Mary I at the Meeting of the Minds in 1982

My husband found and scanned this picture of me portraying Mary I of England at the (then) Kansas Newman College Renaissance Faire on a rainy, wet day in the spring of 1982. I was in a version of Steve Allen's Meeting of the Minds. As I recall, Torquemada and William Shakespeare shared the stage with me--there might have been one other historical figure (St. Joan of Arc?), plus the moderator.

The gown wasn't true to the Tudor era and of course I did not dye my hair red but I did have the required fair complexion. I did not wear my glasses so I was as blind as Mary I probably was, being near-sighted. Not being able to see the audience, who were seated on hay bales, lessened my stage fright.

Sadly, the shoes I was wearing were ruined by the soaked ground--nice pale pink flats. While I was portraying a queen regnant, I was not accompanied by any courtiers or ladies of my Court and I certainly did not have any litter, horse, or other conveyance to carry me about the Faire. Most inappropriate; on the other hand, I did not distribute alms to the poor, so I failed in my duties also.

No one was tortured or burned in the presentation of this Meeting of the Minds, I assure you.