Hall, Casey Honored at 3rd Annual High Tea

The 3rd Annual High Tea honored two women who have made significant contributions to the arts in Herndon, Mary Ann Hall and Lesley Casey, on March 25.

The event is sponsored by the Council for the Arts of Herndon, the Herndon Fortnightly Club and The Herndon Women’s Club as part of the Virginia Commission for the Arts’ Minds Wide Open program.

More than 80 guests came out to sip tea and champagne and enjoy an afternoon at Russia House. Both Hall and Casey have contributed to arts education, outreach and performances for and by children in the Herndon community.

Hall has been active with the Elden Street Players as a performer, producer, stage manager, and has directed ESP’s Theatre for Young Audiences for 20 years. She was a theater and elementary education major at California State University of Fullerton.

Hall has worked to increase the Theatre for Young Audience’s productions from once a year to five times a year. She has also established a program that takes some of their shows to local schools. Her goal is to let parents know that there’s more to do on Saturday mornings than watch cartoons.

The quote, "Theater is the stories people tell each other about who we are and how we got here,” by fellow thespian, Leta Hall, sums up how Mary Ann feels about children's theater.

Casey has been promoting art her entire career, helping her students and school community make a connection to art. She was an art teacher for more than 25 years at Fairfax County Schools, including Herndon High School.

Casey established the Herndon Festival Hands-On Art Program in 1990 and has worked with many groups in the region to provide public art and murals in downtown Herndon and at the Herndon Fire Station.

She has worked with Scholastic Magazine, the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian Institution to expose her students to the arts, and has helped many students to pursue and obtain arts scholarships and grants.

During the tea, Ann Rust, commissioner of the Virginia Commission for the Arts, talked about the Minds Wide Open program, stressing the need for public support for funding for the arts to Virginia’s state legislators. Rust has served as chairman of the board of directors of the Arts Council of Fairfax and was honored at last year’s High Tea. 

• Information from Grace Han Wolf/Council for the Arts of Herndon.