Standing Room Only: Seattle's Amateur Thespians Surprise Their Director

The travesty 'A Midwinter Night's Dream' drew an enormous crowd to Cordary's theater last evening, and the performance was perhaps the most brilliant of the series yet given by the S. A. C. Every available inch of the theater was crowded with delighted auditors, people standing far into the aisles and thronging the foyer until a late comer without a reserved seat had difficulty in getting a peep at the stage. The play passed off without a hitch, the amateurs acquitting themselves like professionals and scoring encore after encore. The ballet, as usual, was almost faultless and had to be repeated.

The surprise of the evening came at the close of the second act, when the curtain, after descending amid a burst of applause, was immediately rung up again and George Noble as Puck trudged out carrying a large floral design. It was made up of beautiful roses and chrysanthemums, and inclosed a part of the vocal score commencing with the melody sung by Theseus in the first act, 'When Climbs the Day God to His Zenith Bright.' A neat baron of violets tied with a broad white ribbon suggested the recipient, and everyone clapped their hands when H. V. V. Bean, throwing off his mask, stepped forward and said: 'This is one on you, Mr. Bray.' Mr. Bean closed the presentation in a neat speech, and Mr. Bray responded feelingly. It was at first difficult for him to find words to express his appreciation, yet in a second or two he had gathered his thoughts and told how he would ever cherish the memory of the occasion.

The old favorites in the cast, and in truth the entire company, carried off new laurels, and it was almost with regret that the audience saw the curtain fall at the close of the last act. The success of 'A Midwinter Night's Dream' has been phenomenal, and seems to have lifted the performance of the athletic club to the acme of amateur achievement. The company will appear at Tacoma tomorrow evening and at Olympia Tuesday, and then will disband.