A Day in the Life

Love's Labour's a Labor of Love

Anna Duke Reach ’79 (left), Melissa Coley ’79 (center), and Professor Margaret Maurer (right) share laughs and lines during Reunion 2009.


“Our court shall be a little Academe,
Still and contemplative in living art.” 
        — Ferdinand, king of Navarre 
        William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour's Lost


Merrill House was far from “still and contemplative” last Friday as alumni trod the floorboards, took up places around the dining room table, and gave a dramatic reading of Love’s Labour’s Lost, the Shakespearean comedy they originally performed in 1979. Spouses, professors, and friends picked up extra parts to complete the list of characters.

Class members, on campus for Reunion 2009, reprised their original roles — Matt Carter ’80 as Costard, Anna Duke Reach ’79 as the Princess, Chris Hedges ’79 as Biron, Don Williams ’79 as Longaville; Mellisa Coley ’79 was Katherine and Jaquenetta. Professor Margaret Maurer read Holofernes while Professor Jerry Balmouth was Sir Nathaniel, and Professor Coleman Brown was Dull. Anna’s husband, Rob, played the King; Professor Brown’s wife, Irene, was Marcade, and Hedges’ wife, Eunice Wong — a 2005 Helen Hayes Award-winner — was Rosaline and Don Armado.

During intermission, the players split into trios and quartets to catch up on families, jobs, and memories. They also had a chance to read a rave Maroon review of their premiere performance.

“Speaking these words gives them life,” noted Hedges, who could claim an executive producer credit on the afternoon. Reading the classic lines with familiar inflection and newfound perspective, the cast also quickened memories of their days at Colgate, shining a spotlight on the real meaning of Reunion Weekend.

Read more about Reunion 2009 at www.colgatealumni.org/reunion.