Past Work
Cornerstone began as a traveling ensemble, living and working primarily in rural communities across the United States. Residents of host communities were involved onstage and backstage in plays that celebrated the local community.
NEWPORT NEWS, VIRGINIA 1986 [Pop. 144,903]
OUR TOWN, 1986
Written by Thorton Wilder
Directed by Bill Rauch
Performed at The King/Lincoln Park
A racially integrated production of Thornton Wilders’ classic American play, performed waterside.
MARMARTH, NORTH DAKOTA 1986 [Pop. 190]
The Marmarth Hamlet, 1986
Adapted from William Shakespeare
Directed by Bill Rauch
Original Music by David Reiffel
Performed at The Mystic Theater
A badlands adaptation of Shakespeare, performed in the oldest vaudeville theater in North Dakota.
PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA, 1986 (pop. 25,733)
THE SNOW QUEEN, 1986
Adapted from Hans Christian Andersen
Original Music by David Reiffel
Presented in The Prince George High School Auditorium
Students aged 7-17 in Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairy tale acted out on two 16’ tall chairs.
MARFA, TEXAS, 1987 (pop. 2,466)
THAT MARFA FEVER 1987
Adapted from Noel Coward’s HAY FEVER with excerpts from Anton Chekhov’s THE SEAGULL, William Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST and August Strindberg’s THE PELICAN
Directed by Bill Rauch
“Let’s Talk” Music and Lyrics by David Reiffel
Performed at Beta Hall
A Mexican border version of Noel Coward’s Hay Fever in a U.S.O. hall with Spanish ballads and a Greek chorus of “Canasta Tea Gals”
DINWIDDIE COUNTY, VIRGINIA, 1987 (pop. 22,602)
THE PRETTY MUCH TRUE STORY OF DINWIDDIE COUNTY, 1987
Written by Douglas Petrie
Directed by Bill Rauch
“Shower of Power” Music and Lyrics by Willie Fields
“Amen (Pretty much True)” Music and Lyrics by David Reiffel and Cast
Performed at Dinwiddie Outdoor Stage
An original play by company member Douglas Petrie based on 20 years of history in one Virginia County
MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, 1987 (pop. 96,298)
THE DOG BENEATH THE SKIN: AN EPIDEMIC EPIC , 1987
Auden and Isherwood’s early 20th century journey play adapted to the AIDS crisis
NORCATUR, KANSAS, 1987 (pop. 175)
TARTOOF, or AN IMPOSTOR IN NORCATUR — AND AT CHRISTMAS, 1987
Adapted from Molière’s Tartuffe
Directed by Bill Rauch
Original Music and Lyrics by David Reiffel
Molière’s Tartuffe adapted to examine a disintegrating farm family with a cast and crew of 55 Kansans.
SCHURZ, NEVADA 1988 (pop. 325)
THE HOUSE ON WALKER RIVER, 1988
Adapted from Aeschylus’ THE ORESTEIA
From a Translation by Robert Fagles
Directed by Bill Rauch
Original Music and Lyrics by David Reiffel
Aeschylus’ trilogy of revenge and redemption, The Oresteia, adapted with full score in a tribal welding shop on the Walker River Paiute Indian Reservation.
LONG CREEK, OREGON 1988 (pop. 230)
THE GOOD PERSON OF LONG CREEK
Adapted from the play by Bertolt Brecht, as translated by Ralph Manheim
Directed by Bill Rauch
Original Music and Lyrics by David Reiffel
Performed at The Sale Barn, One Mile East of the Traffic Light
Brecht’s Good Person of Setzuan set in a timber and ranching community, staged in a cattle sale barn.
PORT GIBSON, MISSISSIPPI, 1989
ROMEO & JULIET, 1989
Adapted from the play by William Shakespeare
Original Music and Lyrics by Larry Davis, David Reiffel, Jerome Williams
Directed by Bill Rauch
Performed at the Trace Theater
Shakepeare’s tragedy of familial hatred performed by a racially integrated cast and crew of 60 in a movie theater.
MONTGOMERY, WEST VIRGINIA, 1989
THREE SISTERS FROM WEST VIRGINIA
Adapted from THREE SISTERS by Anton Checkhov
As translated by Maria M. Belaeff-Ianovsky
Directed by Bill Rauch
With original music and lyrics by David Reiffel and Wanda Daniels
Performed at the Montgomery City Hall Building
Set in a contemporary Rust Belt city and performed in the basement of City Hall, this adaptation of Chekhov focused on Appalachian out-migration.
EASTPORT, MAINE, 1990
PIER GYNT
Adapted from PEER GYNT by Henrik Ibsen
As translated by Rolf Fjelde
Directed by Bill Rauch
Original music by David Reiffel
Ibsen’s epic adapted with music for this easternmost U.S. town and unfolding between 1930 and 1990; performed in a Masonic lodge by a cast including residents of the nearby Passamaquoddy reservation
BRIDGE SHOW – National Tour 1991
THE WINTER’S TALE: AN INTERSTATE ADVENTURE
Members of our first twelve collaborating communities came together to create a new adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, exploring rural and urban American. Performed outdoors and involving our tour bus as scenery, the play went on a 10,0000 mile national tour back to each participant’s hometown and to Boston, New York City and Washington D.C.
