Binnie (Ritchie) Holum
Binnie Ritchie Holum, born Anne Starr Ritchie, died peacefully at her parents home near Saranac Lake on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014.
She had been treated for brain cancer at Johns Hopkins and had been in the skillful care of High Peaks Hospice since early July.
She performed for many seasons with Pendragon Theatre Company in such productions as “Arsenic and Old Lace,” “Angels in America,” “Bus Stop,” and “The Gin Game.”
She attended the Church of the Ascension, Saranac Inn, where her husband, Bob, serves as summer minister.
Binnie was a graduate of Bradford College and the University of Delaware before earning her Master’s Degree in Dance Education at Temple University.
She pioneered in the field of liturgical dance and performed as a principal dancer with John Gamble Dance Company and South Street Dance Company, Philadelphia as well as Naked Feet Dance Company and Kimberly Mackin Dancers, Baltimore, choreographing as well as dancing. She co-founded B’more Dance Co. and a movement theater company, Splitting Image where three of her original plays, “Closets, “Lucy Juice and Other Family Recipes” and “Legends” were produced with her co-founder, Harvey Doster.
With Maravine Loeschke and Linda Chambers, Binnie co-founded the Baltimore Women’s Theatre Project.
Her creative and innovative work combined with her craft as an actor in such traditional pieces as “Whose Life is it Anyway,” “Shirley Valentine” and “Wit” led Baltimore theatre critic Judy Russuk to call Binnie “a force in Baltimore Theatre.”
She taught Movement for Actors at the Walnut Street Theatre and directed the dance program at St. Timothy’s School, choreographing numerous student productions, and performed and traveled extensively for Young Audiences of Maryland auditioning and evaluating new shows.
Binnie is missed by her husband Bob, by her daughter Solveig, son-in-law Trey, granddaughter Coralie, her parents Charles and Mary Anne Ritchie, her brother Michael, her sister Dorothy, and a host of cousins, nieces, nephews, in-laws, colleagues and friends.
Services will be held Oct. 18 in Washington, D.C., March, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland and summer 2015 at the Church of the Ascension, Saranac Inn.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions to High Peaks Hospice are welcome.
Condolences may be sent to 1011 S Street, Washington DC 20001.
Arrangements are in care of the Fortune-Keough Funeral Home in Saranac?Lake.
