The Pearl Carpel Society

An Extraordinary Gift

Back in October 2019 we lost our most devoted volunteer usher, Pearl Carpel, at the age of 94. Pearl was a fixture at InterAct’s opening nights for two decades at The Adrienne, greeting patrons and artists with her unparalleled enthusiasm and delightfully mischievous grin. A tiny, feisty woman of tremendous spirit, she loved the theatre and volunteered for many local companies. She was also a great champion of social justice, regularly participating in marches for LGBTQ rights and other causes.

Immediately following the curtain call on opening nights, Pearl would grab me in the lobby of The Adrienne and tell me exactly what she thought of our show – most often effusively positive, occasionally unforgivably negative, never in the middle. In between opening nights Pearl would stop by our office, or I would bump into her at other cultural events or on the street in Center City, and she’d grab my hand and share some theatre gossip that she’d picked up or tell me (again) what she thought of our last show.

In 2001, InterAct honored Pearl with our only Volunteerism Award, and despite her adamant desire to avoid the spotlight, she positively beamed with pride.

One time, some 8-10 years ago Pearl stopped by the office and handed me an envelope, saying “don’t open this now.” I respected her wishes and waited until she left to see what was inside. It was a copy of her life insurance policy naming InterAct as one of her beneficiaries. Needless to say, the gesture warmed my heart. This dedicated volunteer usher of ours, who spent 40 years proudly working as a truant officer for the School District of Philadelphia, couldn’t have earned a whole lot of money, and yet she was including us in her estate. I tucked the envelope away in a drawer and forgot about it.    

Although she could have had no way of knowing it, Pearl’s gift of $101,000 arrived at an incredibly difficult moment – just as we were coming back from the pandemic shutdown – and helped get us back on our feet. Our Board and staff, past and present, were so moved by this gift, that we decided to launch a legacy giving initiative in her honor: The Pearl Carpel Society.

If you have included InterAct in your estate plan, please contact Managing Director Ann Garner to let us know, via email or by calling 215-568-8077 x 102.