ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, July 1, 1996 TAG: 9607010027
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ABINGDON
"The Moving of Lilla Barton," a comedy mixing Southern characters and practically all the religions found in Dixie, will open at Barter Theatre Wednesday and run through Sept. 1.
The title character is played by Carole Monferdini, remembered by Barter audiences from last season as the wise-cracking Florence, the in-the-know housekeeper to Dr. Jekyll, in "Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde."
She uses her talent for one-liners in this play, too, as a well-bred lady suffering from the loss of a husband and determined not to move out of the All Saints Episcopal Church rectory to make way for his successor. Before her moving is decided, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics and Baptists have also gotten into the act leading to some good-spirited debate about religious and personal issues.
John MacNicholas wrote the script for this equal-opportunity romp through religious diversity, and another playwright - Frank Lowe, who wrote this season's earlier "The Tie That Binds" - is in the cast as a respected member of Lilla's close-knit community. Lowe had appeared on the "All My Children" and "Another World" TV series as well as many roles over the years at Barter.
Other cast members include Dennis Creaghan, who also appeared in the 1994 Barter production of MacNicholas' "Deja Vu," and Anderson Matthews, the beleaguered professor of Barter's 1994 staging of "Oleanna" and now appearing on video being beaten up by James Woods in the movie, "The Hard Way."
LENGTH: Short : 34 linesby CNB