MILFORD, PA — A performance of the short play “Cornelia in Confidence,” starring Patricia Durante, will be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday, August 18, and will take place in the Foundation Room of the Pike County Historical Society’s Columns Museum.

The play will be followed by a supper, cake and coffee to commemorate the birthday of Cornelia Bryce Pinchot.

Cornelia Pinchot, wife of PA Gov. Gifford Pinchot, was a 20th-century American conservationist, Progressive Party politician and women’s rights activist. She was a founding member of the Committee of 100 and a major donor to the education and legal defense funds of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) during the organization’s first years of operation.

Pinchot has been described by some historians as “one of the most politically active first ladies in the history of Pennsylvania.”

“Cornelia in Confidence” is a staged interpretation of a radio broadcast by Cornelia Pinchot. She hosted a regular program during her days living in Washington D.C. after the death of her husband. The topics she took on were often related to conservation—but in the play, when a guest cancels she is left to fill the airtime and chooses to talk “in confidence” to her listening audience. Thus she gives them a glimpse into her life and times as a fiery suffragist and politician as well as a wife and mother. 

Actress Patricia Durante, who portrays Cornelia, will join the audience for supper afterward to answer any questions and have a slice of birthday cake and coffee.

The play was written by Lori Strelecki and directed by Jeffrey Stocker as a combined effort on behalf of the Pike County Historical Society and the American Readers Theatre, and is funded through a grant from the Greater Pike Community Foundation. 

 Tickets to the dinner cost $45 per person. Seating is limited.

The museum is located at 608 Broad St.

For more information, call 570/296-8126 or email pikemuse@ptd.net.