The Sprague Dramatic Company

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THE SPRAGUE

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DRAMATIC COMPANY
Management White Entertainment Bureau, 100 Boylston St., Boston; 1426–27 Aeolian Building, New York




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RIP VAN WINKLE
THE dreamy old legend of Rip Van Winkle clings to the American people more closely than any other written story.  We know that he was as much a fancy of a great brain as were the gray-bearded ghosts of Hudson and his men; but Rip, the jolly vagabond, and Rip, the pathetic hero of a twenty-year's sleep, are more real to us than Irving, whose hand penned the immortal picture.  Since Joseph Jefferson passed from the stage of life, no actor in this country has presented Rip Van Winkle as does Herbert Sprague.  We stake our reputation upon this assertion.  Mr. Sprague is ably assisted by Mrs. Floy Sprague, Miss Bess Mahan and Mr. John Stine.

Mr. and Mrs. Sprague were pupils of that distinguished author and teacher, the late S. S. Curry, Ph.D., of Boston, as well as of other well-known teachers both in Europe and America.

Mr. John Stine and Miss Bess Mahan, pupils of the Columbia School of Expression, Chicago, have for two years played leading roles in both Rip Van Winkle and The Rivals.  Miss Mahan is a very attractive Meenie, daughter of the lovable vagabond Rip; and Mr. Stine's Derrick Van Beekman is a most finished character study of a difficult and exacting role.


Persons in the Play


RIP VAN WINKLE
Everybody's Friend


GRETCHEN
His Scolding Wife


MEENIE
Their Daughter


DERRICK VAN BEEKMAN
The Burgomaster


COCKLES
His Nephew


NICK VEDDER
The Village Innkeeper


KATCHEN
The Innkeeper's Daughter after Twenty Years






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The play in four acts follows closely the acting version of the elder Jefferson, but there is no attempt to imitate that dear old man, the Dean of the American stage — our own Joseph Jefferson; the purpose being to preserve for the lyceum platform something of the spirit of the art of the man so highly honored and so dearly loved by all who heard or knew him.

The plot of Derrick Van Beekman — on the Village Green at Falling Water, ever so long ago — a plot to secure Rip's signature to a deed to Derrick of all the Van Winkle property — is discovered by Gretchen when she reads the acknowledgment (deed) that Rip has been asked to put his cross to.

Rip swears off as usual, but of course doesn't coundt annoder one until one stormy night Gretchen orders him from the house.  He leaves the house and goes into the mountains, where he encounters the ghosts of Hendrick Hudson and his pirate crew.  At last he partakes of the sleeping potion.

Twenty years have gone by, and Gretchen, now the wife of Derrick Van Beekman, is ordered to aid him in marrying Meenie, her daughter, to Derrick's nephew, Cockles.  Meanwhile Rip has awakened and returned to the Village of Falling Water, only to find all changed and himself forgotten.  Katchen, the Innkeeper's daughter, has only heard of him.  But finally Meenie recognizes her father.  Hendrick, Meenie's childhood sweetheart, returns from sea, Derrick is ousted, and the curtain falls on Rip — still the kindliest, happiest and best loved of all the village.



OUTLINE

Act I — The Village Green at Falling Water — Plot of Derrick Van Beekman.
Act II — Rip's Kitchen on a Stormy Night — Gretchen are you going to drive me away?
Act III — Summit of the Catskills — Rip's encounter with the Phantom Dwarfs.
Act IV — Village of Falling Water after twenty years — Return of Rip Van Winkle.



Hundreds of testimonials by School Superintendents, College Presidents and Chairmen of Lyceum Courses from all over the country will be mailed on application





HERBERT SPRAGUE
IN
RIP VAN WINKLE

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