Members of Rockville Centre’s Fortnightly Club regaled Emily Van Dusen, a member of the club since 1987, and fellow residents of Maple Pointe Assisted Living with Dusen’s 2000 production, Wall to Wall Cole Porter” on April 5 — in honor of her birthday.
Van Dusen is known as a creative writer whose works are touched with great wit, humor and keen observations of human nature. Over the years she has produced original plays for Fortnightly, including “Yard Sale,” “Peaceful Manor,” “Treasures in the Attic,” “The Will” and “Bedlam and Breakfast.” Her Cole Porter production highlights one of the most prolific composers of the last century, whose famous melodies, featured in Broadway and Hollywood musicals, are ingenious and complicated.
The Fortnightly Club was founded in 1898 by Mary S. Haight of Rockville Centre as a place where ladies in her circle could become aware of what was going on in the wider world — to educate, inform and discuss issues of the times. It was agreed that she and her friends should meet every first and third week of each month, hence the word “fortnightly.” This tradition has continued to the present day, giving women a voice and a forum for learning and social interaction.
