The idea is to divide events up more logically than the old Calendar used to do. We used to apportion listings out simply by date, which was logical in the sense that you could learn what was going on today in a one-stop shop, but wasn’t as logical if you were looking for something specific, say, what might be going on today or this Friday or two weeks from now in the local entertainment scene or at your local library.

The new format offers detailed listings under the categories of Entertainment, Meetings, Seminars, Book Signings, Events, Etc., Valley League Baseball, for the summer, The weekly road-work update from VDOT, Local Libraries, Museums, and Local Colleges and Universities.

We’re open to suggestions as to how to improve upon this improvement. E-mail me at freepress2@ntelos.net with your ideas.

E-mail us as well if you have listings to share.

- Item by Chris Graham

Scheduled for release Aug. 18, the eight-song collection was written and recorded by Moore as winter turned to spring at his home in the Shenandoah Valley. Folk Singer features Moore unaccompanied on vocals, acoustic guitar and harmonica.

“Every song I’ve ever written started with just me and my guitar. It’s the point of origin and, in that sense, the purest form of my songs. My reality is, these days, I’m mostly touring alone and it’s great to have an album that represents this side of me,” says Moore, who when not performing as a solo artist can be found fronting the fully electric rock band Surprise Me Mr. Davis.

Opening with gentle fingerpicked “Tombstone,” Moore’s switched-on spirit shines bright as he gracefully sings his own epitaph. The winsome “Travelin’ On” proves an instant addition to the canon of classic road songs, extolling the virtues of a life spent in motion. “Everybody Dreams,” a minor key lament, was inspired by “a reaction to the tendency to hope something big is gonna swoop down and save us, like the lottery, when would it be simpler to just be satisfied.” And just when the existential weight grows too heavy, Moore spins a magically endearing love song like “I Can Make You Smile.”

On “Folk Singer,” Moore writes songs about everyday people, himself included, trying to find their way through life. His empathy and honesty proving, unmistakably, the value of folk songs in modern times. As he sings on the album’s gritty centerpiece, “Hard Times”: “Hard times ain’t just some old folk song, well no, hard times, they’re still going on.” And with one simple lyric, he goes straight to the heart of the timeless tradition that runs from Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan to Sam Beam to Conor Oberst. As long as there’s trouble in the world, the world needs folk singers, like Nathan Moore, to sing folks through it.

For more information on Nathan Moore and/or promo, interview, photo and guest list requests, please contact Kevin Calabro at The Royal Potato Family: 718-369-6567 or CalabroMusic@aol.com.

***

Moore was a feature subject of an article in the May 2009 edition of The New Dominion Magazine.

Based on the theme “Bach and Handel,” the June 14-21 festival included a rare performance of Samson and an unusual approach to Handel’s Messiah. The festival also featured Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G Major, many of his shorter works and a performance of his Cantata BWV 146 (”We Must Go through Much Tribulation”) as part of the Leipzig Worship Service on Sunday morning.

The Leipzig service also included a homily by the Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt of New York, who reflected on her experiences as a chaplain after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

As featured artists for the week, soloists Kenneth Gayle, Jennifer Ellis Kampani, Heidi Kurtz and David Newman sang in the opening Messiah concert, the three-hour Samson oratorio and the Sunday morning cantata.

Gayle, a tenor who has been performing at the festival for the past decade, said that artistic director and conductor Kenneth Nafziger “always does a lot of interesting programming.” The Houston-based singer particularly appreciated the chance to perform Samson – “It’s so rarely done” – and to hear Messiah performed with some of the orchestrations that Mozart composed for it.

The Messiah concert, he said, was “a fun hop, skip, and a jump” through the piece. “What I enjoyed [most] was when we would [perform] the Handel orchestration and segue into the Mozart orchestration. You could hear the whole history.”

Gayle’s fellow soloists praised the quality of the festival. Newman, a bass from Luray, Va., described Nafziger as “fabulous” to work with.

“We have complete artistic freedom,” said Kampani, a soprano from Washington, D.C.

Yet when asked about the defining characteristics of the festival, Newman didn’t talk about music. Instead, he commented on footwear.

The event has “a high flip-flop quotient,” he said.

“Casual shoes,” Kampani explained, as Newman pointed to his feet.

The event is “very summery” and “very relaxing,” Kampani observed. “It’s a great group of people – very friendly.”

“It’s a nice way to work,” said Kurtz, a mezzo-soprano from Philadelphia who is a 1989 EMU graduate. “For me, it always feels like coming home.”

Though not listed as a featured performer, Marvin Mills was probably the busiest musician during the week. The Baltimore keyboardist played harpsichord for the orchestral performances, served as assistant choral director, was an accompanist at several of the noon concerts and played organ and piano during the Leipzig service. He also composed preludes or versets for several of the Sunday hymns.

“Marvin probably comes as close to being the Bach of this congregation as anyone,” Nafziger observed at the beginning of the service.

Along with three ticketed concerts, this year’s festival included six free noon concerts held at Asbury United Methodist Church in downtown Harrisonburg.

The Monday noon concert featured a performance of “Air and Simple Gifts” by John Williams, composed for the inauguration of President Barack Obama. The concert also included “Night Songs for Violin and Piano,” a 2009 composition by Janet Peachey. The piece was written for violinist Mark Hartman, a Harrisonburg native who is now an assistant professor at Shippensburg (Pa.) University.

In a week filled with music, perhaps the most moving moments came via the spoken word, in McNatt’s homily on hope in the midst of death.

Amid the horror of Ground Zero, there was life, she said. People loaded food and supplies in their cars and drove into the city. Others cheered the recovery workers.

In today’s world “of terror and wonder,” McNatt said, “God is our constant companion.” God welcomes our questions, doubts and fears and “still upholds [us].”

Also at the festival, 16 people took part in a new five-day workshop on performing Baroque music. Lynne Mackey was director of the first-ever Virginia Baroque Performance Academy, which featured classes taught by acclaimed harpsichordist Arthur Haas and viola da gambist/cellist Martha McGaughey.

Thirty-six people participated in an Elderhostel held in conjunction with the festival. The participants, aged 55 and older, attended rehearsals and concerts, heard lectures and met festival musicians.

According to Mary Kay Adams, executive director of the Bach festival, attendance at the Elderhostel greatly exceeded expectations. “We’re very pleased,” she said.

Next year’s festival will be held June 13-20, 2010.

- Story by Dave Graybill

James Leva and Purgatory Mountain combine deep roots in traditional Appalachian music with inspired original material and captivating grooves from several continents. The band’s songs, instrumental virtuosity and vocal harmonies are accompanied by traditional percussive dance, hambone and fiddlesticks.

Al Tharp, on banjo and bass, and James (fiddle, guitar) have played together since the 1970s with bands such as Plank Road, the Free Will Savages, Ace Weems and the Fat Meat Boys.  Al is a 15-year veteran of the Cajun band Beausoleil, with whom he won several Grammies and played at the SuperBowl.  Danny Knicely, a phenomenal young mandolin/guitar player, has toured with Tony Rice, Vassar Clements, Mark Schatz (of Nickel Creek) and was a founding member, along with Larry Keel and Will Lee, of Magraw Gap.

Dancer/percussionist, Matthew Olwell, is a remarkable young dancer. His dancing adds an exciting visual component to the concert, drawing from Appalachian, Celtic and African traditions. Matty performed for 15 years with Footworks,and has performed with Tim O’Brien’s “The Crossing” and in the London production of River Dance.

James Leva has played festivals all over North America and Europe, including Merle Fest, Telluride, Rocky Grass, Strawberry, Rhythm & Roots, Philadelphia Folk Festival, The Carter Fold, the Birchmere, as well as radio shows like Mountain Stage. He has recorded and/or performed with John Doyle, Tim O’Brien, David Greely and Sam Broussard (Mamou Playboys), David Grier, Cheick Hamal Diabate, Mike Seeger, Mark Schatz and many others. His recordings of all original material with Carol Elizabeth Jones, on the Rounder label, won wide critical praise, including rave reviews in the Washington Post (”Timeless, poetic and affecting songs…”) and Boston Herald.

Tim O’Brien says of James’ songwriting:  “James knows and respects the deep roots of country music.  His original songs reflect and magnify those sounds, offering the listener an essential modern perspective.” 

The band performed at last year’s Paris Blues Festival in France, has played at Merle Fest and these musicians have performed at most major festivals throughout North America and Europe. Purgatory Mountain’s performance on the PBS TV series “Song of the Mountains” will be broadcast nationally this summer

Peter Neofotis’s Concord, Virginia, combines the tradition of oral storytelling with an evening of short stories. The play tells of individuals living in a small town in Virginia, tracing their history from the end of the nineteenth century to the 1970s, when modernity begins to encroach on their way of life.

Neofotis’s literary career began at Columbia University where he had a double major in creative writing and environmental biology. While in college he wrote what he calls a “thinly veiled memoir,” of which his professor cruelly remarked, ” ‘You may think your life is interesting, but no one else does.’ ”

After this disappointment he abandoned writing altogether. But the death of someone close to him, a former high school teacher, spurred him to write a short story called “The Abandoned Church,” which he set in a fictional Virginia town. Over the next few years he used his knowledge of his Lexington hometown to create a fictional world with a host of characters including “murderers, equestrians, army veterans, European refugees, slanderers, fools, sages, patricides, and the occasional law-abiding citizen.”

Neofotis originally tried to publish his volume of short stories by submitting them to literary agents. He was repeatedly rejected. Finally, through the advice of a friend, he submitted his stories to the Cornelia Street Café in March 2006, where they were accepted into an evening called “Over the Transom,” in which unpublished writers have the chance to read their works. Neofotis memorized his story for maximum dramatic impact. The result was more a performance than a reading. The curator at the Cornelia Street Café was so impressed with his work that he asked him to come back for more shows.

The cast of characters in Concord, Virginia, is pulled straight from Neofotis’s background growing up in Lexington, and the stories span a wide variety of subject matter. He uses real life details to root the stories in reality, but also admits that part of the fun of stories is that they take place in an “alternate universe.

Though Neofotis never planned on being an actor, several years ago his ability to tap into his emotions earned him a small part with one speaking line in the 2003 film “Gods and Generals,” with Jeff Daniels and Robert Duvall. “They were doing tryouts for a movie, and my friend said we should tryout. So I did my audition and I cried on cue, and I got the part,” Neofotis recalls. “They paid me a substantial amount of money to do it… and I got to die on Jeff Daniels.”

He also uses his scientific background to root the stories in nature. By day he works as a research associate at the NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies in Washington D.C., where he studies climate change. In 2007 he was a contributing author to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which recently won the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Al Gore. “I really think the science has been helpful because it gives me an outside perspective,” he says. “There’s a part in (his story) ‘The Ghost’ where there’s a walk through the forest and I don’t know if I would’ve been able to write that had I not had that background.”

Neofotis’ stories, which are being released this summer under the title Concord, Virginia, earned him the Pirate’s Alley William Faulkner gold medal, awarded by a literary association founded in honor of William Faulkner that helps young writers connect with publishers and agents. The book will be on sale at Theater at Lime Kiln on the night of the performance and at The Bookery at 107 West Nelson Street.

The gates open at 6:30 p.m., and performances commence at 7:30 p.m. For more information about the season and ticket pricing, go to www.theateratlimekiln.com. For tickets call the Lime Kiln office at 540.463.7088.

After many, many requests to bring a barbershop quartet to the “Radio Hour,” the sponsor Wayne Theatre Alliance has engaged a local favorite for the June performances. The Dreamland Quartet, composed of Terry Terreson, Donald Dollins, Art Grahame and Tom Pearce, is an area favorite. The Quartet is a registered member of the Society for the Preservation of Barbershop Quartets. Its repertoire is the traditional barbershop favorites that are sure to please “Radio Hour” audiences.

Irv Beadles, a self-proclaimed “King of the Groaners,” will provide the evening’s comedy. A local jokester, Beadles is noted for his off-the-wall humor. This will be his first time on the “Radio Hour.”

The Summer Serial, Nighthawk and Murder under the Big Top, will begin its run at the June Radio Hour. Bob Crawford’s Nighthawk and Murder at the Lake was an audience favorite last season. In his newest serial, Chester, aka The Nighthawk, investigates the “accident” in the center ring of the touring circus. The serial mystery is in three chapters and will play through August.

The featured merchant of the month is Jennifer Ledford, owner of Kids & Sew On, a local custom embroidery and garment printing shop.

The June 19th performances will take place at the Blue Ridge Christian Fellowship building at 329 W. Main St. in Downtown Waynesboro. The Radio Hour is presented at 6:30 pm and 8 pm. Admission is “Pay What You Will, But Pay.”

The “River City Radio Hour” is a production of the Waynesboro Cultural Commission, Waynesboro Downtown Development, Inc. and The Wayne Theatre Alliance with special support from the Virginia Commission for the Arts.

Action director Tony Scott helms the Express, with Denzel Washington and John Travolta aboard as goodguy and badguy, while sure-handed Joseph Sargent handled the throttle on the older, slower Local, featuring breezy Walter Matthau and no-nonsense Robert Shaw.

They tell essentially the same story. Four heavily-armed crooks hijack a busy subway train, hold the passengers hostage and demand a bundle o’ money delivered within one hour; otherwise they threaten to start shooting. The gimmick that drives the plot is: once they’ve got the money, how on earth do the crooks escape? There they are in a hole in the ground with cops waiting at either end of the tunnel. Both directors take liberties with the exciting John Godey novel and both provide sufficient fireworks.

Even chopped up and stuffed with countless commercials for overpriced new cars and cures for erectile dysfunction, Pelham 1974 is more believable because the tension is allowed to develop naturally. No need for a jiggly camera and blaring music. The only thing they had back in those days that we don’t anymore is patience. Hollywood unfortunately assumes that EVERYone has the attention span of a teenager.

Denzel is his usual self. The guy has stage presence up the wazoo, and his portrayal as a decent fellow who has to face his own shortcomings is well done. Until, of course, the film turns into a chase-and-confrontation between him and Travolta, and loses the disbelief we’ve been suspending for two solid hours.

Travolta has more fun than anyone else in either movie. He’s over-the-top, loud, swaggering, and gets a big kick out of shooting people point-blank. His head henchman is played by the marvelous character actor Luis Guzman. Too bad there wasn’t room in the script to expand this character or their relationship.

The Aides De Crook in Pelham 1974, Martin Balsam and Hector Elizondo, were better used. Well, it was a film era when there were simply more and better character actors in general. Back then, it was okay to be a rather amiable villain, out simply to get rich. Nowadays you gotta have a gunny sack full of neurosi.

While hurtling along beneath the streets of Manhattan, you’re bound to learn more about being a subway motorman than you’ll ever need to know, and this film’s McGuffin is the Dead Man’s Feature whereby a train cannot move unless a living person is pushing down on it. Supposedly, that is. But in movies, at least, everything can be overcome, and we find there’s more than one way to escape from a mousetrap.

Pelham 2009 acquaints us with that old urban legend, the abandoned subway stop, the one that may (or may not) exist beneath the Waldorf, built specifically for FDR back in the 1940s. After the ransom question is dealt with, the film becomes completely an action thriller and is thenceforth believable only to the extent of your own gullibility.

The 1974 model trumps 2009 on the ending alone. It’s absolutely perfect, and has been artfully assembled throughout the film right under your nose, so to speak. Back in those days, Walter Matthau was at his charming best, a young curmudgeon trudging through life, expecting and getting the worst from people. I simply have to recommend this film; it’s available on DVD or via Netflix. The newer version is still playing everywhere, and although it’s flawed, it’s still a pleasant enough diversion. Hey, it’s summertime. Whaddaya expect?

- Column by Carl Larsen

To some, the “digital transition” may have seemed daunting, like the world beyond college. But the reality is that the majority of people are already in great shape for this transition whether they know it or not. If you still have a TV that is square with an antenna (rabbit ears or on your roof), and you do not have a new “converter box,” on top of your TV, then you need to go to a store to ask what to do. The rest of you, who have rectangular TVs and/or set-top boxes or service from a cable, satellite or telco provider need not worry. For the most part, it’s that simple because your service providers have been slowly transitioning you from analog to digital for awhile now.

Because of that slow transition, many people, like students that start working in their last semester of school, will not notice any difference on June 12 when they officially receive their diploma. But that does not mean we should take the graduation date (and especially the event) lightly. Because this switch-over is an amazing feat – a government-industry, private-public partnership that represents one of the greatest accomplishments in modern times and opens the door for new experiences and applications that we can only begin to imagine.

The digital transition represents a shift toward all consumers – not just the technically and financially elite – expecting more choice and better quality from their TVs.

First, and most obviously, the shift to digital transmission allows broadcasters to deliver more channels in the same amount of space. When the analog spectrum is freed up, they will be able to deliver several new channels (standard quality or high definition) of digital programming in the same space that was required for one analog channel. But the subtle repercussions of this changeover may be even more profound.

Let’s bring our metaphor and reality together in one example – Bill, a student graduating from college. Bill was happy to have only his computer, no TV, when he was in college. But he doesn’t want his computer to be his home entertainment center in his new apartment. Bill certainly is not going to want to buy some old TV that can’t receive a digital signal without a converter. In fact, the one thing that is really going to make him want to switch from PC to TV is the dramatic difference between a regular TV signal and a HD signal. So, Bill will buy an HDTV regardless of where he plans to get his entertainment. Bill is not alone – last year, Frank N. Magid Associates found that the pending digital transition was causing an increasing number of young people (21-34 years-old) to buy HDTV sets – even if they had no short-term plan to purchase HD service. The same researchers found that of those who bought a HDTV in 2008, 41 percent hadn’t signed up for a subscription HD service. These people are buying with a plan for the future, knowing that the choices they have in terms of what to watch on that HDTV are expanding all the time.

Cable, satellite, and telco service choices are getting better. The free choices are growing simultaneously. Bill may be most pleased with the expansive choices through his service provider, including HD sports, while his girlfriend may choose to watch “30 Rock” for free on her PC while eating dinner, but then settle in for a night of high-def video games or “The Dark Knight” on Blu-ray HD on the big LCD screen.

And, in fact, recent Blu-ray sales data bears this out. In the first quarter of 2009, stand-alone Blu-ray player sales saw an increase of 72 percent over the first quarter of 2008. And, analysts predict that Blu-ray disc sales will double this year over last year. Even hardened Time film critic Richard Corliss said this year of Blu-ray that “it’s as though you had never seen a movie before.” This experience is only made possible because of the digital transition – the shift to HD.

There are also an increasing number of TVs that connect directly to the Internet to receive streaming content, and set-top boxes and game platforms that make the TV again a central focus in the home – this time in High Definition – bringing people together to be entertained. The combination of high quality entertainment and high speed networks will change our society in a dramatic fashion, and the digital transition, June 12, 2009 will be the date that the historians mark in history as the time that we left the old world behind.

So, on June 12, please join me in congratulating Bill on his graduation, and all of us on ours , and raise a glass to the digital transition for, at last, coming to pass and for opening up a world of high definition possibilities we only glimpse today.

David Wertheimer is the CEO & Executive Director of the Entertainment Technology Center at USC. The ETC@USC looks at how entertainment technology creates new opportunities for consumers and brings companies together to enable change. Among other things, ETC@USC operates the Anytime/Anywhere Content Lab, and the Consumer 3D Experience Lab – looking at how 3D will migrate into the home..

In addition to the Hackensaw Boys, three other well-known and well-liked local bands will perform – High Ground, Loose Gravel and Blue Mountain Sunrise. Washington, D.C., promoter Bob Thompson says this about High Ground: “The boys from the Shenandoah Valley tore the place up with their hard driving instrumentals, wonderful vocal harmonies and great sense of humor to boot . If you haven’t seen them perform - shame on you -get out more!”

Loose Gravel’s five local members share a mutual fondness for the more contemporary sounds of bluegrass, and a willingness to experiment with the progressive sounds of artists like David Grisman. The band appears in many local venues and can be heard at Staunton’s Farmers’ Market and Humpback Rock’s musical events.

Blue Mountain Sunrise has been performing in the Shenandoah Valley since 1979. They play traditional and gospel bluegrass and have played wedding receptions, festivals, homecomings, corporate parties, civic groups and many church programs.

Those attending are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets and reminded that no coolers or pets are allowed. A variety of food and drinks will be available during the festival. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the gate. Children 5 and under are free, and 6-12 years are $8.

Tickets can be purchased with cash or check at these Waynesboro locations: Music City, Stone Soup Books and Café, Waynesboro Florist, Waynesboro Garden Center and Wright’s Hallmark; in Staunton at Fretwell Bass and Jammerz Music, and in other locations: Draft Feed and Supply in Stuarts Draft, AM Fog in Afton, Greenwood Market in Crozet and Heinz Music in Charlottesville. Credit card purchases can be made at the Wayne Theatre office or by calling 540.943.9999.

In addition to fine bluegrass music, a guitar raffle is being held the day of the event. A Blueridge Historic Series Guitar with Adirondack Top will be raffled off during the festival. Tickets for the raffle are just $5 each or five for $20. The guitar, which includes a hardshell case was provided by Fretwell Bass and is valued at $1,150.

Platinum sponsors for the event include 97.5 3WV, The Crozet Gazette, Avante in Waynesboro and John D. Eiland Distributing Company, Verona. All proceeds benefit the Wayne Theatre Alliance and their project to restore and reopen the Wayne Theatre, a 1926 vaudeville style theatre. For more information about the Bluegrass Festival, the guitar raffle or the Wayne Theatre, call 540.943.9999.

The festival opens Sunday, June 14, with a journey into Handel’s “Messiah.” The audience will be invited to sing choruses from the work and to hear of the work’s genesis and history in an event titled “Messiah De-constructed.” Audience members are invited to bring their “Messiah” copies.

The festival will conclude the following Sunday, at 10 a.m. June 21, with the annual Leipzig service in Lehman Auditorium, often cited by many attendees as the highlight of the week. The program recreates an 18th century worship service at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Germany, where Bach was cantor and organist, and composed and conducted a cantata for each week’s service. A free-will offering will be accepted.

Dr. Kenneth Nafziger, professor of music at EMU, is artistic director and conductor of the festival. “The festival in its 17 years of existence has become a musical treasure of the Shenandoah Valley, attracting performers and audience members from many parts of the state and from the eastern U.S.,” said Dr. Kenneth Nafziger, professor of music at EMU and artistic director and conductor of the festival. “Performers and audiences alike return for the quality of music and for the quality of performance that they experience here.”

Four vocal soloists are featured in three of the performances. Soprano Jennifer Ellis Kampani, from Washington, D.C., is making her first festival appearance. The others have sung in earlier festivals: Heidi Kurtz, mezzo-soprano, from Philadelphia, Pa.’ tenor Kenneth Gayle, from Houston, Tex.; and bass David Newman, from Luray, Va.

Instrumental soloists include violinist Joan Griffing, Harrisonburg, and flutists Mary Kay Adams and Carol Warner, both of Bridgewater, clarinetists Les Nicholas, Harrisonburg, and Lynda Dembowski, Annapolis, Md., oboists Sandra Gerster, Baltimore, Md., and Kevin Piccini, Hampton, Va., and organist Marvin Mills, Baltimore, Md. All have been soloists with the Bach Festival Orchestra in previous seasons.

There are three ticketed events: 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon, June 14 (”Messiah”), 7:30 p.m. Friday evening, June 19 (an all-orchestral concert of Bach, Handel and Vivaldi), and 7:30 p.m. Saturday evening, June 20 (a rare and unusual performance of Handel’s oratorio, “Samson.”) These concerts will be in Lehman Auditorium on the EMU campus.

Chamber music programs showcasing the extraordinary musical gifts of the festival’s instrumentalists and singers will be presented noon-1 p.m. Monday through Saturday, June 15-20, at Asbury United Methodist Church, South Main Street, Harrisonburg. Admission is free; donations are welcomed.

According to Mary Kay Adams, executive director of the festival, an Elderhostel program and the new Virginia Baroque Performance Academy are newly-added festival events this season. “Our Baroque performance workshop, taught by internationally acclaimed faculty artists, promises to offer interested participants an outstanding educational experience,” Ms. Adams said. “We’ve received requests for this type of program, as well as an Elderhostel, and we are thrilled to be able to add both.”

The Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival is sponsored in part by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the Arts Council of the Valley.

Bach Festival tickets are available on-line at www.emu.edu/bach or by calling the EMU box office at 540.432.4582.

Good Ol’ Girls

Inspired by Lee Smith’s writings, top songwriter Matraca Berg (”Strawberry Wine,” Deanna Carter’s #1 hit) approached fellow Nashville hit-maker Marshall Chapman about creating a musical in the late 1990s. Chapman knew Smith from their Nashville days in the 1970s. Smith’s friend, fellow writer and former student McCorkle, brought more great stories to the table.

They contacted Paul Ferguson, then a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. Ferguson had successfully adapted The Devil’s Dream by Smith into a musical several years before. Bluegrass picker/songwriter Joe Newberry and actress/musician/teacher Julie Oliver originally adapted and arranged the music. The Carolina Theatre of Durham toured the piece to ecstatic crowds in the early part of the decade.

More recently Cape Fear Regional Theatre produced the piece in North Carolina, and their production was filmed and aired on PBS in April of 2009.

“We chose this show because of its strong female characters and the style of production,” said Renz. “The music is great, and with the talented actresses and singers here we knew it would be a great fit.”

McCorkle describes the show as “women of all types in all different places, coming to terms with some big issues in life. The characters don’t shy from these issues - love, marriage, pregnancy, work, abuse, faith, family and aging. Like spoken and sung journal entries, Good Ol’ Girls shows that there’s more to these gals than just what’s on the surface - from God-fearing to hell-raising, hard partying to party hosting, and from bright futures to fading glories.”

“You see the range from childhood to the nursing home,” reveals McCorkle. “You can see your mother, your aunts, all the women you have known and loved. You can see yourself.”

Robert Bowen Smith directs the Lime Kiln production. Smith has an MFA in Theatre from Mary Baldwin College’s program with The American Shakespeare Center. He has most recently served on the faculty at Southern Virginia University and performed the role of Snoopy in last year’s SVU production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown at Lime Kiln.

The local cast includes three members of last year’s The Ghosts of Music City, USA, music director Mary Harvey, Elizabeth Shupe and Alexa Rose. Harvey, a popular local performer and member of the Rockbridge Planning Commission, serves on faculty as professor of piano at SVU. Shupe, associate director of career services at Washington and Lee University, also performed the role of Tessie Tura in the University of Richmond production of Gypsy. Rose starred in the title role of the recent Alleghany High School production of Cinderella.

Other members of the cast include: April Harris of Buena Vista; Ashley Thompson, who recently performed in the Rockbridge County High School Broadway Revue; Lesley Larsen Nesbit, Mary Baldwin MFA who serves on faculty in the Theatre Department at James Madison University; Anne-Marie, Lilli and Emma Altenburg of Lexington.

Harvey will be joined by guitarist Brian Blickle of Lexington, who was last seen at Lime Kiln in Ghosts last summer and who was formerly lead guitar for Baroness, and Brian Switzer, who performed with Accursed Dawn, The Knife Trade and, most recently, Peregrine.

The Bookery at 107 W. Nelson St. has several titles in stock by both Lee Smith and Jill McCorkle.

To round out the June lineup at Lime Kiln, Purgatory Mountain, featuring James Leva, performs on Saturday, June 27, and Peter Neofotis, who grew up in Lexington, performs his acclaimed one-man play, Stories from Concord, Virginia, on Sunday, June 28.

For tickets to an upcoming event, call the Lime Kiln office at 540.463.7088.