SHARON SPRINGS — One’s Company, with actress Pippa White, will perform “Voices from Ellis Island” for the public in Sharon Springs on Sunday, Feb. 24, at 3 p.m. Central (2 p.m. Mountain). On Monday, she will present school presentations in Sharon Springs at 9:05 a.m. Monday and then in St. Francis at 1:30 p.m. Central.
Hosted by the Western Plains Arts Association, this project is generously funded by Mid-America Arts Alliance, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the state arts agencies of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. In addition, numerous area sponsors, including the Dane G. Hansen Foundation, Logan, major contributors to WPAA this season.
Admission at the door for the Wallace County High School Auditorium public performance is $10 adults and $5 students, or by WPAA season ticket. The venue is located at 521 Main Street in Sharon Springs.
One’s Company is a collection of one-woman shows featuring White. White grew up in San Francisco, Calif. She appeared regularly on television as a child, trained at the American Conservatory Theatre Academy, and for five years was seen as a hostess of a daily morning television show on ABC. Moving to the Midwest led to her pursuing an education, starting a family, and re-establishing a career with work in theater, arts in eduction programs, and finally, not just one, but several one-woman shows drawing on many different sources for a collection of unusual and entertaining solo productions.
Ms. White has a love of dialects and accents which she tries to incorporate into her shows. Some of her dialects come naturally, thanks to a British father, and both her parents spent considerable time in England. “Other children came home to milk and cookies after school,” she says. “I came home to afternoon tea!” Her parents often recounted amusing stories in dialect. However, not all her dialects come easily. She uses the International Phonetic Alphabet learned from her mother who taught speech and dialects at San Francisco State University. She is always trying new dialects and accents.
One fan, Leslie Dileo, Hil Drama, New York City, said about One’s Company performances, “Riveting, heartbreaking and suspenseful. Literally wearing different hats to change characters, Ms. White tells stories in a nicely balanced rotation which adds tension to the already emotionally charged tales.” Steve Wedel, The Daily Oklahoman, wrote: “A history lesson that lasted more than 70 minutes. When it was over, the applause went on and on.”
A couple years ago she presented pioneer stories As Far as the Eye Can See for a WPAA Kansas Day program. White has performed in more than 30 states also presents: The Story of the Orphan Train; Saints, Solider’s and Spies; Women and War; Angels and Troublemakers Women Who Changed the World; Marching Out of the Sweatshop; and several others.