'The Diairies of John and Lillie Spreckels' Coming
to San Diego and Coronado in 2015/2016
Award-winning author/playwright/educator Debbie Mathis Watts and Tom Dolan will star in a new play celebrating John and Lillie Spreckels, a legendary couple whose visionary leadership in the late 19th and early 20th centuries brought unprecedented prosperity to San Diego.
'The Diaries of John and Lillie Spreckels' will be staged at various venues in San Diego and Coronado in 2015 and 2016, including the Coronado Library (Oct. 8), Soroptimist Club of Coronado at St. Paul's United Methodist Church (Oct. 8), and the Spreckels Theatre (Summer 2016 dates to be announced).
The historical love story is based on Debbie's new book, "John and Lillie Spreckels: Diaries, Desserts and San Diego Dreams". The book includes fictionalized diary entries that reveal John and Lillie's deep love for each other, with stories from their seafaring adventures along the West Coast. The Spreckels' contributions to the San Diego region include the railway, the Hotel del Coronado, the Spreckels Library, and the Spreckels Theatre, among many other things. Because much of the couple's fortune was made from the sugar-refining business, Watts decided to add a recipe section that includes some of the desserts Lillie may have prepared for her beloved husband and children.
To learn more about "The Diaries of John and Lillie Spreckels", contact Debbie Watts at wattsd2@att.net or (615) 397-8259.
Nashville, TN
May 31, 2017
Playwright/entertainer Debbie Watts will perform her 1940’s piano-vocal medley, entitled “Sentimental Journey,” at Amqui Station’s annual WWII Remembrance Day on June 24th, at the opening ceremony, beginning at 10:30 a.m.
This special performance will feature a couple of songs from Watts’s new historical play, “Once Upon A Train,” which tells the story of the WWII era railroad depot canteens. In a recent interview, Debbie said, “I’m honored to be telling the story of these homefront heroes whose dedication and love for their country initiated a movement which has become a page in Americana. These folks served doughnuts, coffee, sandwiches, but most of all, they sent our troops off to war with the love of the American people behind them. I’m portraying a girl named Rae Wilson, a drug store clerk in the railroad town of North Platte, Nebraska. She wrote a letter to the editor of the North Platte Telegraph, asking for support and townspeople to volunteer to greet the troops as they would come through on the trains headed west. My collaborator, Tom Dolan, is portraying a soldier who met Rae during one of the 10-minute stops at the canteen. Tom and I will perform a duet of the title song from this play. I’m especially excited to be premiering this song at the event at Amqui, since Cate Hamilton, long time executive director at Amqui, first planted the idea in my brain last year that I should perform a WWII-era medley at the annual celebration. It is totally fitting, since my dad was a WWII marine, who, like many other soldiers, shipped out from the west coast, and rode the train west. I hope he experienced the love that the folks at the canteens were serving up.”
The Nebraska connection led to Debbie representing the state of Nebraska in this year’s Sr. America pageant, to be held in Atlantic City in October. “I’m honored to be representing Tom’s home state of Nebraska in the pageant. I hope the people of Nebraska, and Americans everywhere, will like this play, and that it will teach those who may not know of this page in our American history,” added Watts.
Watts and Dolan hope to perform the two-act, 45-minute play, “Once Upon A Train,” at depot events across the country, military reunions, and commercial theatre venues. For information about this, The Ryman Diaries, Tennessee’s First Ladies, and other historical plays produced by TN Stage and Film, go to: wattsd2.wix.com//rymandiaries. To book Debbie, or Debbie and Tom to perform one of their historical collaborations, e-mail her at: wattsd2@att.net.
"Meet Sarah Polk"
An entertainment event for your Organization
30-min monologue pieces from the stage play,
"From Tennessee, To The White House, With Love: Tennessee's First Ladies"
Debbie portrays Sarah Polk, wife of President James K. Polk from Tennessee. In authentic inauguration ball gown, Debbie reads from her interpretive diary. As Sarah, who was an accomplished pianist, Debbie punctuates monologues, playing excerpts from Beethoven, and American composers of the era.
