Midsummer Night’s Dream
Garden Party at the Hotel Limpia
Story and photographs by Susan Pittman
“The best dreams begin with a good book.”
T
o borrow loosely from Robin
Williams, a garden “is nature’s
way of saying, ‘Let’s party!’”
Who can argue? With the Midsummer
Night’s Dream Garden Party the
Friends of the Jeff Davis County
Library certainly embrace the idea. It
has celebrated a bit of the revelry of the
medieval summer solstice late each
summer for the past six years.
The Garden Party, held at the
Hotel Limpia, has provided a magical
subject and stage for the vision of local
residents Elaine Harmon and
Margaret O’Donnell. Since 2009, Sul
Ross’s Dona Roman and her theatre
students have used talent and creativi-
ty to present the artistry of William
Shakespeare and other acclaimed
dramatists.
It was originally conceived as a mid-
summer outdoor activity to fill the lull
between July 4th and Labor Day. The
premier performance, in late August
2008, was presented by three talented
Shakespearian readers: local celebrity
Roseland Klein, of Marfa Public
Radio, Alpine’s galloping Scotsman
Jim Glendenning, and aficionada of
the Bard, Cornelia Langridge. Those
in the know say she can quote lines in
her sleep. Musicians Marina Azar and
Betty
McGehee
performed
Elizabethan music and have remained
a popular part of each program since.
Joe and Lanna Duncan, the previ-
ous owners of the hotel, hosted the
party in the hotel’s garden. Given the
designated name for the event,
“Midsummer Night’s Dream Garden
Party,” the hotel’s colorful floral array
has made the venue perfect. There,
early summer irises and daffodils give
way to more boldly-colored purple
coneflowers, hollyhocks, and salvias
blooming in the midst of fragrant rose-
mary, shaded by olive and poplar
trees.
Elizabethans celebrated
8
Cenizo
Midsummer’s Eve, the shortest night
of the year, by picking flowers and
herbs to dry and use to protect their
homes against evil.
Locals who appreciate the nuances
of Shakespeare’s character study of, if
not evil, then villainy, were treated to
Professor Gregory M. Schwab as
Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. It
was the highlight of the 2011 season.
That production was part of a
Third Quarter 2014
PhaseSpace,
Inc.
commission.
PhaseSpace is a motion capture com-
pany. The troupe rehearsed the proj-
ect for a several weeks, at both Sul
The present owners of the Limpia,
David and Ana Schreiber, have gra-
ciously continued the tradition. The
Blue Mountain Bistro in the hotel
Dona Roman, director of the Midsummer Night’s Dream Garden Party, and her players
Ross and in Los Angeles. It was per-
formed at a Special Interest Groups on
Graphics and Interactive Techniques
conference in L. A. and in Fort Davis.
The Garden Party audience was treat-
ed to a professional performance, one
certainly well-received.
complex provides refreshments and
offers a cash bar for the Sunday after-
noon event. Guests are seated under
tents or in rocking chairs on a covered
porch. They have front row seats and
sometimes interact with the perform-
ers. In 2010, the balcony of the historic