Cecil County Life Spring/Summer 2024 Edition

Cecil County Life

Cecil County Life Spring/Summer 2024

Letter from the Editor:

The Cecil County Fair—a favorite tradition for many in the area—will soon return with all the food, fun, and festivities that attendees have come to expect and love. This year’s fair takes place from July 19 to July 27, and this edition of Cecil County Life previews the event, including the extensive participation by the local 4-H club members. This edition also pays tribute to 20 years of Trashy Women. For the past two decades, a group of female artists in Cecil County and nearby areas have been making art out of what other people would consider garbage. They call themselves the Trashy Women, and their work is amazing.

Cecil County Life talked to Erin Wright, Aaron Wright and Christopher Rives about the crucial work being done at Voices of Hope Maryland. Substance abuse appears in many forms and affects an incredibly wide variety of people. The journey to recovery is also a journey of many roads, and Voices of Hope Maryland travels all of them, from its Cecil Recovery Center in Elkton to its Harford Recovery Center in Aberdeen.

The theme of the 2024-25 season at the Milburn Stone Theatre at Cecil College is “Dream Big,” which functions as an homage to the “want song,” an important element of musical theater. We preview the upcoming season that features six musicals and two plays. Details and tickets are available at www.milburnstone.com.

We also take a look at Jeffrey Ricketts’ efforts to preserve and restore Mullen’s Folly, the 17th century farmhouse located next to Rosebank Cemetery that is an important part of the area’s history. The rich history of the Mullen’s Folly property begins with the purchase by William Penn, and it includes time as a family home and as a store.

The photo essay in this edition, “Our greatest successes,” features the photos of Jim Coarse with text by Richard

L.Gaw. From the platforms of education, creativity, health and wellness, Community Connecting Us aligns with local agencies and neighbors to celebrate the alchemy of what happens when people come together.

We think these stories capture the spirit and vitality of the Cecil County area, and we hope that you enjoy them. Please contact us with comments and suggestions for future stories. In the meantime, we’ll be planning the next issue of Cecil County Life, which will arrive in the fall.

Cover design: Tricia Hoadley

Cover photo: Blake Griffith of Slate Portraits

|Cecil County Life Q & A|

Erin Wright, Aaron Wright Voices of Ho Erin Wright, Aaron Wright Voices of Ho

Substance abuse appears in many forms and affects an incredibly wide diversity of people. The journey to recovery is also a journey of many roads, and Voices of Hope Maryland travels all of them, from its Cecil Recovery Center in Elkton to its Harford Recovery Center in Aberdeen. Cecil County Life recently spoke with Program Advocate Christopher Rives, General Programs Manager Aaron Wright and Chief Operations Officer Erin Wright about the assistance they and their peers provide to those in need.

Cecil County Life: When did Voices of Hope Maryland begin?

Erin: We were founded in 2013, and our roots really began in Cecil County. Several people in recovery began to come together for weekly meetings, just to talk about change and what we wanted to do. For the first few years, we were just getting together to talk about the ways we could eventually implement change. We received our first grant in 2018, which enabled several of us to become the agency’s first employees, and by December of that year, our programs first began to build.

and Christopher Rives of ope Maryland

t and Christopher Rives of ope Maryland

The relationship with each person who walks through the Cecil Recovery Center’s doors on Howard Street in Elkton for the first time begins with a conversation. Take me through the training your certified peer specialists undergo that gives them the skills to design pathways of recovery for others.

Erin: Voices of Hope is one of the leading organizations in Maryland that provides assistance for people with lived experience to go through all of the training and necessary requirements to become a certified peer recovery specialist. To obtain that credential, someone must have at least two years in sustained recovery and have 46 hours of peer work training that includes 30 hours of core training known as the Recovery Coach Academy. The Academy touches on everything a future peer will need to know to be able to use their lived experience like motivational interviewing, active listening, ethics and scenarios -- and how to use their story in an impactful way.

After the Academy, they will need to take 16 hours of ethics classes that present various scenarios and a lot of ‘what-ifs’ that often arise during peer training. Once they receive the training, they will then need to compile 500 hours in the role of a peer, working under a registered peer supervisor, who will then need to sign a letter of recommendation.

Aaron: Our peers here are scattered into the wide spectrum of what we provide here, and they’re not done with their education once they acquire their certification. We still have mandatory training at least twice a month because policies and procedures are always evolving. Our Executive Director Jennifer Tuerke’s message has been and will continue to be, “Learn, learn, learn.”

What first introduced you to Voices of Hope Maryland? Tell us your stories.

Aaron: I was a heroin addict for 23 years, that included seven years in federal prison and two stays in mental hospitals. I could not find long-term recovery in my native Philadelphia, so I pursued recovery in Cecil County because my mother has been living in Rising Sun. I thought to myself, “Where is my worth? What is my value and what is my meaning in this world?” I began to attend Voices of Hope Maryland support meetings at the Cecil County Health Department and there, I met other people in recovery and soon, we began to ask each other, “What does Cecil County need? How can we help others in our community?” We all were waiting for someone to come in and save the day when we were already making some progress on our own. I later became a volunteer and began to spread the word and eventually it gathered more people and that led to the start of Voices of Hope Maryland. That is where I began to find my worth by helping my community not go through what I went through.

Erin: I was born and raised in Cecil County and while I was a grade A student, I was also in the depths of my addiction. I caught felony charges. I was involved in the judicial system and in and out of the hospital with severe wounds, and at the end I overdosed in my car at a local park with my one-year-old daughter in the backseat with me at the time. Luckily, someone saw me and called 9-1-1 and a policeman saved my life. That’s where my story started. I ended up going to a Mommy-and-Me recovery center, and in 2016, I heard about Voices of Hope Maryland who were meeting at the Health Department every Wednesday.

With offices in Elkton and Aberdeen, Voices of Hope Maryland provides counseling and guidance to those in pursuit of recovery from addiction, and also for those in recovery.

Courtesy photo (left)

Voices of Hope Maryland

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Two weeks into my recovery, I started to show up on Wednesdays and we all began to talk about our experiences and what we wanted to do. At the time, we didn’t have anything tangible to show those who asked us who we were, so we would have our table at events and simply respond, “We are people in recovery and we’re here to help.” In December of 2018 -- when we received our first capacity building grant for $350,000 -Aaron, our executive director and I became the first employees hired at Voices of Hope Maryland. Last year, our budget was $3.1 million, so in a very short, five-and-a-half-year period, we have been building every stone of this organization, from the very first backpacks we put on.

Christopher: I am one of only two employees at Voices of Hope Maryland who is not actively in recovery. When my daughter Caitlin Renee first started using 14 years ago, I had no clue as to who to turn to for help. There were no resources. While my then-wife took the tough love route, I tried to get Caitlin jobs. I bought her cars. I gave her everything but money. She wasn’t actively addicted for more than two years before she overdosed and passed away on April 2, 2012.

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Courtesy photo

Understanding that addiction affects every member of the family, Voices of Hope Maryland also helps the families of those in active addiction and in recovery.

Voices of Hope Maryland

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I first met Jennifer Tuerke at a networking event in January of 2023, and I began to tell her the story of my daughter. I have now been with Voices of Hope Maryland for about a year, and I was on the organization’s board of directors for four months prior to being employed with VOH. If there would have been an organization like Voices of Hope around when my daughter was alive, she might still be alive. Voices of Hope works so well because a person in recovery is talking to a person who wants to get into recovery, and they understand each other.

Addiction does not discriminate. It cannot decipher race, religion, ethnicity, orientation or demographics and it defies the worn-out depiction of the addict as a strung-out, homeless person wandering back alleys. Let’s tear down those stigmas by asking you to provide a broad profile of the diversity of people who seek assistance from Voices of Hope Maryland.

Erin: We have a very large diversity of people who use our services -- everyone from the most successful college student who suffers from an overdose to the businessperson who drinks too much -- and everywhere in between. What is unique about Voices of Hope Maryland is that our services are geared for everyone at every level of abuse, whether they are actively using or in recovery. It ranges from our peers putting on backpacks and visiting our most devastating neighborhoods in Harford and Cecil counties to the person who is 15 years in recovery and needs to attend a support meeting.

Aaron: Through the trust we have with our community partnerships, family members are coming to us and asking, “How can I speak to my child? How do I remove myself from being an enabler? Is there support for parents?” Substance abuse doesn’t just directly affect the person using drugs. It affects everybody, and our vision is that everyone affected by substance abuse finds hope and healing in a supportive community.

Certain stereotypical and entrenched beliefs still place those affected by addiction into unfair categories, which often convince those in recovery to define themselves by these classifications. How does Voices of Hope Maryland begin to help those in recovery rewrite the narratives of their self-perception?

Aaron: It is very hard for an individual who is in recovery to let go of a lot of shame, guilt and resentment and too often, they let their past define them who they are currently. When the idea of Voice of Hope Maryland was first

launched, we just knew that we were all tired of

to more funerals than weddings, baby showers and birthday parties combined, so in order to galvanize our voices, we needed to step up into these roles to build data collection systems and apply for

and

became in the process were mentors in the aspect of not letting addiction and recovery define any of us. By us doing that, we were attracting others in recovery, and it has become an organization that now has operations in two counties and employs more than 50 people in recovery. By us pushing ourselves, we were actually pulling others with us. People in recovery always feel “less than,” but when they tell their stories in public, they begin to take the power back and not give that power to others and begin to see themselves as equal.

Erin: It starts with us. We are very open about our stories, and we encourage others to share their story. Before the peer profession took off, it was the anonymous world of recovery that wasn’t talked about. With our peer counseling initiative, we are now seeing others come out of the shadows and say, “I am not anonymous.”

In my role as the chief operations officer of a multi-million-dollar organization, I am sometimes

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Voices of Hope Maryland

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still reluctant to speak with our lawmakers, because I am afraid to tell them who I once was. Then I think, “This is who I am. I am going to share my story so they can see that people can change and that recovery is possible.” Addiction is not a moral deficiency. It is a disease. I did those things. That’s who I was in my disease, but it’s not who I am today. Reducing stigmas begins with all of us speaking up.

The name of this organization is Voices of Hope Maryland. Please give me an example of hope that you have seen, in terms of an individual’s recovery. Erin: There are too many stories of hope to share because they are all my favorite stories. Fifty percent of our employees were first introduced to our organiza-

tion on an outreach program. We helped treat their wounds, and one day, they found the hope and the will to want to change. With that, they decide to go to treatment and it’s us whom they trust to speak with. We tell them to come back to us when they finish treatment. We help them get into a recovery house, help them find a job and work on their resumes, and then encourage them to volunteer with us, and they often do, because they want to give back to the organization that helped save their life. There are so many of these stories, and they are all unique in their own way.

The Voices of Hope Maryland Cecil County Recovery Center is located at 411 West Pulaski Highway, Elkton, Md. The Voices of Hope Maryland Harford Recovery Center is located at 7 Aberdeen Shopping Center, Aberdeen, Md.

To learn more, visit www.voicesofhopemaryland.org.

|Cecil County History|

The restoration of Mullen’s Folly The restoration of Mullen’s Folly

By HaLeigh Abbott Contributing Writer

The historical echoes of Cecil County are slowly fading into a new landscape, where development and farmland hide the stories of the past.

It’s the goal of Jeffrey Ricketts to preserve those moments through the restoration and artifact cataloguing of Mullen’s Folly— a 17th century farmhouse located next to Rosebank Cemetery. The house and the property have a rich history from the purchase by William Penn, to a 1700s store front, and finally a family home housing 8 children at a time. Mullen’s Folly has held secrets and treasures that Jeffrey is now piecing together, board by board and piece by piece.

At only 22 years old, Jeffrey’s project is 263 years his senior. Ricketts family members are historic restoration curators for a property down the street that was purchased by William Penn at the same time as Mullen’s Folly. Jeffrey and his brother grew up digging and sifting through yard dirt, finding archeological treasures, creating a fascination with historical items. Jeffrey’s elementary school years were spent at Culvert Elementary school next door to the old, decrepit farmhouse, sparking his interest in the property. While in high school, Jeffrey wrote to the then-owner Frank Fitzgerald expressing his interest in the property, and the two corresponded through letters for the next three years. The property had been in Mr. Fitzgerald’s family since 1859 and was unoccupied at the time. The last familial resident was Fitzgerald’s grandmother, who lived in the house from her birth to death (1870 to 1963). When Mr. Fitzgerald put the property on the market, four identical bids were made,

leaving him to decide what he wanted to see happen to the old farmhouse. One of those four bids was from Jeffrey, and his dream to restore the farmhouse to its 1790s state was the deciding factor in the sale of Mullen’s Folly.

Jeffrey officially owned the house in July of 2022 at the ripe age of 20. He grew up watching his parents restore the McMillan property and thought he knew what he was getting into, despite the warnings from his father. It was February of 2022 when Jeffrey first gained permission to enter the house to assess the project that would be needed.

Old drywall and patchwork shiplap boards covered the walls and dirty abandoned carpet hid dangerous conditions underneath. The entire roof was pulling the house crooked from its foundation, and a leaking dormer created a giant hole through the upstairs flooring. Jeffrey soon discovered the house wasn’t completely abandoned—at least not by local wildlife. Squirrels and raccoons found shelter in the ceilings, walls and chimneys. Foxes and groundhogs claimed the crawl spaces, and a pair of buzzards made a roost in the second floor.

“We have a barn so I know the smell of animals roosting, and I knew there were birds before I even got up the stairs,” Jeffrey said.

Upon entry, two buzzards were just as shocked to see him and stood their ground for their claimed home.

“I was chasing them around the upstairs trying to get them to fly out of the opened window, all without knowing the condition of the floor which I could have fallen right through,” he said.

Once the buzzards finally accepted their eviction, they continued to ominously watch Jeffrey from a tombstone in the nearby cemetery.

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Original plaster and wood board create the walls of Mullen’s Folly.

The restoration process for

began in 2022 with a goal to restore it to its 1790s appearance.

Various pieces of artifacts discovered on the Mullen’s Folly property.

The original floor joists are made of entire tree trunks, with the original brick fireplace in the background.

Jeffrey sits inside of his 1700s home renovation in an original chair.

Mullen’s Folly

Mullen’s Folly

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Jeffrey began work on the house, removing 3.5 tons of debris during the gutting process. Floors and ceilings were removed exposing foundational beams and rafters made from entire tree trunks. Layered wallpaper was meticulously peeled and preserved for historical archiving, and relics from the past started to appear for the first time in centuries.

Mullen’s Folly’s first floor once operated as a store front in the 1800s, and Jeffrey began to find evidence of this when he began digging underneath the closet. Bottles, broken pottery and dishware, utensils and various trash items became unearthed—these are now catalogued and pieced back together for view in Jeffrey’s business down the road, East Nottingham Antiques. His barn is filled with stunning antiques curated by Jeffrey himself, and his business takes him around the country for buying and selling.

Pieces that were meticulously collected and restored for display at East Nottingham Antiques.

Continued on Page 20 Cecil Bank is a state-chartered community bank established in October 1959 in Elkton, Maryland. The Bank serves Cecil County from its headquarters location in Fair Hill and three additional branches located in North East, Rising Sun and Elkton. Cecil Bank is a member of the FDIC and an Equal Housing lender.

Wallpaper pieces peek out from the walls of the upstairs bedroom.

Jeffrey Ricketts sits on the porch of Mullen’s Folly, a popular gathering spot for neighbors and friends to enjoy the cool breeze.

Mullen’s Folly

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Prior to modern trash removal processes it was common for household waste to be buried on property or in crawl spaces, creating a literal artifact mine for Jeffrey.

The artifacts from Mullen’s Folly sit on display, and an entire backroom in the barn holds even more archeological finds including animal bones, a button collection, historical documents and pictures gifted by Mr. Fitzgerald, and pieces of pottery and dish wear he has yet to puzzle together. Over 7,000 artifact pieces have been discovered on the property dating from 1710 to 1980, and about 85 percent of them date to before 1850.

“I’ve sifted by hand through 1,000 cubic feet of dirt and there’s a lot more to find. Trash can be fun,” Jeffrey said.

Mullen’s Folly earned its name from the demise of the store front, though it had been and remained a residence since its construction, proving only the store had been a folly. William Penn originally purchased the land extending through Cecil County in 1710. The lots known as the Nottingham lots totaled 37 at 500 acres each. Even though 95 percent of the land was located in Maryland and owned

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Jeffrey Ricketts displays his collection of Mullen’s Folly artifacts inside of his shop, East Nottingham Antiques.

Mullen’s Folly

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by Lord Baltimore, Penn claimed the land and gave it to Quakers to strengthen Pennsylvania’s southern border. Mullen’s Folly sits on lot 31, originally 500 acres purchased by Robert Dutton and Samuel Littler. They would eventually sell off a large portion to John Day. Day opened a tanning yard on his plot, naming his property “Hebron.” The thought is that the first storefront at the house was by Day for his tanning goods. Day willed the property to his son, George Day, who would eventually sell about 10 acres to William Mullen. “Mullen’s Delight” was then created— a general store that is estimated to have been open for 30 years, until it’s closing in 1823.

The property, then known as “Mullen’s Reserve,” was then sold for $145 to Elizabeth Underhill, who lived there until her death in 1836. The property at this time has been reduced to about 8 acres as it passed hands and pieces were sold off due to financial hardships. It passed through more family hands and more houses were built on the property— some remain, others do not. While in the Pierson family ownership in 1846, the house and property was sold to

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Chairs line the porch of Mullen’s Folly paying homage to the most popular seating place of the home.

Mullen’s Folly

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James Tremble to create Rosebank Cemetery and Rosebank Hall, a community building next to the farmhouse that was used for Sunday School, public meetings and local events.

The farmhouse was almost knocked down in 1859, until it was purchased by Jason Berricker, who purchased it for $200 and raised eight children in it. The small house would have had one shared bathroom and maybe one or two upstairs bedrooms on either side of the stairs, making quite tight quarters for a family of ten.

“When you think about it, they were really just in the house to eat meals and sleep,” Jeffrey said. “The work that was done was outside of the house so they weren’t in it all day.”

The Berricker-Fitzgerald family would raise generations in the house until 1963 when Louise Fitzgerald passed, leaving the property to her son Malven Fitzgerald before it was passed to his own son, Frank Fitzgerald. Louise’s memories perhaps hold the most for Mullen’s Folly, as she saw her sister and husband pass, both in 1939, and their tombstones were within view from the side window.

“She saw the addition of electric and plumbing,” Jeffrey explained. He noted that he even has the original receipt as proof.

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A collection of buttons found on the property, and a photograph of prior owner, Malven Fitzgerald.

Old newspapers were used to plaster the walls of Mullen’s Folly, and were revealed under 15 layers of wallpaper in some places.

Louise Fitzgerald, saw the addition of electricity and plumbing in her lifetime. A receipt from the electric installation from General Engineering Company dates to 1930.

Mullen’s Folly

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Two years have passed since Jeffrey purchased the property and began his restoration. There is no timeline for completion of the project, which is good because it was originally supposed to take about two years to finish.

Now that most of the archeological work has been completed inside of the house, Jeffrey can begin the restoration work. He’s completed almost everything by hand himself to this point—with a little help from his father. He plans for Mullen’s Folly to be returned to its 1790s farmhouse state as a residence, and he wants to have a small museum to teach community members about the area’s history. The front porch remains the focal point of Mullen’s Folly, a porch so beloved by the community that people often gathered to sit there, enjoying the cool breeze flowing across its historic wooden chairs. A rocking chair at least 100 years old holds the initials of its former owners, and perhaps some of their memories, too.

You can follow Jeffrey Ricketts’ journey of restoring this important part of local history on Facebook by searching Mullen’s Folly Restoration or by visiting his business website at www.eastnottinghamantiques.com.

Jeffrey Ricketts, 22, adds homestead restoration to his curatorship resume.

20 years of

By Ken Mammarella Contributing Writer

For 20 years, female artists based in Cecil County and nearby areas have been making art out of what other people would consider garbage. They call themselves the Trashy Women.

“The Trashy Women find unexpected beauty in the discarded and the rejected,” they write in the artists’ statement introducing their latest show, which runs through June 3 at Penn State Great Valley in Malvern, Pennsylvania. “They share this superpower with others, through teaching and exhibition of their art; and encourage each member to develop her own artistic potential.”

The collective now includes founder Maggie Creshkoff, plus founding member Sue Eyet, Caryn Hetherston,

Dragonfly Leathrum, founding member Jo Pinder, Donna Steck, Trebs Thompson, Jamie Troiani (who considers herself an adjunct member), Mindy Ward and Colleen Zufelt.

They like to “explore the myriad uses of materials too often headed for the landfill,” Creshkoff wrote in 2019, when promoting a summer camp at the Center for the Creative Arts in Yorklyn, Delaware. “Plastic bottles, tin cans, feed bags, detergent containers and the like will serve as the starting point for participants to fuel their creativity and to see beyond the intended use of those objects. So-called “trash” will be deconstructed, assembled, riveted and grommeted into artful objects rarely seen this side of the globe.”

Here are brief profiles of the full members from Cecil: Creshkoff, Eyet, Pinder and Steck.

The logo for the Trashy Women is a collaborative effort.

Meet the artists who turn garbage into art

Sue Eyet

Sue Eyet grew up in Harford County and has lived between Port Deposit and Rising Sun since 1980. She and her husband recently bought the old post office in downtown Rising Sun, which she plans to use as a production studio and to offer classes.

She works in art therapy at Harbor of Grace Recovery Center & Ashley Treatment.

Artistically, she began with stained glass, basketry and metalsmithing. Currently, she focuses on stabiles, mobiles and jewelry from found objects.

“I was bitten by the recycling bug when Maggie’s husband, Bobby Hansson, was creating his book, The Fine Art of the Tin Can,” she said.

Photo courtesy of Maggie Creshkoff

Trashy Women members include (from left) Trebs Thompson, Jamie Troiani (mostly hidden), Donna Steck, Mindy Ward, Maggie Creshkoff, Jo Pinder, Dragonfly Leathrum, Caryn Hetherston and Sue Eyet. Colleen Zufelt joined after the photo was taken.

Trashy Women

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Sue Eyet

“I’ve become fixated with the idea of creating with objects that society sees as having lost all value. These fragments of everyday life, created with great materials, have survived the tests of time. They didn’t wear out. The small dents or scratches enhance the beautiful color, patina and quality, and after a good cleaning, a new life begins.

“Tin cans, coins, keys, silver plate serving pieces along with vintage eyeglasses, crystal necklaces, old hardware, clock fragments and a mountain of other materials are cleaned and organized and waiting for the next project or class.

“The Trashies share a love of the arts as well as each other. Materials are passed along among the group, ideas bounced off one another, and Maggie the Magnificent keeps us moving forward to the next event.”

To learn more, email sueeyet@verizon.net.

“I

Photo courtesy of Sue Eyet

always prefer to let my work speak for me,” Sue Eyet said.

Jo Pinder

Jo Pinder was born and raised in Colora and returned there. She is retired from Eldreth Pottery in Oxford, Pennsylvania, after 30 years as head decorator and designer.

“I’ve always been a creative, using found materials,” she said. “My mom was a master at such. With her, I learned a love and appreciation of antiques and folk art, and my aunt provided walks in the woods and art books.

“My first truly recycled things were cigar boxes painted with folk style images. Recycling was what I could afford really, and it allowed for creative thinking.

“My main materials have been crayons and their papers, old papers, tea tags, fabrics, cigar boxes, old windows for painted collages, folk bird and cat ink drawings.

“Being a part of the Trashy Women has given me confidence, feedback, respect, courage. I’m the hermit. A lot of my shyness comes from my deafness, I suppose. So I haven’t practiced talking much, but I am a good listener because I have to listen so hard.

“My work for Trashy Women changes a lot from our

founding to now. I like pushing myself.

I can’t say that I have a consistency except that it’s always natureand folk-inspired. I would say that the materials I am drawn to are colorand print-forward.”

To learn more, visit www.facebook. com/jo.l.pinder and www.instagram. com/jolynnpinder.

Photo courtesy of Jo Pinder “I tend to be very direct or very complicated with titles for work,” Jo Pinder said of Cat, an ink drawing on rice paper overlaying a teatag collage adhered with glue and coated with melted beeswax, then protected with amber shellac. “Cats and birds are a recurring motif in my work – and in my life.”

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Maggie Creshkoff

Maggie Creshkoff came up with the idea for Trashy Women in 2004 when she was visual arts coordinator for the Cecil County Arts Council. She asked three other artists to join her in a show at the Chesapeake City Town Hall.

She had started her artistry in clay – she’s been running Backlog Pottery for over 40 years, making

Photos courtesy of Maggie Creshkoff In “Rusty Angels,” “I combine clay and metal, as a metaphor for the aging process: both are fragile, yet strong, with rich colors that form a beautiful patina only after time has passed,” Maggie Creshkoff said.

objects from local clay – and began working in recyclables in 2002. “It’s intriguing to work with things that had another use and lived another life,” she said. “It’s kind of an artistic alchemy, and it helps me stay open to the possibilities of change.”

She has loads of raw material – “Tin cans, rusty metal, broken furniture, discarded jewelry, beads, baubles … the list could go on and on!” – in the basement of Backlog, her family farm near Port Deposit.

She teaches sculpture and 3D Design for Cecil College, plus art workshops throughout the year.

“The inventive, imaginative work of the other members of the group continues to surprise and inspire me,” she said of Trashy Women.

To learn more, email backlog.pottery@gmail.com.

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Donna Steck

Donna Steck offers two possible origin stories for her recycled art. “One could argue my handkerchief as a haute couture gown was the first foray, but public school budgets almost always test your creative re-use capabilities, both as a student and a teacher.”

Steck, who lives on the Mason-Dixon Line in Cecil County, has been a middle school art educator for the county since 2004 and joined Trashy Women a year or two later. She began her artistry in acrylic paint and watercolor and works in fiber arts. She is also a “hobby farmer, semi-pro dancer and recreational ring jouster.”

“Growing up in the ’80s was a brainwash of ‘Save the Planet,’ hole-in-the-ozone, 3 R’s litany,” she said of her interest in recycled art. “I didn’t have to be old enough to understand it all. I just

felt the logic behind making the most of what one has. It’s part OCD, part generational poverty, part responsibility.

“One of my most successful art creations was my ‘Label Me’ series, where I created garments out of those irritating tags. I have a fabric fetish, where certain textures and colors are an immediate attraction, and I tend to hold onto those until the precise moment of need.

“I did a lot of weaving with cassette and VHS tapes. Mylar is a fascination, as is Styrofoam, because it’s supposed to last forever. Who needs archival paper, when one is using things famed for not decomposing? On the flip side, I dabble in some experimental taxidermy and have a fondness for forest treasures.

“Currently, I have a lot of broken

In “Portal,” “One of my barn door boards is the surface,” Donna Steck said. “The art teacher whom I replaced had an abundance of nails in storage that I have been wanting to use (up) for about 15 years. The twine I am sorting is one of my more recent obsessions as I accumulate so much of it, and can never bear to throw it away.”

fence boards and old leather equestrian items that I just adore. They are too comely to discard, so I like finding ways to prolong their lives.”

“It is necessary to have a cooperative of like-minded women to support, inspire and enable to live out my soul’s purposes,” she said of the collective. “Each ‘Trashy,’ as we like to refer to ourselves, is a powerhouse of dedication, prowess and strength. I am one of the younger members. I have always felt like the ‘baby’ of the group, but what that means is I am surrounded by awe-inspiring elders who compensate for my lack of an interesting heritage.”

To learn more, email Loominousd@ aol.com.

Photos courtesy of Donna Steck

Fair and phenomenal

Cecil County Fair offers fun-seekers food, festivities, and phenomenal 4-H events

By Colleen Cochran Contributing Writer

When the air turns steamy and the days grow long, people get an urge to abscond from the mundanities and trials of everyday life and to go off in search of fun. One of Americans’ favorite summertime great escapes is the county fair, an otherworldly place brimming with scents of popcorn, funnel cake, and candy apples, sounds of shrieks and laughter, and colorful, fantastic sights that dazzle the eyes.

The Cecil County Fair in Elkton is one the biggest and grandest great escapes around. People come from near and far to attend this fair, and they have so much fun at it, a lot of them do not want to leave. They plum forget they have cares and routines to attend to back home.

Thus, over the years, the organizers of the fair have had to make the event last longer and longer. This year it is going to last a whole nine days, from July 19 through July 27, and more than a few attendees are going to stay the entire time, smiling all the while, seduced by the enticements and joys the carnival continuously offers them.

The Cecil County Fair provides much that is to be expected from a summertime festival. It has roller coasters, whips, and Ferris wheels, as well as the unique treats that only carnies know how to make, like butter-dipped Oreos and butter-dipped Twinkies.

The fair also showcases some extraordinary spectacles, the likes of which fairgoers will probably never see again and will leave them wondering if they only dreamt them.

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Each year, more than 75,000 people attend the 9-day fair. Susan Sprout Knight’s daughter, a second-generation 4-H member is pictured, with her grandmother at the fair.

The Cecil County Fair takes place from July 19 through July 27 this year.

The fair receives about 7,000 entries from about 1,200 open and 4-H exhibitors.

The Painted Pony Championship Rodeo is one of the attractions at the fair.

Courtesy photos

The Cecil County Fair continues to celebrate the agricultural heritage of the area.

Cecil County Fair

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These shows include aerial performances, cowboy circuses, glass blowers, chainsaw artisans, tractor pulls, a demolition derby, and much more. A variety of music plays throughout the fair too, including classic rock, pop rock, Southern rock, country, and gospel.

A lot of people say the fairest fare of the fair is the 4-H exhibits. The presentations from this organization run the gamut of every ilk and fancy. The 4-H clubs offer farm show exhibits, like poultry, goat fitting (a beauty contest for goats and their exhibitors), dairy animals, horse jumping, a western horse show, and a livestock sale on the last day of the fair. 4-H also has a welding event, a fashion review (the participants design, sew, and model their clothing creations), an ATV event, a small engine event, a farm tractor safety presentation, and a dog and pet show.

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Courtesy photo

There is fun for all ages at the Cecil County Fair.

Cecil County Fair

The reason 4-H’s offerings are so varied is because the organization caters to young people and its mission is to help them become productive in whatever project they seek to pursue. Most of the projects fall into the categories of agriculture, science, healthy living, and civic engagement. The 4-H students work year-long on their chosen projects, and the Cecil County Fair is their opportunity to not only show off what they have accomplished, it is a chance for them to earn trophies and other awards.

Susan Sprout Knight, who runs the advertising for the Cecil County Fair, grew up participating in 4-H, and today, she continues her involvement through volunteering and mentoring youth. She voices high praise for the organization and for the skills it enabled her to acquire and the values it instilled in her.

She explained how the 4-H projects work.

“When I was young and a 4-H member, my project was gardening,” she said. “The organization provided me with a whole bunch of tools and people to help me successfully learn gardening skills. Eventually, I was skilled enough to compete in horticultural events, and 4-H enabled me to travel throughout the country to participate in them.”

Susan described a bit about what it takes to enter the events at Cecil County Fair. “Someone’s project might be cow showing, for instance. That means they either have their own cow or they lease one or they care for another community member’s cow. Throughout the 4-H member’s project, they learn how to properly care for a cow, they learn to feed it and to keep it clean and healthy. Once they have developed a prize specimen cow, they get to show off it and all their hard work at the fair.

“Throughout the project, the 4-H’er is picking up all kinds of skills. First, they learn about community because there is this whole great community of people willing to donate time and resources to helping them become successful in their 4-H project. They learn how to keep records of their project, and these are sometimes supplied to judges at the fair. They learn time management, financial management, and even public speaking, because many fair events require the 4-H’er to orally present their project.”

The 4-H organization was started over 100 years ago, and it has become the nation’s largest youth development organization. Its symbol is 4 H’s that stand for head, heart, hands, and health because these are the areas the organization is trying to enhance in young people. The Cecil County Fair has a long tradition of promoting and rewarding 4-H participants.

Like all fairs, the Cecil County Fair pops up seemingly out of thin air. It disperses its magic and splendor for but a bit of the summer, and then it disappears. What it leaves behind is happy memories that live within the people who visit, which is what summer is about, escaping to a place where happy memories can be cultivated and then held onto forever.

Photo courtesy Mary Smith

A 4-H horse jumper show.

|Cecil County Life Photo Essay|

‘Our greatest successes’

Photos by Jim Coarse

Text by Richard L. Gaw

From the platforms of education, creativity, health and wellness, Community Connecting Us aligns with local agencies and neighbors to celebrate

the alchemy of what happens when people come together

On April 22 – under the direction of Ralf Schmitt –the Roedean Girls Choir of Johannesburg, South Africa performed a breathtaking concert at the historic Tome Memorial Church in Port Deposit, now the Cultural and Wellness Center of Community Connecting Us (CCU). Tilting back their heads and singing in pure harmony at the altar, the chorus of their voices reverberated around the old church, and each selection celebrated the universal language of song.

Leonard Cohen’s anthem, “Hallelujah,” the room –the community – was wrapped and protected by an impenetrable strength that said anything is possible when we gather in peace, together.

“Heading into the concert, I was wondering if anyone would show up,” said Erica Berge, who founded CCU in 2018 with her husband, Brian. “I was just hoping that I would be able to do right by the ancestors –those who had gathered in this very church, seeking a

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|Community Connecting Us|

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place where they felt they truly belonged. This concert was our way of weaving our story into the rich tapestry of theirs. Being at the concert doors – deepened my love and appreciation for our neighbors even further.”

After living in California for the previous 18 years, Erica, born and raised in the Conowingo area, returned to her native Maryland with a mission to help serve the communities of Cecil County. The original foundation for what soon became CCU was simple: To encourage neighbors to join together by sharing their own stories.

“Culturally, we had become so insular that we no longer heard each other’s conversations, and we needed to begin having them in our own backyard,” said Erica, who along with Brian began CCU in their hearing people’s stories and welcoming what they had to offer others by embracing our collective talents and the resources and interests of our neighbors.

as people are given the opportunity to do what they love and be with others.”

Through the assistance of its neighbors and community partners, CCU has become a offering everyone from children and teenagers to parents and grandparents the opportunity to take part in activities in the areas of wellness, creativity and education, as well as attend a full calendar of public events. In 2023, CCU saw an estimated 4,500 visitors, who took part in yoga classes, nutrition classes for youth, play groups, mural projects, artisan events, book club gatherings, community gardening, and the

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|Community Connecting Us|

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annual Port Deposit Pirate Takeover – all in partnership with local agencies.

Erica said that CCU’s future plans include maintaining the historic church as a sacred space for memorial services, weddings, lectures, and concerts, while at the same time expanding its purpose to become a self-sustaining culture and wellness center – including a used bookstore – that provides jobs for young people.

If there was a recent moment that seemed to crystallize the underlying mission of Community Connecting Us for Erica, it was in the minutes just before the start of the Roedean Girl’s Choir concert.

“Sitting in the Tome Memorial Church, watching organization’s mission – it’s fundamentally about ourselves when we launch something into the world, whether it’s the initiatives of our organization or the more personal aspects we usually keep hidden.

“Facing our challenges head-on, going upstream to the very source, is the only way to truly address the core of our issues. At CCU, we gather around the same table, celebrating our talents, sharing our fears, and practicing empathy. It is through successes.”

Community Connecting Us is located at Nesbitt Hall, 99 North Main Street, Port Deposit, Md. 21904. To learn more, visit www.communityconnecting.us, or call 443-731-6080.

To see the April 22 concert with the Roedean Girls Choir, visit “Earth Day Concert Featuring the Roedean Girls Choir at the CCU Cultural and Wellness Center” on YouTube.

Additional photos courtesy of Community Connecting Us

|Cecil County People|

A childhood spinal cord injury would lea but for Krystal Greco, her paralysis contin The rain in the rearview

By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer

Photos by Jim Coarse of Moonloop Photography and Blake Griffith of Slate Portraits

Tell me, how much hurt can a heart take?

Tell me, how much wind ‘til the walls cave?

You can just stay right there in the pain

Or listen to the voice that you hear when you pray

Tell me, how much hurt can a heart take before it breaks?

From the song “Rain the Rearview,” as performed by Anne Wilson

To listen to 28-year-old Krystal Greco describe the traumatic story that happened when she was 14 years old is almost like listening to a storyteller weave the parables and plotlines of someone else’s life.

While her manual wheelchair is not far from the conversation, it is hidden beneath the coffee shop table where she sits, a necessary machine but one that does not dominate but rather acquiesces to the veritable strength and temerity of the young woman it holds.

The machine already knows Krystal’s story full well. It has carried her through the darkest times and through the countless therapy sessions and stood by her bed at night when the young girl prayed for her recovery. It has

guided her through the miraculous work of a new kind of therapy that got her back to the equestrian life she loved, and together with the companionship of a trusted dog, the machine has witnessed a young woman’s world transcend from heartache to healing.

It knows, too, that the story of how Krystal Greco overcame her life’s obstacles began on the early afternoon of March 7, 2010.

“In the fall of 2009, I was being treated for some low back pain and was kept out of school and had to wear back braces, but at the time, there was no diagnosis,” Greco began. “Sometime at about 1 p.m., I got out of the shower and that is when a disk between my T-9 and T-10 vertebrae on my spinal cord ruptured, and I fell to the bathroom floor. At first, I thought it was a muscle spasm, so I pulled my knees into my chest and started screaming in pain until my mother came for me.”

Krystal began to lose control of her extremities, and by the time her mother and stepfather had helped her to the car for the ride from North East to A.I. Children’s Hospital in Wilmington, she could barely stand. There, doctors diagnosed her with a ruptured disk, and transferred her to Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, where she underwent an emergency decompression of her spinal cord. After undergoing numerous tests, Krystal left Philadelphia with incomplete paralysis from the waist down.

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ead many to a life of despair and regrets, inues to inspire her to live a life of purpose

Krystal Greco

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|Cecil County Life|

At an age when young people begin to absorb themselves in all the drama and exuberance of high school, Krystal Greco was now alone in the universe.

Now I know what she was feeling Oh, ‘cause I feel it too

When the storm rolls in and the sky won’t quit crying And you’ve lost more tears than you thought you could ever lose

Oh, I swear somewhere out there, the sun is somewhere shining

So, drive, baby, drive, baby, drive ‘til it shines on you

It is not rare but somewhat uncommon for a young child to experience the first bliss of what will become their life’s gravitational pull, but in many ways, Krystal’s life began when she was first hoisted upon a horse for a pony ride when she was a four-year-old growing up in Laurel, Md. The connection was immediate, and she recognized it in the form of the unspoken language shared between human and animal. It led to more pony rides and summer camps

and once-a-week lessons, which were followed by her volunteering at a local stable.

“It was the feeling of having communication with something way bigger than me, and creating a partnership,” Krystal said. “I was bitten by the bug at a very young age, but after my paralysis, I asked myself, ‘Will I ever be able to ride again? Was it ever going to be a possibility?’”

When Krystal was undergoing in-patient therapy at the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, one of her nurses had seen an episode of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” that was profiling The Freedom Hills Therapeutic Riding Program in Port Deposit, a short drive from her home in North East. By October, just six months after her spinal cord injury, she enjoyed her first ride at Freedom Hills through a form of physical therapy known as “hippotherapy,” in which a therapist uses the characteristic movements of a horse to provide carefully graded motor and sensory input that improves neurological function and sensory processing. Hippotherapy has been used to treat patients with neurological or other disabilities, such as autism, cerebral palsy,

arthritis, multiple sclerosis, head injury, stroke, spinal cord injury, behavioral disorders and psychiatric disorders.

Within five months of starting hippotherapy, Krystal began to see increased muscle strength and nervous system connections, and eventually, she was able to move her legs, her hips and her toes again for the first time since her paralysis.

While Krystal leaned on the grace and strength of her mother, her stepfather and father, her grandparents, close friends of the family, and the teams at Kennedy Krieger and Freedom Hills, “the other part of my recovery had to do with my faith, because I am Christian and believed – and still believe -- that God had and has a plan for me,” she said. “Everything happens for a reason. I may not know it yet, but He does. I can’t say that I haven’t had those moments of doubt and those questions and frustrations, however, because there were several roadblocks. I wasn’t recovering, and I wasn’t moving as quickly as I wanted to. I am human, and I am not ashamed to say that I had those feelings.”

Freedom Hills became her sanctuary, her therapeutic happy place.

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For the past dozen years, Krystal has competed in several para-dressage competitions, and aspires to compete at the Paralympics.

Krystal Greco

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“The largest part of my recovery was having somewhere to go where I am not focusing on my disability but how I can improve – what I can do to make myself stronger, a better equestrian, and gaining knowledge about myself,” she said. “That’s the thing about being an equestrian – we never stop learning.”

For the next few months, Krystal spent countless hours at Freedom Hills getting reacquainted with her equestrian life, sometimes in the same company as another rider who was working toward competing in the Paralympics in the field of para-dressage competition. Encouraged by her trainers to do the same, the 15-year-old entered into competition in the Therapeutic Division of the Devon Horse Show in 2011, run by the Thorncroft Equestrian Center in Malvern, Pa. Established in 1969, Thorncroft – commonly known as “The Barn” -- is one of the premier therapeutic equestrian centers in the U.S., and specializes in therapeutic horseback riding and other equine-assisted services for both children and adults with mental, emotional, and physical disabilities. Back on the saddle, she continued to enter competitions – regularly placing near the top of the winner’s circle – that

Krystal Greco with her horse, Bientsje, and her dog, Teddie.

included the Maryland Challenged Equestrian Trials, as well as smaller shows and para-dressage competitions.

“That’s when I got the show bug, and these competitions I participated in told me that this is possible, that this is something that I would be good at it, and that this is something that I would enjoy,” she said. “I was beginning to really enjoy the training process and then see the results of that training reflected in show results.”

Then along came Teddie.

And you’ve lost more tears than you thought you could ever lose

Oh, I swear somewhere out there, the sun is somewhere shining

So, drive, baby, drive, baby, drive ‘til it shines on you And leave the rain in the rearview And leave the rain in the rearview

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Krystal adopted Teddie through Canine Partners for Life in 2013.

Krystal Greco

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Founded in 1989 and headquartered on a 45-acre property in Cochranville, Pa., Canine Partners for Life (CPL) has been dedicated to training service and companion dogs to assist individuals who are managing a wide range of physical, developmental, and cognitive disabilities. Over the last four decades, CPL has placed more than 800 service and companion dogs nationwide, and when Krystal placed her first call to the organization in 2012, it was in the hopes of being matched with a service dog.

She first met Teddie in the spring of 2013 at graduate support class at CPL, and soon after, received the call that Teddie was going to become her service animal.

“I didn’t get a chance to truly bond with her until training that summer, but she struck up a bond with me immediately,” Krystal said. “She was super attentive, always wanted to work, always had a drive, made me laugh, always made me want to try more, and she couldn’t have come at a better time.

“Besides having the emotional distraction of going to therapeutic training, I had feelings of isolation. I didn’t

socialize anywhere outside of school, so getting Teddie opened a lot of those closed doors for me. She gave me the self-confidence that I could go out on my own and interact with others, and she gave others a better perception of a young girl in a wheelchair. I never imagined the full extent of how much of a difference she was going to make when I signed up to receive a service animal, but I didn’t know that she would become a huge emotional benefit, as well.”

The accomplishments Krystal has made over the past ten years reel off like a roster of personal achievements. She obtained her driver’s license. She graduated from North East High School. She obtained three degrees from Cecil College – one degree in equine studies -- and then attended the University of Maryland-University College, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a minor in finance in 2020, with Teddie beside her. She is currently working at JP Morgan Chase in Newark and this past February, she purchased her first home.

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Through Teddie’s help, Krystal was able to gain not only greater accessibility but self-confidence.

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|Cecil County Life|

While her ultimate goal of competing in the U.S. Paralympics is on temporary hold, Krystal has spent the last six years riding and training Bientsje -- known mostly as “Bobbie Jo” – a Friesian mare who accompanies Krystal at clinics with para-dressage instructors, lessons with a local trainer and competition at dressage shows.

“My inspiration has come from the bits and pieces of other people who inspire me, and by seeing what they do and acknowledging that if they can do it, I can do it too,” Krystal said. “I have a very strong drive to be independent and not have to rely on other people. I have goals and they are always being molded from the standpoint of, ‘I am going to do it as independently as possible and as physically as possible, considering what my limitations are.’

“There is always a way. You just have to figure out what that way is. It may not always be the most straightforward way, but there is a way, and you can figure it out if you try hard enough.”

Meanwhile, Teddie is about to retire from active service soon, but once she does, she will have a new role in Krystal’s life: being her pet dog.

“I have had her for 11 years, so I’m not going to give her up now,” she said.

The wheelchair reappears from beneath the coffee shop table. It accompanies Krystal Greco down the Z-shaped ramp at the shop’s entrance and toward her specialized vehicle, which will take her home, to Teddie, and to the dreams that will, like the machine, graciously lead her.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email rgaw@chestercounty.com.

Nearing her retirement as an active companion dog, Teddie will soon become Krystal’s pet.

Milburn Stone dreams big

Thomas Amorin photo courtesy of Milburn Stone Theatre Milburn Stone Theatre presented The Who’s Tommy during its 2021-22 season.

By Ken Mammarella Contributing Writer

The theme of the 2024-25 season at the Milburn Stone Theatre at Cecil College is “Dream Big,” which functions as an homage to the “want song,” an important element of musical theater.

Want songs, also known as “wish songs,” allow characters to sing about their dreams and desires.

“As theater makers, we all dream about what shows might be like and what things will be like for the future,” said Andrew John Mitchell, Milburn Stone’s artistic director. “So we’re dreamers as much as the characters and the themes of our shows.”

The season features six musicals and two straight plays. It starts in August with Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville and ends in June 2025 with Once. In between: Ride the Cyclone the Musical, The Crucible, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Hamlet, Oklahoma! and Anastasia the Musical.

“Not all of the shows center around dreams,” said Mitchell, who’s scheduled to direct Oklahoma! and Once “But a good amount do.”

The theater will also host other events, including its annual Cecil Country Independent Film Festival, Celtic Festival and Susquehanna Bluegrass Festival, plus the return of Dame Edna.

Milburn Stone Theatre will begin its 2024-25 season in August with a production of Jimmy Buffet’s Escape to Margaritaville.

That was then, this is now

Mitchell said that he has witnessed huge changes since 2012, when he started working at Milburn Stone.

“We’re a very different organization,” he said, noting changes in funding, attendance and numbers of productions.

In 2014 and for a few years, they also did shows at Elkton Station, totaling more than a dozen shows in a season, but they concluded it overtaxed staff and volunteers.

“At times, we did almost too much theater,” he said. That’s why the 2023-24 season has nine shows, and the 2024-25 season has eight.

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Milburn Stone Theatre

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Escape to Margaritaville, which runs Aug. 9-18, is a 2017 jukebox musical featuring the feel-good songs of Jimmy Buffett and a book by Greg Garcia and Mike O’Malley.“ Margaritaville is literally a dream of getting away to an island adventure and dreams of making it big,” Mitchell said.

Ride the Cyclone, which runs Sept. 20-22, is a 2015 musical by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell. The show focuses on six teens killed when their carnival ride malfunctioned, and they are asked to justify (through song, of course) being retuned to life.

“They’re stuck in limbo and dream of their life again,” Mitchell said.

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Photo courtesy of Milburn Stone Theatre

In 2025, Milburn Stone expects to launch a capital campaign to refurbish its theatre on the campus of Cecil College.

|Cecil County Life| Milburn Stone Theatre

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“This delightfully weird and just plain delightful show … will provide the kind of thrills we look for in all musical comedies, however outlandish their subject matter: an engaging and varied score … and a supremely witty book,” New York Times critic Christopher Isherwood wrote.

Perchance to dream

The Crucible, which runs Oct. 18-27, is the 1953 Arthur Miller classic drama that on one level is about the Salem witch trials of the 1690s and on another is about the Red Scare of outing alleged communists in the 1950s.

“The more I read into the Salem panic, the more it touched off corresponding images of common experiences in the fifties,” Miller wrote in The New Yorker in 1996. “The old friend of a blacklisted person crossing the street to avoid being seen talking to him; the overnight conversions of former leftists into born-again patriots; and so on.”

The Crucible is the kind of show that’s studied in schools,

and Mitchell said that gives Milburn Stone the chance to add a school-day performance for students.

Beauty and the Beast, which runs Dec. 6-15, is adapted by Linda Woolverton from the 1991 movie, which is based on a French fairytale published in 1740. The movie featured songs by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, and Tim Rice was brought in to write lyrics for new songs in the 1994 stage adaptation.

In Belle, Belle and Gaston get more than 5 minutes –enough time for two songs in many shows – to reveal how they dream that “there must be more than this provincial life.”

Hamlet, which runs Jan. 24-26, is the William Shakespeare tragedy from the early 1600s about the melancholic and doomed prince of Denmark. His famous “to be or not to be” soliloquy a few lines later dreams about death: “To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub. For in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil.”

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Musicals adapted from fairytales are perennially popular. This photo is of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella (the 2023-24 season’s highest-grossing show), and the 2024-25 season will include Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.

Thomas Amorin photo courtesy of Milburn Stone Theatre

Milburn Stone Theatre

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A groundbreaking dream ballet

Oklahoma!, which runs Feb. 21-March 2, is the groundbreaking 1943 musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, based on a 1931 Lynn Riggs play about a farm girl and her two suitors.

The show was famous for integrating songs into the plot and the 15-minute dream ballet in which the heroine contemplates her future.

Anastasia, which runs April 4-13, is a 2016 musical by Terrence McNally, Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens. It’s based on a 1997 animated film, which is in turn loosely based on the true story of women who claimed to have escaped the execution of the Russian royal family and to be the legal heir to the Romanov fortune. The fictionalized musical follows two con men who train a street sweeper – who shares her post-amnesia recollections in a song titled “In My Dreams” – to be Princess Anastasia.

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Thomas Amorin photo courtesy of Milburn Stone Theatre Classic, hard-hitting dramas offer a counterpoint to the exuberance of musicals. This photo is of the 2021-22 production of The Diary of Anne Frank, and the 2024-25 season will include The Crucible.

Milburn Stone Theatre

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Once, which runs June 13-22, is a 2012 musical by Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová and Enda Walsh, which is based on a 2007 film. Hansard and Irglová won an Oscar for their song “Falling Slowly.” “Once is about the dream of making it big, of having a career in music,” Mitchell said.

The “dream” through-line continues in one more way. In 2025, Milburn Stone expects to launch a capital campaign to refurbish its theatre, located on the campus of Cecil College.

The building opened in 1992, and over the years they have added space for patrons who have mobility issues or use wheelchairs. The have also removed the first two rows of seats in the house, which were too close and at the wrong angle to enjoy shows. And they avoid selling seats in the first row of the balcony, where the view might be blocked by the railing. Those moves have cut about 10 percent of the seats, bringing capacity to 408.

“That’s our dream to really make sure we have a theater for the next 30 years,” Mitchell said.

To learn more about Milburn Stone Theatre and its 2024-25 season, visit www.milburnstone.com.

Thomas Amorin photo courtesy of Milburn Stone Theatre

A jukebox musical is a show built around the songs from one singer, songwriter or group. In 2021-22, that role was fulfilled by Mamma Mia (pictured, the highest-grossing show since the pandemic), and it’s handled by Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville in the 2024-25 season.