VIENNA — For the 37th consecutive year, the Vienna Historical Society will present humorous plays which vividly portray the foibles and eccentricities of small town life. The performances will take place in Vienna Union Hall at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, July 25 and 26, and at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, July 27.
As in past years, the audience will be warmed up by the charming and delightful Brent Smith of Farmington, leading everyone in old-time songs, with Ellie Andrews of Fayette accompanying on piano.
“Burtie’s Pen Pal,” takes place on a Vienna farm during the 1920s, when Burtie Bumpwood, a long-time “old bach,” is about to meet his elderly pen pal from Boston for the first time. He has lined up a group of his lady friends to do some of his household tasks and welcome Miss Blossom, who he is sure will be anxious to join in with the canning, haying and other farm chores. Becky Blossom is not what Burtie and the others expected, and frustration and hilarity abound. The players are Dan Huettner, Matthew Dunn, Kitty Gee, Annette Smith, Judy Dunn and Eileen Lord.
The second play of the evening, “Prudy’s Piazza,” surrounds the misdeeds of a local visitor, Professor Felix Fiddledee, a dishonest cad, who is set to appear in a local play production. The Professor seems to be held in high regard by some members of the community, but other are suspicious and consider him to be shifty. His true nature is exposed in the end, and many hilarious things come of his treachery. The players are Pam Bean, Allan Harville, Steve Mallen, Jim Wright, Beverly Smith, Judy Dunn, Ellie Andrews, Carole O’Connell, Annette Smith, Kitty Gee, Clyde Dyar, Matthew Dunn and Megan Goucher.
Both plays are written by Beverly Wight Smith and directed by Carole O’Connell, and are filled with the usual oddball, eccentric and just plain good folk that regularly populate Smith’s plays, along with their assorted escapades, antics, shenanigans and affairs of the heart.
Admission is $6 and refreshments will be provided by Mill Stream Grange.
Megan Goucher, Annette Smith and Jim Wright laugh it up during rehearsal of “Prudy’s Piazza.” for the Vienna Historical Society annual plays. Courtesy photo
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