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VIENNA

July 30, 2010

Town's history re-enacted on stage

Performances still available today and Saturday

BY BETH EVANS, Correspondent

VIENNA -- Visitors from days of yore will make their annual appearance on the stage of Union Hall this weekend in two vignettes presented by the Vienna Historical Society.

click image to enlarge

From left, Pat Onion, Pat Jones and Beverly Wight Smith act in Smith’s romantic comedy “Huldy’s Harlow Hill Hotel” chronicling Vienna’s days as a destination for visitors.

Photo by Beth Evans

Vienna Historical Society plays

"Huldy's Harlow Hill Hotel" and "Summer Sweets"

7 p.m. today; 2 p.m., 7 p.m. Saturday

Vienna Union Hall

admission: $5, adults; $2, children younger than 12

refreshments by Mill Stream Grange

Every summer for nearly 30 years, the humorous plays have recalled the colorful characters and long absent landmarks of this rural community, with generations of local families and neighbors participating to bring history to life.

Local historian Beverly Wight Smith -- who has written at least one play for every summer's event -- has been writing about local history for 60 years.

She said she was prompted to rewrite as plays her historical sketches in the 1950s after reading about a contest sponsored by American Agriculturist Magazine for one-act rural plays.

Her submission won -- and the rest is, well, history.

This summer, Smith recalls the heyday of Vienna -- pronounced "Vi-ennie" by the Union Hall players -- as a destination for visitors from away in a romantic comedy titled "Huldy's Harlow Hill Hotel."

Although Huldy's is fictitious, the players recollect the stage stops that brought guests for stays at such real-life Vienna attractions as the Pine Spruce Inn in the village and the Mineral Springs Hotel, where travelers could partake of restorative spring waters.

Smith plays the part of Huldy's innkeeper alongside two of her grandchildren, Levi and Lindsey Smith, and great-granddaughter Ashley Emery.

The cast also includes Jim Gajarski, Pat Onion, Pat Jones, Don Warren, Wayne Davis, Leona Carpenter, Pam Bean, Barbara Gilman, Courtney Gilman, Arnold Daggett, Trish Keef, Judy Dunn, Roger Reville and Steve Mallen.

The play is directed by Andrea Brann.

The second play -- "Summer Sweets," written and directed by Beverly Shaw -- is based on Vienna's Shakespeare Club of the 1890s.

The club, formed by a group of ladies interested in "mutual improvement," purchased a 90-acre farm on Vienna Mountain as their August retreat from their hometown, Brunswick. The wagging tongues of the small town make for a hilarious fun in this fast-paced play.

The cast of "Summer Sweets" is Libby Harville, Muffy Floyd, Kathy Stern, Megan Burnham, Dodi Thompson, Courtney Gilman, Allan Harville, Chris Crocker, Quimby Robinson and Sean Kelley.

The Vienna Union Hall, built in 1888 for the women of Vienna, provides the setting, both physical and historical, for the plays.

The two-day event begins today at 7 p.m. and concludes Saturday with shows at 2 and 7 p.m. Seating is limited.

 

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