Art After Hours | Performance: The Queen of Fenway Court: Isabella Stewart Gardner

About this event

A one-woman show written and performed by Leigh Strimbeck 

Original piano score written and performed by Jan Jurchak 

Directed by Joshua Briggs 

The Hyde is thrilled to present The Queen of Fenway: Isabella Stweart Gardner to honor the inspiration that Isabella Stewart Gardner and her collection had on Hyde Collection founders Charlotte and Louis Hyde.  

Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840-1924) was born into wealth and married a wealthy Bostonian. But unlike many of the rich of her generation, she built a legacy that stands today in Boston. Her beautiful museum can still be seen exactly as she curated it over 100 years ago. This play tells her story, but also asks the questions: What drove her to collect? Why did she continue the building only 6 weeks after her husband’s passing? Why did she “freeze” the collection?  

Come and meet the inimitable, estimable “Mrs. Jack”: Isabella Stewart Gardner. 

“Just as a visit to the museum titillates and seduces the visitor with romantic corridors and hidden treasures, so does Leigh Strimbeck’s spectacular performance as Isabella Stewart Gardner. We are her confidantes as she tells the story of her life from a 20 year-old newlywed in 1860’s Boston to the widowed hostess at the opening of her beloved museum in 1903. 

What a story it is and what a terrific storyteller to boot!”  - Shelley A. Sackett Living Out Loud