Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 13, 1990 TAG: 9007140402
SECTION: SMITH MOUNTAIN TIMES PAGE: SMT-2 EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN
SOURCE: By JEFF DeBELL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"The only thing we don't encourage is throwing food," said Janice Scudder, author of the current tongue-in-cheek hamfest, which is called "Framed in Franklin County."
"The maintenance people might frown on that," she said.
Boos and hisses and lusty cheers are perfectly acceptable, however, and the audience even decides the fate of the villains.
The actors are ready with alternative endings, but rarely do they get to dust off the one in which the scoundrels go free.
In Scudder's play, movie directors named Blacky Baylor and Lionel Lushmore make rival films in Franklin County as part of their competition for the top job at Mellow Golden Mare Studios.
Their machinations are abetted by the likes of Squeaky Slither, who is described in the program as "slimy assistant to Baylor." Hapless locals like councilman/sheriff Goodie Virgil tend to be drawn into the intrigue.
The predominantly local audiences quickly pick up on the similarity between the characters' names and those of such real-life Franklin Countians as race promoter Whitey Taylor and politician Virgil Goode. Local jokes are the work of Rex Stephenson and Jody Brown, who are the theater's director and executive producer, respectively.
"I write the play and the plot and leave some holes for them to fill," said Scudder, who lives in Floyd County and teaches at Wytheville Community College. "I don't think you could ever sell this to another state. It's a play just for us."
"Framed in Franklin County" shares the stage in Sale Theatre with three other plays this summer. Two are history plays by Stephenson, and the third is an updated version of Arthur Wing Pinero's romantic comedy "The Enchanted Cottage."
This year, for the first time, the theater has added three Wednesday evening "Cabaret Cook Outs" to the schedule. They combine entertainment with picnic-style food. The final one is to be held July 25.
The summer theater's program is family oriented and intended for the most part to be instructive and to leave audiences with something to think about. The exceptions are the melodramas.
With those, Stephenson said, "There's no message. You just sort of sit back and it's a wistful moment at the theater."
In fact, Scudder said, "You have to totally suspend your disbelief. There are a lot of things that are totally unbelievable. Every character is stereotypical and everything is black and white. There is very little gray."
"Framed in Franklin County" is Scudder's second melodrama for Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre. She made her debut last season with "The Chicken Count of Rocky Mount." Her next project hasn't been decided, though she is toying with the idea of something about pirates on Smith Mountain Lake.
In addition to having written "Framed in Franklin County," Scudder composed the lyrics and melody lines for the show's 10 songs. She also plays the part of Gloria DelRio, whom the program describes as a "gracelessly aging starlet."
Stephenson and Jody Brown also act. Stephenson plays the principal villain, Blacky Baylor, and Brown is Mary Loyal, devoted assistant to excitable film director Lionel Lushmore.
They share the stage with a predominantly student-age company of actors from Ferrum, Richmond, Roanoke and other points. Chris Myers, a 1990 Hollins College graduate with honors in theater arts, is the heroine in "Framed in Franklin County." Joey Stanley, an audience favorite who plays Lushmore, was in Roanoke's Magnet School for the Arts and currently attends Ferrum.
Brown said the Ferrum program is "fairly unique" among Virginia educational institutions in that "we introduce students to what's involved in putting together working theater. We have to pay our bills from earnings."
Members of the company are expected to help with technical work and other backstage duties in addition to performing.
Unlike school-year plays, which are underwritten by the college, the summer productions are expected to bear much of their own weight financially. The school provides the theater, a dormitory and other mostly in-kind support. There is a grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts, and limited support from Franklin County businesses. The rest must be made up from ticket income.
Summer theater at Ferrum goes back to 1978. A professor was looking for ways to use historical material about race relations in Franklin County. He consulted Stephenson, who teaches educational theater at Ferrum, and the result was Stephenson's play "Too Free for Me."
The theater continued to do original plays on history and public issues for four summers, supported almost entirely by grants from the Virginia Center for the Humanities.
When the grants stopped, the theater started charging admission for the first time. To broaden the appeal, comedy and other family oriented material were added to the program and audiences were offered the option of meals before performances.
The meals have been a success. They are served in Franklin Hall, having twice outgrown other facilities on campus. Franklin is a short walk from the theater.
Both buildings are on a hillside overlooking a large, well-tended pond and other parts of the campus some nine miles west of Rocky Mount on Virginia 40. Well-fed playgoers can stroll among the trees and brick buildings, perhaps pausing to study the striking architecture and stained-glass windows of Vaughn Chapel, before settling down for the play. As a summer evening's entertainment, it makes for an agreeable package.
The dining room in Franklin Hall can accommodate 140. There are flowers on the tables, which are covered with white linen.
The meals are prepared by the college food service and served buffet style. Before last Saturday night's performance of "Framed in Franklin County," the tasty choices included cornish hens (with dressing), roast beef, roasted potatoes and other vegetables, plus a cheesecake dessert and non-alcoholic beverages.
Matinees also are preceded by a meal.
Beverages and desserts are served at the tables by the same people who later perform in the plays. Stephenson said many playgoers form attachments over the season and request to be served by specific actors.
"For us, the performance starts at dinner," Jody Brown said. "The relationship that we form with members of the audience at dinner helps determine whether they come back, and that helps determine whether the theater continues."
Besides acting with the dinner theater and being its executive producer, Brown is chairman of Ferrum's fine arts department. Stephenson is a member of the department.
Stephenson has long been the mainstay of theater at Ferrum. He has taught there for 16 years. He has directed an estimated 130 plays - mostly at Ferrum, but also in other states and in England.
He is creator and director of the Jack Tale Players, a folklore-based performing group. He is the author of two plays aimed at helping high school students understand Shakespeare, as well as a number of plays for Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre. One of them, "Charity for All," recently won honorable mention in the National Archives' national playwriting competition.
"I don't think of myself as a playwright," said Stephenson, 46. "I think of myself as a director who knows how to tell a story. I always say the play is already in my head. All I have to do is get the words down on paper."
Stephenson's newest play is "The Conspiracy." Typically, the play is taken from history, in this case the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
"I think it's easier to see the present by looking at some of the things out of the past," Stephenson said, giving his play about Confederate spy Belle Boyd as an example.
"When she was asked why she did what she did," Stephenson said, "she gave the same reasons Oliver North did."
"Framed in Franklin County" will be presented in an evening performance Saturday. July 14. "The Conspiracy" will be previewed Tuesday July 17 (no dinner served). It opens Wednesday July 18 (matinee) and will be performed July 21, 25 (matinee) and 27 (matinee and evening). "The Enchanted Cottage" will receive a final matinee performance on July 20.
Tickets are $12 (meal included) for evening performances and $10 for matinees. Tickets for performances only are $6 for evening shows and $5 for matinees. Preview tickets are $2.50. Children's tickets are discounted $5 for play and meal, $3 for play only. Credit cards are accepted. For reservations, schedules and other information, call the box office between 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The numbers are (703) 365-4337 and 365-4335.
by CNB