DIANE MAKAR MURPHY Actress never tires of portraying Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson had only seven poems published in her lifetime. She was spirited and well-liked when away at school, but by the time she died at 56, she was nearly a recluse.
Dickinson lived all but her college years in her parents' Amherst, Mass., home. When she died May 15, 1886, almost 1,800 untitled poems were discovered. Many were written on scraps of paper, some on the backs of grocery lists.
Such a puzzling woman has given local actress Carol Weakland a lot to think about over the years. What spurred her interest was a performance by a speech student when Weakland was competing on Austintown Fitch High School's speech team. A few years later, in 1986, she presented her own portrayal of Dickinson, and has been doing so, off and on, ever since.
"I thought there were a lot of things about Emily reflected in me," Weakland said. "She was shy. Had a great love for nature. Her relationship with her family."
Performance
Next Tuesday, from noon to 1 p.m., Weakland will bring the fascinating and arguably peculiar poet to life at the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County's main library's free Lunch and Learn program. Weakland will become Dickinson, using an adaptation of William Luce's one-woman drama, "The Belle of Amherst."
Weakland, who is, it must be said, much more beautiful than Dickinson, is articulate and pleasant. In addition to being an actress, she is a writer and director. Weakland also works as a naturalist in Mill Creek Park where, she said, she "brings theater into that position." She also is directing "The Taming of the Shrew," which opens May 16 at Youngstown Playhouse.
"The toughest thing about a one-woman show is just to be onstage with no one else," Weakland said, "to interact with people who aren't there."
"The Belle of Amherst" begins with an older Dickinson and goes back to all ages. "Emily used to greet people by handing out a flower or a slip of paper with a poem on it," Weakland said. She will greet her library audience in the same way. "I haven't done this show for a year now, but it is a part of me. I become the character."
Her works
One might think that 17 years of acting a part would grow old. Weakland hasn't had that experience.
"Oh, I love her," she said. "Such a beautiful spirit. There is so much we don't know about her, but through her poetry in this play, you see it."
Weakland identified "Safe in their Alabaster Chambers" as her favorite poem from the play. It begins, "Safe in their alabaster chambers/ Untouched by morning and untouched by noon/ Sleep the meek members of the resurrection/ Rafter of satin, and roof of stone."
"It's about transcendence, spirit, about someone who is not of this plane, but of all times," Weakland suggested. "I think, for me, what is most wonderful about Dickinson's poetry is the content. Her meter is so interesting, too and her publisher criticized her for it. He called it spasmodic."
Wonderful moments
The play begins with the shy Dickinson realizing she has guests in her house. "Because I consider myself shy, that part is so easy for me," Weakland said. "And there are so many moments that are wonderful, it's difficult to pick out my favorite. At one point she is so intimate with the audience that she asks, 'Do you know that each one of us is a poem?'"
Rehearsing for a one-woman show is not your typical rehearsal; Weakland performs in her basement, where she stores the minimal set for "The Belle of Amherst."
Her last performance was a year ago in Boardman, and before that she took Emily on tour to Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
"It hasn't gotten old yet," she said.
murphy@vindy.com