites audiences to have tea with Emily Dickinson as Penelope Reed reprises her critically acclaimed portrayal of the great American poet in William Luce's The Belle of Amherst. Performances will be in the new Farmhouse performing space at 146 W. Rose Valley Road, Rose Valley. Showtimes are 4 p.m. on Saturdays and at 7 p.m. on Sundays from tonight, May 4 to 19. The play is the first in the theatre's festival saluting The Written Word, works based on poems or letters.

In Luce's one-person play, the reclusive American poet (1830-86) welcomes the audience members as guests in her Amherst, Massachusetts, home, where she entertains them by reading her poetry and sharing anecdotes about her life.

This production is fittingly being staged at the recently refurbished Hedgerow Farmhouse Studio, a setting that will allow theatergoers to feel that they are truly visiting Dickinson in her living room. The building, which also houses Hedgerow's resident company and Theatre School, dates back to 1880 and is listed on the U.S. Department of the Interior's National Register of Historic Places. It is close to the theatre at 146 W. Rose Valley Road in Rose Valley.

Reed, Hedgerow's Producing Artistic Director, has been portraying Dickinson for 32 years. "I played Emily first in the summer of 1981 in Milwaukee in an amazing setting, the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum," she recalled. She has since done the play in Princeton at McCarter Theatre, at Hedgerow and taken it on tour. No matter the venue or the year, each of these productions has been successful and popular with audiences, while also receiving high praise from critics, who have said that Reed creates a "credible, engaging character" so that Dickinson "comes vividly to life."

The Written Word festival will also include John Brown's Body, a drama adapted from Stephen Vincent Benet's poem about the Civil, from May 25 to June 9; and Love Letters, A.R. Gurney's evocative, touching, funny play of two lives told through letters to each other, from June 15 to 30. Each performance will also include a reception where there will be refreshments and an opportunity to speak with the actors.

Tickets are $20 if purchased in advance or $25 at the door.. For reservations, call 610-565-4211, or visit www.hedgerowtheatre.org. Hedgerow Theatre, America's First Repertory Theatre, is located at 64 Rose Valley Road, in Rose Valley (near Media).

Pictured: Penelope Reed as Emily Dickinson in THE BELLE OF AMHERST