55.3 Nightfall on the Nutmeg State: "Little Miss 1565"

Fireside Mystery Theatre

Drama, Fiction, Performing Arts, Arts

4.5 • 626 Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2023

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A traveling circus goes up in flames, leaving an unsettling mystery in its ashes.

"Little Miss 1565" is the third of four episodes from our recent return to the live stage! Nightfall on the Nutmeg State is an original series crafted from the lore and legends of the great state of Connecticut — and it was performed live at The Westport Library in Westport, CT, on Friday the 13th of October, 2023.

Written by Silbin Sandovar

Featured cast:

Eirik Davey-Gislason as Emmett Kelly

Alain Laforest as Karl Wallenda

Kacie Laforest as Helen Wallenda

Ali Silva as May Kovar

James Rieser as Fred Bradna

James Kleinmann as Walter

Mary Murphy as Little Miss

Michael Pate as Robert Segee

Song: "The Fair’s Moving On" by Guy Fletcher and Doug Flett
performed by Martina DaSilva accompanied by Nico Sleator

Produced by Ali Silva & Gustavo Rodriguez for Fireside Mystery Productions with support from Verso Studios at The Westport Library @westportlibrary @verso.studios

Musical score: Nico Sleator

Lead sound effects designer and engineer: Greg Russ

Additional sound design: Ricardo Delgado and Ali Silva

Direction team: Lizz Leiser, Kacie Laforest, and Ali Silva

Fireside production coven: Lizz Leiser, Kacie Laforest, and Mary Murphy

FMT Theme music: Jason Graves

Audio post-production: Ali Silva

firesidemysterytheatre.com
@firesidemystery

©️ 2023 Fireside Mystery Productions

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Park Central Hotel Boiler Explosion in Hartford, February 18, 1889.
0:12.0	The Great Flood of 1955 that destroyed properties from Farmington to Waterbury.
0:18.0	The Hartford Civic Center roof collapse of January, 1978. The Mayanus River Bridge
0:24.4	collapse also of 1978. These were all terrible disasters that fell upon the good people of Connecticut.
0:32.1	But the worst disaster of all in this great state's history happened in Hartford on July 6th, 1944.
0:39.4	The story you are about to hear now, Little Miss 1565, is part of our show Nightfall on the Nutmeg State,
0:47.7	taped live at the Westport Library in Westport, Connecticut, on Friday the 13th of October
0:53.4	2023.
0:55.0	It couldn't have been more than seven and a half, eight minutes at most.
1:07.0	That's all it took.
1:09.0	The longest eight minutes of my life. I ran into the scene still wearing
1:14.0	my face paint, putty nose and big shoes, that bucket of water in my hand. Oh boy, was it hot
1:21.8	under the big top? So hot. But we had a show to do. Avelenda does not complain.
1:29.5	It started during our act, I think. I was on top of the pyramid. It was just a small circle at first.
1:37.4	My cats, oh, they knew. The pumas especially. And they were trying to tell me long before it happened, they knew something
1:46.1	was wrong. Merle Evans, our band leader, how brave he and the band were. So brass band is the only
1:54.4	alarm a circus has, you know. The circus. I just wanted to take her to the circus. You're going to take me to the circus, Daddy? I guess I can call you
2:05.5	Daddy now. Will you be my daddy? I'll take you to the circus, honey. I'll take you. When I lit the match,
2:15.3	I saw him. He came to me.
2:19.3	The red man.
2:21.3	Was I going nuts?
2:23.3	Am I nuts?
	...

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