Actor Lee Stetson portrayed California naturalist and Sierra Club founder John Muir at the Opera House Mar. 27, with cameo appearances by amateur thespians as Los Gatos historical figures. Muir (1838-1914) shared the stage, briefly, with contemporaries Mountain Charlie (planning commissioner Michael Kane), Charley Parkhurst (assistant library director Linda Dydo), and the widow Mary Coggeshall (former mayor Sandy Decker). Several Museums of Los Gatos board members wore period dress for the evening, as well.
Stetson's one-man play, The Spirit of John Muir, is divided into two acts: "Perilous Adventures," and "More Perilous Adventures." Stetson related Muir's ride down a Yosemite canyon wall on an avalanche, how he climbed the 500-foot wall of the winter ice cone beneath Yosemite Falls, and the time he nearly froze in a howling blizzard while simultaneously being boiled and blistered in hot springs.
The evening was produced and directed by Carol Long Gruetzner, the author of the popular "Walk In and Out of Time" historic walking tours through Los Gatos. John Winger was technical director.
About 200 attended, including Mayor Barbara Spector and her husband, Ira, and Vice Mayor Mike Wasserman and his wife, Kim. Marianne and Doug Hamilton, Valerie and John Hopkins, Dan Turkus, Steve Clarke, Darrel Monda, Don Wolf, Ray Aylsworth and many others.
The performance benefits the History Museum of Los Gatos. The organizers would like to thank The Opera House, Bernie Groves for graphics, Teri Hope for complimentary coffee, Stephanie Mathews for programs, Ira Spector, the Saratoga Drama Group for costumes and Danny Thomas Rentals. While in Los Gatos, Mr. Muir stayed at the Los Gatos Garden Inn (thanks to Melissa Thomas).
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