Students Participate in Annual Historical Gathering

The cool breeze sweeping their swirling skirts, the girls prance around the backyard as southern belles. With pride and prestige, the characters mingle around tables, chatting with the attendees. Laughter fills the warm air as petticoats and black shoes spin around on the brick pathways, green grass, and hardwood floors.

The Drama Club participated in the annual Queen of the Trinity Star Pilgrimage as real characters from the Civil War era on Sunday, April 22. The Fairfield History Club sponsors this event, which takes place at the Moody Bradley house, and all of the funds they collected will help spread Fairfield’s history in the years to come.

“I have participated in the Moody-Bradley Melodrama every year since I was a freshman,” junior Jack Ezell said. “I love every part of it, but my favorite part has to be the accent, since we’re allowed to overemphasize ourselves and make it funny.”

The members of the drama club played characters from Fairfield’s history, such as W. L. Moody (Ezell), Elizabeth Bradley-Moody (junior Anna Kaye Williams), F. M. Bradley (junior Preston Long), Rebecca Wood-Bradley (junior Mayra Soto), and Martha “Miss Matt” Bradley (sophomore Erin Rachel).

“It felt kind of surreal to play a historical character that lead Fairfield into economic success,” Ezell said. “[Mr. Moody] was a Confederate General, and he was able to achieve success through business dealings.”

The event consisted of a meal, an auction, the Little Miss Trinity Star and Trinity Star Princess pageant, and a raffle ticket drawing. Kinsley and Raylin Nevill won the Trinity Star Princess and Little Miss Trinity Star titles, respectively.

“I’ve learned more about how expensive it is to take care of the Moody Bradley house,” senior Kaitlyn Neidich said. “I don’t think I would have learned that anywhere else except being part of this department.”

The Pilgrimage normally includes a melodrama skit that the drama department takes part in, but this year students acted as their characters and told some of Fairfield’s history while chatting with those attending.

“I enjoyed getting our characters together, the voice, the costume, the look, and learning about our specific characters and what they did in history,” eighth grader Jordan Maciel said. “I’ve never done this before, but it was a great experience and so much fun.”

Before the date of the event, the actors received bits of information about the character they were to play and translated it into improvised lines, like a story.

“Historically, the most interesting thing about my character was that she vanished without a trace,” Rachel said. “I enjoyed telling people about my character’s past and how I was a local legend.”

Most of the students who participated have been a part of the drama department for at least one year in an acting role. However, Soto, who is normally the backstage manager, played an acting role for the first time.

“I felt so exposed,” Soto said. “I never get to be the actress so being one felt weird, but it was a good weird.”

Participating in the event allowed both the public and the students to learn about the house and the 1800s time period.

“I thought it was a fun way to get to learn a little history about Fairfield,” Soto said. “I also lived near the Moody Bradley house and always wondered why it was so great, and doing the little skit really helped me understand.”