Secret Cafe for Playing Telephone with Ghosts

On Sunday evening a festive crowd gathered on 4th Street at the Powel House for the first Secret Cafe...a perfect crowd of 36 joined us for soup and supper in the first formal dining room in Philadelphia. This evening was a dinner and literary journey in four acts inspired by the 18th Century.

Bill of Play
Act One 1st Course: Because the Revolution has upset the eating habits of this city.

This included: Mincemeat Pie, Pigeons Transmogriphied, Pickled Red Cabbage, Vermicelli and Cheese, Meagre Soup, and Water Crackers.

Act Two 2nd Course: Because in its baldest terms, food is a barometer of social change.

The Second Course included: Indian Pound Cake, Artichoke Hearts in Cream Sauce, Stewed Pippins, Mrs. Powel's Famous Muffins, Hysterical Water and Carrot Pudding.

Act Three A Toast: In order to feel a suffusion of a finer kind.

Act Four The Journey: What a large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life.

The participants enjoyed a feast and an evening of readings after we retired to the ballroom. This was the first public performance of Playing Telephone with Ghosts and I considered it a sketch for things to come. I was inspired by Thomas Paine's Common Sense of 1776, the secret society known as the Junto and thinking about generosity.

"Instead of gazing at each other with suspicious or doubtful curiosity; let each of us, hold out to his neighbor the hearty hand of friendship, and unite in drawing a line, which like an act of oblivion shall bury in forgetfulness every former dissension."

The Junto was formed by Benjamin Franklin and his drinking co-horts. They gathered weekly on 4th Street in Philadelphia, to read and socialize. They shared a library of books, which became the foundation of the first library, known as The Library Company of Philadelphia. In addition, they started the first fire company and police force.

They shared food, drink and good times. Their generosity and intellectual stimulation mobilized social change and fanned the flames of a revolution.

In content, the readings selected for the evening were selections about beginnings of journies from four texts, including Don Quixote, a Phyllis Wheatley poem, A Sentimental Journey and Some Memoirs of the Life of Job. The context of the Powel House, where Benjamin Franklin once ate supper, gave us a special opportunity to enjoy the simple act of reading aloud. Because as Lawrence Sterne, who inspired many secret societies, said in A Sentimental Journey:

"What a large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life by him who interests his heart in every thing, and who, having eyes to see, what time and chance are perpetually holding out to him as he journeyeth on his way, misses nothing he can fairly lay his hands on."

Thanks to the fantastic crew of conspirators helping my collaborators, Katie Baldwin, Curt Sauer and I, the evening was a smashing success. I will be posting photos and more memorabilia from the evening over the next few weeks.

Yours, truly

Caitlin