RED WINE AND cheese. Red wine and chocolate. Red wine and a good book.
Theresa Percy and Meredith Wagner hope people will make the connection.
Percy is the Port Townsend Library director who proposed a novel idea for a fundraiser: release a limited edition of wine, with sales going to the city library and the county library, where Wagner is associate director.
Percy’s idea is actually an adaptation of a fundraiser by Harbinger Cellars in Port Angeles.
There, winemaker Sara Gagnon released a limited-edition merlot, ’08 Menagerie, as a benefit for the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society.
Reading about the release, Percy thought, “Why not do that here?” and contacted Richard Sorensen, a local winemaker.
Sorensen thought it was a good idea and agreed to donate a barrel of 2005 cabernet.
But since he lives in Chimacum, he asked that the fundraiser benefit the Jefferson County Library as well.
Sorensen also donated the bottles and corks, and the PT Library Foundation and Jefferson County Library split the cost of the labels.
So the price of each bottle, $25, goes directly on the shelf, so to speak.
“It will mean around $7,000 for the libraries,” Sorensen said.
The cabernet has proved popular with people looking for a good red: Since the release last month, more than half of the 300 bottles have been purchased, he said.
One customer bought a bottle to take to a librarian friend on the East Coast.
Others have purchased the wine to ship to other parts of the country, Sorensen said.
Librarians are hoping locals who are planning to buy wine for the holidays will stop at Sorensen Cellars, just off state Highway 20 in the Glen Cove Business Park, and pick up a bottle.
Another novel idea: Have a Library Re(a)d party.
Invite guests to bring a favorite book and read passages aloud.
Choose a theme or check out the Jefferson County Library’s special display of books about wine or set in wine country.
Novels include Crush by Alan Jacobsen, a thriller set in California’s wine country, and Dead in the Dregs by Seattle restauranteur Peter Lewis, which opens with: “They brought in the harvest early that year in Napa, and with it, Richard Wilson’s body.”
Among the DVDs available is John Cleese’s “Wine for the Confused.”
Or check out “Sideways,” a twist on the vintage road-trip movie with Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church.
Pair the movie or readings with local cheese, chocolate and wine.
And when you’re making out the guest list, don’t forget the library mantra: Ask a librarian.
Sorensen Cellars and Tasting Room is open from noon to 5 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays this month.
In December, the winery will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 14, 17 and 21. Sorensen Cellars is located at 274 Otto St.
Turn off Highway 20 onto Seton, then left on Otto Street and left at the Sorensen sign.
For more information, visit www.sorensencellars.com.
Farewell, Moma Red
Speaking of mysteries, the production of “Postmortem” at Port Townsend High School has three more performances to run.
The witty whodunit, set in a country house in the 1920s, revolves around a death of an actress.
It was also the swan song for Moma Red.
Moma Red is the nickname of Angela Agnew, a hair and makeup artist who was an integral part of the school’s theater productions for eight years.
According to director Jennifer Nielsen, it was the students who gave Agnew the nickname.
“She has red hair and was everyone’s backstage mom,” Nielsen said.
Nielsen’s collaboration with Agnew started when Agnew’s daughter, Samantha Brasier, was a student at PTHS.
Brasier was involved in backstage work for “Grease,” Nielsen’s first production at the school, and piped up, “My mother is a makeup artist and could help.”
Over the years, their creative partnership blossomed, Nielsen said, and Agnew became part of “The A Team” along with Steve Arbuckle, lighting designer and technical director, and Jim Guthrie, set construction supervisor.
Agnew was also taught stage makeup for the theater tech class at PTHS and helped paint sets, find props and assisted Nielsen with the challenging job of costuming high school students for the school’s production of “Chicago.”
“She has such a good eye for who would look good in what,” Nielsen said.
“She knew how to choose costumes that looked sexy without going over the line.”
“Postmortem” is brought to life by a sparkling cast of ensemble players who deliver their lines with verve and nail the timing on the action, causing audience members to jump.
A cross between a Noel Coward comedy and an Agatha Christie mystery, the play, written by Ken Ludwig, has connections to Sherlock Holmes: The main character is William Gillette, a real-life New York actor and playwright who worked with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to bring his creation to the Broadway stage in the 1920s.
Although the plot is fictional, the play is set at a country house, the Gillette Castle, in southern Connecticut.
Esther Manning made the ’20s costumes for the actresses, Nielsen said, including the stunning gowns they don with furs to go to a cocktail party.
Agnew taught the actresses how to do their makeup and hairdos for the show and stayed through opening weekend, then was off to San Diego, where she had previously worked in productions at the Sledgehammer, the Moonlight Amphitheater and other venues.
Agnew’s creative talent is not the only reason she’ll be missed, Nielsen said.
“More than anything else, she was a mentor for the kids backstage,” Nielsen said.
“So many of them have gone on to work in theater or into theater at college, like Kellyn Traenkenschuh, who does hair, makeup and costuming at the University of Washington.”
The final performances of “Postmortem” are Thursday, Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 for ages 55 and older (a steal) and for students, $3 for children and students with ASB cards, and $10 for general adult. Not appropriate for ages 6 and younger.
Port Townsend High School is located uptown at 1500 Van Ness St. For more information, phone 360-379-4520.
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Jennifer Jackson writes about Port Townsend and Jefferson County every Wednesday. To contact her with items for this column, phone 360-379-5688 or email jjackson@olypen.com.
