Tickets now on sale for summer productions
Tickets are now on sale for three weeks of summer entertainment
with Wilkes Playmakers’ outdoor productions of Moonshine
& Thunder - The Junior Johnson Story (show dates are June
26, 27, 28, 30 & July 1, 2, 3) and Tom Dooley - A Wilkes County
Legend (July 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18).
Show times for both outdoor dramas are 8:30 p.m. The shows will
be presented at The Forest’s Edge Amphitheatre in Historic
Forth Hamby Park, located on South Recreation Road on U.S. 421
North in Wilkesboro. Both shows are presented through a partnership
with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
An explosive scene from
the Wilkes Playmakers’ production of Tom Dooley -
A Wilkes County Legend. Photo
submitted |
Opening on Friday, June 26, Moonshine & Thunder - The
Junior Johnson Story, now in its third season, covers the
early moonshine and racing career of NASCAR legend Junior Johnson
up to his big super speedway win in 1960 at the Daytona 500.
The story is told with a mixture of live onstage performances,
filmed performances and actual racing footage from the NASCAR
Archives, as well as Enoch Staley’s personal collection (courtesy
of his son, Mike).
The show is directed by Karen Reynolds with a musical soundtrack
by David Johnson and filmed sequences by Mule Ferguson. The show
is a multimedia event with a multitude of eye candy for theatre
goers and race fans. There’s a 1940 Ford Coupe and a 1939
Ford pickup truck, courtesy of Willie Clay Call. There’s
a bagpipe player, moonshine stills, explosions, a semi streaker,
a crazy woman with a shotgun and a fast paced story that revolves
around one of Wilkes County’s true legends, Junior Johnson
himself.
Moonshine & Thunder is sponsored in part by American
Drew/Lea Industries/La-Z-Boy Hospitality.
Opening on Sunday, July 5, is Tom Dooley - A Wilkes County Legend,
now in its ninth season. This show is directed by David Reynolds.
In 1868 Thomas C. Dula (pronounced Dooley) was hanged for the
murder of Laura Foster. He proclaimed his innocence just
seconds before he plunged to his death on the gallows. All
of the evidence was circumstantial in the case and many believe
to this day that the murderer or murderers in this lovers’
triangle walked free after his death.
The New York Herald covered the trial and hanging of “Dooley”
and the story became one of the nation’s first highly publicized
crimes of passion. In the late 1950s, The Kingston Trio’s
ballad Tom Dooley brought this story back into the media where
it received both national and international attention. People
flocked to the grave sites of Tom Dula and Laura Foster in Wilkes
and Caldwell Counties in North Carolina, but many were left with
very little information and a lot of curiosity.
Now, the lovers’ triangle of Tom, Laura and Tom’s married
mistress, Anne Melton, lives on in a staged outdoor adaptation
of the legend. The script won the 2001 Paul Green Multi Media
Award from the N.C. Society of Historians in its first season
and the President’s Award from the society in 2002. This
show is sponsored in part by American Drew/Lea Industries/La-Z-Boy
Hospitality and The Kulynych Family Foundation.
To purchase tickets for Moonshine & Thunder or Tom Dooley,
call (336) 838-7529 and leave your name and number and a representative
will get back to you, or order online at www.wilkesplaymakers.com.
Tickets may also be purchased at the gate on the evening of each
performance. The park will open to audience members at 7 p.m.
each evening for the 8:30 p.m. performances. Concessions are sold
on site. All tickets are $15 each with group rates available for
groups of 10 or more upon request.
Wilkes County is proud to offer specials to travelers visiting
the area for these two “legendary” events. Sagebrush
in Wilkesboro is offering 10 percent off on meals if a ticket
for one of the above shows is presented to them (on the date of
the show), and Fire Mountain is offering a 25 percent discount.
For overnight stays in Wilkes, Hampton Inn in Wilkesboro is offering
a single or double occupancy room, regularly $109, for only $85.
The Web site listed above will offer more money saving deals as
they become available. If an audience member has driven more than
60 miles to see either of the above listed shows, a “Stimulus
Ticket” will be offered. All the audience member has to do
to receive a “Stimulus Ticket” is present their driver’s
license at the gate in Ft. Hamby Park while purchasing a ticket,
and they can save $5 per ticket. This offer is only valid upon
request. Also, check out the Wilkes Chamber of Commerce Web site
for their information on “Dooley Weekend.”
Drama Camp
Wilkes Playmakers will offer Drama Camp this summer at
Benton Hall, held Monday through Friday for two weeks.
There are two sessions from which to choose. Elementary age
students can attend the two-week camp from 8:30 a.m. until 12:30
p.m., and junior high students can attend the two-week camp
from 1:30 until 5:30 p.m. Dates are July 20, 21, 22, 23, 24,
27, 28, 29, 30 and 31. The cost of the two-week camp is $150.
The group will write and perform its own work on the final Friday
of Drama Camp for family and friends. Drama Camp will be instructed
by Karen Reynolds and Jacob Reeves.
For more information, e-mail Karen Reynolds at pan4life@embarqmail.com.
Registration will be on Monday, July 13, from 6-8 p.m. at Benton
Hall, 300 D St., North Wilkesboro on the main floor in the Great
Hall. Or you can e-mail Karen at the above e-mail address for
a registration form should you wish to register early.
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