Lee Sharmat, assisted by Clara Bogetti, assembled a fascinating show of invaluable Cherry Grove archival treasures, dating from the 1940s through the early 2000s, and displayed them in the Community House Pavilion on August 25 and 26. In curating this Cherry Grove Archives show, Lee followed in the footsteps of late archivist Harold Seeley, to whose memory this event was dedicated.
Among those saluted here, with historic theater programs and posters, photo albums and individual photos, and DVDs of show excerpts, were Broadway’s Peggy Hewett, who starred in Rick Besoyan’s “Little Mary Sunshine” and Cole Porter’s “Kiss Me Kate” here in the late 1970s and early 1980s; Maggie McCorkle, considered by many to have been the heart of the Grove community theater, who performed from 1950 to 1998; and the “RGs” (real girls), as opposed to the drag queens, who participated in the shows and annual Grove Invasions of the Pines.
Exhibited here were not only items from the Archives’ permanent collection, but also treasures on loan from or contributed by Grove veterans Audrey Hartmann, Shirley Munnell, Dominic DeSantis and John Behan, and photographer Lorraine Michels. Guiding us through the show and explaining the things on display were Lee herself and John Burke.