June 6, 1926
It was this year that the show moved from being a 'travelling circus' to a permanent venue. A natural amphitheatre was found in the deep woods just below Kitsap cabin, a stage was cleared and the grassy hillside became an audience section, seating 1,000 people, flanked on either side by two giant Douglas firs to mark the boundary of the natural bowl.The show included the formal dedication of the theater by Prof. George Meany, president of the Mountaineers and namesake of Meany Hall on the University of Washington campus.
The show, Rainald and the Red Wolf (full name Rainald and the Red Wolf: Being the Masque of the Pilgrims and the Townsfolk of Lavayne, and How They Played Their Shrovetide Miracle Before the Lord Waldemar), by Kenneth Sawyer Goodman and Thomas Wood Stevens, was set in the 12th century, when villains were villains indeed and a heroine had a rope of hair and a face of alabaster. Rainald (our hero) and Waldemar, the Red Wolf (the villain), struggle to the death for the favor of Ysobel, our fair Lily of Lavayne.
A play within the play, "The Morality Play," with characters representing Fear, Greed, and Sloth, is enjoyed by the townspeople; it flusters the mighty Red Wolf and reunites the happy couple.
Bill Darling, a professional costumer based in the Pioneer Square area of Seattle, created the masks for the morality play. Newspaper articles indicate the 500 Mountaineers and others saw the show.
To the left you can see producer, Bill Darling, with the masks he designed for 'The Morality Play'. To the right you can see his sketches of his original designs.
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