April 15, 2014 Dear Alumni, Were sure you have seen the emails and mailings on all

of the wonderful things that we are doing at Belmead. We are in the process of planning for the future, which will include additional STEM programs so that we can once again be in the business of educating young people and giving them a good start on the rest of their lives, much like we were given at the Castle and at St. Emma. Please remember all of the positive things we learned and how that led to the many blessings we have today. Think also of how we, as parents, may have used what we learned in Powhatan to develop our own children; thus helping to form strong foundations of their own. There is much more to be done on the property. To that end, FrancisEmma, Inc. (FEI) is bringing the play, Lady Patriot, from California to Richmond, Virginia during Memorial Day weekend, as a fundraiser. While we hope alumni who live in the New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and Richmond metropolitan areas will support this effort by attending the play, we know that for lots of folks this will not be possible. Here is what we would like you to do. Help our fundraising effort by contributing directly to FEI, Inc. Bottom line, your contribution is 100% tax deductible to you (any amount is welcomed) and will help us to continue to develop the property and programs that will help this new generation of young people to succeed. Please make out your check to: FrancisEmma, Inc. and mail it to: Sister Maureen T. Carroll, Executive Director FrancisEmma, Inc. 5004 Cartersville Road Powhatan, Virginia 23139 Sincerely,

Patricia C. Gunn, Esq. (SFDS '68) Dr. Irving McConnell, (SEMA '69) Pat McEaddy Seals, (SFDS '68)

Langes Lady Patriot a wonderful surprise

Lynn Felder/Special Correspondent | Posted: Wednesday, July 31, 2013 10:23 pm Lady Patriot, written and directed by Ted Lange, is a wonderful surprise awaiting audiences at the National Black Theatre Festival. It opened Tuesday at Hanesbrands Theatre in Winston Salem, North Carolina and played Wednesday afternoon to a standing ovation. Playwright and director Lange came onstage before the show to welcome the audience members and assure us that the events depicted in the show were true. The Internet backs him up. Lady Patriot is the story of Mary Bowser, a freed slave and unlikely spy in the Jefferson Davis White House who helped to bring down the Confederacy with her intelligence work. Chrystee Pharris gives a luminous performance in the title role. Her characters ability to blend into the background is what gives her an advantage while gathering intelligence, but Pharris would only ever fade into the woodwork if she chose to. She has star-quality presence. When Pharris says with passion, Once you taste freedom, you want everybody to drink from that bowl, you will want to stand and cheer. Go for it. Pharriss Mary is lively but subtle and especially engaging in her scenes with her mistress, the crazy Elizabeth Van Lew, and with her unwitting co-conspirator, Old Robert. Lou Beatty Jr. is marvelous as Old Robert, who seamlessly goes from being Jefferson Davis dutiful servant to his convivial confidante. Beattys face is perfectly expressive, one moment pulled down by gravity and weariness, the next lifted up and as bright as the sun. It wont be giving away too much to say that he has the last laugh, and it is wonderful.

Jefferson Davis wife, Varina, played by Anne Johnstonbrowne, is the scariest character in the ensemble or maybe in any ensemble. An absinthe-swilling bigot, she makes Archie Bunker look like a liberal. Pampered and cosseted as she is, Varina has her share of issues, not the least of which is being that she is more or less constantly pregnant, and her husband is still in love with his dead first wife. Gordon Goodmans Jefferson Davis is a dashing monster, conniving and charming by turns. By the end of the war, which coincides with the end of the play, Davis is hopeless and lost, but his arrogance and delusion keep him going. His relationships with his Secretary of War Judah P. Benjamin, played by Paul Messinger, and with Old Robert are some of the most interesting in the show. He has sold off Old Roberts beloved wife and children, and he still has the gall to ask the freedman to take care of Varina and the Davis children when he retreats from Richmond. Benjamin, a Jew, is as devoted to the South as Davis is, but he at least knows when the cause is lost. Messingers Benjamin is somewhat sympathetic, a survivor in a sea of intolerance. Connie Ventress is convincing as the crazy-like-a-fox Elizabeth. She is seductive with Slydell, the journalist played by Robert Pine, motherly in her scenes with Pharris, and dotty in her scenes with Johnstonbrowne. Pine and Johnstonbrowne have a devastating scene toward the end of the show. Varina is under house arrest as a traitor in Savannah, and Slydell is interviewing her for the New York Tribune. Pine is appealing on stage, and he gets to make a powerful speech that summarizes the plays main themes. At a high point, Slydell tells the absinthe-addled Varina, Whether you like it or not, America is changing. Whether you like it or not, America is becoming a stronger nation. a nation with liberty and justice for ALL.