Once Upon a Time Never Comes Again
The peace I desperately sought in Santa Fe provided only a short-lived respite.
Unfortunately for me, there was an upcoming event at the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center that I had hoped to avoid. However, I could not as it was my husband’s life long dream; he had combined his passion for music with mine for historic scenery in an upcoming concert. It would be perfect if only I were still working at the center and restoring the Fort Scott scenery.
Andrew Barrett approached the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center’s general director about a possible choral concert during February of 2016, scheduling it for February 2017. Andrew was being hired as the guest conductor for Singers in Accord and had proposed a unique theme for the concert – pairing historic scenery with appropriate song. At the time, he knew what the scenes looked like from my own personal records documenting the Fort Scott scenery. He had thoughtfully matched the artwork of Thomas Moses to the music of Eric Whitacre, Ola Gjeilo, Anton Bruckner, C. H. H. Parry, Paul Mealor, and other composers.
Obviously, I was no longer employed as Curatorial Director or leading the restoration work. During August 2016, he started to inquire about the feasibility of having restored painted scenes for his concert as originally promised by the general director during February 2016. He specifically emailed the general director, “Will there be stabilized and restored scenery hanging in the theatre by February 7, 2017, the date of our agreed dress rehearsal, or should we search for an alternative venue? I will need to provide an update at the next Singers in Accord board meeting on August 30.”
The general director’s response simply stated, “We believe the drops will be available, but we cannot make any guarantees regarding the February date. If that is a problem, I will certainly understand if you need to move the location of your event. I will probably know more next week.”
My husband was distressed that the whole point of the concert might not be there. He would comment, “ I envisioned this project when I still had an inside line to the project’s Lead.” In the March 2016 Minnesota Masonic Charities video during Grand Lodge, it showed my profile stating, “the nation’s leading historical scenery expert would restore the entire collection. “ No wonder why Minnesota Freemasons still believe that I am leading the restoration! For the record in case it is not perfectly clear, I had nothing to do with the restoration or selection of the individuals who are currently working on the project. Minnesota Masonic Charities mislead both the Grand Lodge officers and the membership of Minnesota concerning who would restore the scenery.
As the restoration continued to be delayed throughout the fall, I knew that the likelihood of restored scenes for my husband’s concert continued to diminish. I intimately knew how long it would take to restore each drop; they were rapidly running out of time to clean, stabilize and hang the necessary scenes for the concert.
It was after the general director’s August response, that I suggested my husband have a back up plan. I would help him create a slide show of high-resolution images from the Fort Scott collection of those same scenes, then if he were informed at the last minute that there wouldn’t be any restored scenery for his concert he would have a safety net. I suggested that he get the specifications for the projection screen and we could start planning as I knew there had been a continued discussion concerning where the screen would hang. Again after no response from the general director when my husband requested the specifics, stating that he was planning to use projections instead of scenery. I took matters into my own hands and directly contacted the theatre consulting firm; requesting the specifications and their advice for this particular event. They knew that my husband was simply caught in the crossfire and offered a whole range of solutions for digital projections during the concert.
Jump ahead to October, the day after I was guest speaker for the Forest Lake Lodge stated communication held at the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center. They asked me to present on the design process for the complex and my involvement.
The day after, my husband again emailed the general director that as he would not be using historic scenery for the concert, Singers in Accord would use a slide show of historical images to accompany the concert. He wrote, “While I had originally been anticipating the actual collection, and the novel experience that would have brought, the digital approach allows us to be more seamless in our stagecraft, and to give the audience an up-close look at the details of the scenery without them actually having to leave their seats! This approach allows us to present a unique experience of choral music in a multi-media environment – something that is rarely done.”
Four minutes later, the general director responded, “I forwarded your request to the people working on the drops and asked them to prioritize the scenes you indicated. They started work this week and I believe there is a reasonable possibility the scenes will be ready. I hope to give you a further update on the actual drops by the end of next week.”
Enough with the empty words! By this point, I was less than a week away from departing for Santa Fe and the Scottish Rite photo shoot. I had never been so excited to leave town. It was perfect timing. I needed to leave behind the continued drama that constantly linked me to the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center and the Fort Scott scenery restoration. No matter how hard I tried, I could not escape the place and was constantly reliving the betrayal in my mind.
I stopped volunteering in the Scottish Rite library on Thursdays and had no desire to return to any Masonic event in Minnesota, regardless of my husband’s affiliation. I just wanted a six-month break from Minnesota Freemasonry as my heart needed time to heal and that meant leaving the state.
To be continued…
