Live streamed from The Mount. For those that have previously made a reservation, you will be automatically registered for the Zoom event.

Live streamed from The Mount, Joan Coombs reads "Expiation."

For those that have previously made a reservation, you will be automatically registered for the Zoom event. If you have any questions please contact us at programs@edithwharton.org or 413-551-5100.

This story, a satire about authorship, appeared in Hearst’s International-Cosmopolitan magazine in December 1903, two years before the publication of The House of Mirth, as Margaret Drabble notes, so Wharton “had not yet enjoyed or endured the experience of finding herself a famous author, although the story shows that she had armed herself against it.” This time out, the novel written by the lead character of Wharton’s story is preparing herself eagerly and nervously for the possibility that the story will be a “succès de scandale.” What happens instead is the stuff of comedy.

[caption id="attachment_17418" align="alignright" width="240"] Photo by David Dashiell[/caption]

Joan Coombs has appeared on stages throughout our region. Some favorites: Pride & Prejudice at Dorset Theatre Festival; Tartuffe, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife (opposite Annette Miller), and Sense & Sensibility at Shakespeare and Co.; Emilie, la Marquise du Chatelait at WAM Theatre. Others include: Death of a Salesman, All My Sons, Moon Over Buffalo and numerous productions and staged readings at Curtain Call Theatre, The Theater Barn and Aglet Theatre Company. Film: Like Lambs. Before returning to the stage in 2007, Joan devoted almost 30 years working for Planned Parenthood, as the CEO in the Philadelphia area, and in senior positions in NYC, Massachusetts, and at the National level.

The Mount is a Massachusetts Cultural Council UP designated organization welcoming participants of all disabilities. Please contact The Mount at 413-551-5100 or by email, info@edithwharton.org, to discuss accommodations needed to participate fully in this event.