By Kathy Baugh
On the 15th of February, friends gathered at the home of Rich and Laura Fredricks for an evening of good food, comradery and Stories by Firelight. The concept of Stories by Firelight was created by Normi Noel, a founding member of Shakespeare & Company, and director of over forty productions in the Berkshires. This performance, an adaptation of a short story by Edith Wharton, and performed by local actors, Paula Langton, Ken Cheeseman and Doug Williams, was Normi’s first living room performance.
The desire to perform in living rooms (or gardens, depending on the season), comes from a long tradition of Normi being read to by her parents under a pine tree in their home by the sea on Cape Breton Island. As time went on, roles reversed, and she read to her parents by the fire as the light faded on a winter afternoon, falling into the deep magic of a fine story being woven while waiting for the tea to steep.
The nostalgia for those times, she says, has been the impetus to create Stories by Firelight, bringing actors, strong writing and friends together into the intimate setting of the living room or verandah, and with any luck, around a fire. In the spring of 2025, Normi posed the concept to Langton and Cheeseman. They loved the idea and invited her to do a reading of her own play for Veterans’ Day this past fall at Becket Arts Center (BAC). They also suggested auctioning a Stories by Firelight performance as part of a fundraiser for BAC—and the Fredricks were the highest bidders.
After winning Stories by Firelight, the Fredricks decided to use the reading as a fundraising event for their daughter’s foundation (emilyfredricksfoundation.org). Emily was killed in Philadelphia when she was struck by a sanitation truck driver while riding her bicycle on November 28th, 2017. Rich and Laura created the foundation in her honor. They also co-founded Families for Safe Streets in Philadelphia in 2018 (bicyclecoalition.org/programs/families-for-safe-streets) and Families for Safe Streets Massachusetts in the fall of 2025 (safestreetsmass.org), both devoted to supporting individuals and families impacted by preventable crashes in their respective states and nationally.
The Fredricks expressed delight with the performance as it stimulated a rich post-play conversation in which everyone reflected on the meaning of the play, shared personal stories and gained insights into themselves, their friends and to the healing power of storytelling in such an intimate setting.
Stories by Firelight offers tales of the great writers through time, performed by accomplished Berkshire actors in your own home. A website is in the works. In the meantime for more information contact norminoel3@gmail.com.
