52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 33: Comedy-- Thespians in the Family

This is my second year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

There are several members of my family who performed as actors and actresses, some in comedy plays.

Elizabeth and Helena Gleeson, my paternal great-grandaunts, performed in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Engaged at the Evans Opera house in Anaconda, Montana in February 1892. They were school teachers at the time and the proceeds from the play were for the public school library. Helena played the role of Maggie, while Elizabeth played Parker Minnie’s maid.[1]

My husband’s uncle, Leonard Nilsen, acted in plays while in high school. He performed in The Tin Hero with the junior class at Hilmar High School in February 1939.  He played Spike Ryder, a champion swimmer.[2]

My daughter, Margaret, also performed in many plays in high school and college. In April 2011, she was in Notre Dame de Namur’s comedy,  Noises Off.  She played Belinda Blair. From a review: “Margaret Gorrell, a sophomore, is Belinda Blair, who looks on with some small bit of sanity at the goings on of the other actors.”[3] She also performed in a few community theater productions, such as: Agatha Christie’s Go Back For Murder in Summer 2014.[4]

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[1] "Engaged," The Anaconda Standard, 28 February 1892, p.3; online images, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.org/ : accessed 22 June 2012), Historical American Newspapers.

[2] "Junior Class is to Give Comedy," Merced Bee, May 10, 1939, p. 10.

[3] “Noises Off! is Madcap Comedy at its Best,” San Mateo Daily Journal, 12 April 2011.

[4] “Orinda’s Community Theater Brings Murder to the Park,” The Orinda News, July 2014, p. 19.

Copyright © 2019 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.