Published: August 24, 2008 07:36 pm      

TWV performer to bring Dickinson to life on stage

A Theatre West Virginia performer will be gracing the stage at 2 p.m. Saturday at Tamarack, bringing poet Emily Dickinson to life in a one-woman production.

Pam Chabora — who portrays the wicked mother in TWV’s “Cinderella,” Levicy Hatfield in “Hatfields and McCoys” and Delia Morgan in “Honey in the Rock” at Cliffside Amphitheater — plays the emotionally fragile 19th century poet in “The Belle of Amherst.”

Chabora, a veteran stage actor and professor of theater and dance at North Dakota State University, says she often connects deeply to the characters she portrays, but she considers Dickinson “truly a kindred spirit.”

Though Chabora possesses an extensive performance background, she considers herself an introvert at heart, much like Dickinson.

“I have the tools to interact with people, but I have that same loner urge,” she said. “I tend to like to hang by myself and feel happiest and closest to God when I’m alone in the woods.”

The two have other things in common as well, including a deep appreciation for nature.

“I love to be alone,” she said Friday afternoon while sitting outside. “I love a walk in the woods. I adore birds. I ponder things similarly to the way she did. ... I am a child at heart, and I think she was. She just didn’t know how to grow up. She pondered life and death, and she couldn’t get enough of nature inside her. The only way she could really voice it was through her art, in her poetry.”

At 51, Chabora finally feels believable portraying Dickinson at 53. She had attempted monologues from the award-winning William Luce script when she was in her 20s, but, she admits, it never really worked until recently. In the last six years she’s performed “The Belle of Amherst,” she’s noticed her audiences connecting deeply with the character she plays.

“People who have lost anyone, people who feel like she did, they have a deeper connection,” Chabora noted. “ ... There are so many universals.”

The two-act show highlights the events of Dickinson’s life, peppered with selections of her poetry. When the audience hears those poems quoted in the context of Dickinson’s personal life, they gain an even greater appreciation for Dickinson’s timeless works, Chabora explai-ned.

“She just really pulls you in to what happened to her and her family,” Chabora said. “It’s very personal. ... They hear a real story, then hear the poem, and they get it.”

Chabora takes the role seriously, right down to the pantaloons under the reproduction of Dickinson’s famous white dress. She’s even visited the poet’s home, garden and grave.

“I feel an incredible kinship with her,” she said.

The actor also feels a kinship with West Virginia. Having attended college in Kentucky, her connection to the region has helped her portray the Appalachian women she brings to life for TWV audiences.

“This is my first summer with Theatre West Virginia, and I’ve loved it,” she said. “I’m definitely an outdoor drama girl.”

“The Belle of Amherst,” however, will be performed indoors, free to the public, at Tamarack’s Gov. Hulett C. Smith Theater.

— E-mail: bnaudrey@register-herald.com