‘Our Town’ dinner theater a great Homecoming event
BY JOHN E. USALIS, Editor - Schuylkill Saturday/News
Item
08/25/2007
MAHANOY CITY — Interested in enjoying a special
evening with your significant other at a dinner theater event? Well,
there’s no need to go farther than Mahanoy City to a unique event
that is part of the Upper Schuylkill Homecoming Weekend.
The second Homecoming Weekend will be held Friday,
Aug. 31 to Monday, Sept. 3, coordinated around the 107th annual ABA
Mummers Parade, which is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 1. The Labor
Day weekend celebration includes events in the boroughs of Ashland,
Frackville, Girardville, Mahanoy City, Ringtown and Shenandoah, all
part of the Upper Schuylkill downtown revitalization initiative.
The dinner theater, along with the wine and food pairing
in Ashland on Sunday, Sept. 2, are two events that are major parts
of the weekend, and the only two that require advance tickets, which
are limited.
The kickoff event for Homecoming Weekend is a very appropriate
one that will celebrate the region’s heritage. “Our Town,
Your Home, One Heritage’ dinner theatre will be held at 6 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 31, at the Mahanoy City Elks Lodge and is sponsored by
Mahanoy Downtown Inc. (MDI).
Upper Schuylkill Executive Director Patrice K. Rader
expressed her excitement at the dinner theater as the launch of the
weekend events.
“We’re so excited about this year’s Homecoming
kickoff at the Mahanoy City Elks,” said Rader. “The dinner
theatre will be a great night for everyone. There will be a delicious
dinner menu by Kane’s Catering. The musical production of ‘Our
Town, Your Home, One Heritage’ by the Lift Your Spirits Performing
Arts group features our communities and Schuylkill County. It was
written and produced just for us, imagine that!”
She thanked in advance the volunteers from MDI for hosting
the event and the Elks for welcoming everyone to their facility at
135 E. Centre St.
The Lift Your Spirits Performing Arts group may sound
new to many people, but the performers were involved in the “Born
for This” and “Godspell” shows in Ashland in recent
years under a different name.
“‘Our Town, Your Home, One Heritage’”
is vintage Schuylkill County,” said Loretta Murphy-Birster, one
of the writers of this original musical. “It is Schuylkill County
through song, poetry, comedy and drama. If you have anthracite roots,
this nostalgic look at the coal region will take you back to the laughter,
tears and memories of growing up Schuylkill.”
Show director Danny Thomas, who along with Murphy-Birster
wrote many of the songs and dialogue, said the dinner theater event
is the debut performance.
“Basically, we wrote the show. We talked to some
writers and musicians that recorded stuff before and we have songs
from the 1930s that we have permission to use,” said Thomas.
“The material for the production was a result of
hard work and research by our theatre company members,” said
Murphy-Birster. “Information was gathered about many different
aspects of Schuylkill County life, from our town histories to music
to food to ethnic backgrounds to weddings to local ghost stories.
Lots of interesting information was discovered, including several
songs and poems that were written by residents of the county that
are featured in the show.”
Thomas said a compact disc is being recorded of the
songs and poems in the show that will be sold afterward.
“It’s a neat show. You’re going to laugh
and cry. It’s a lot of fun and you’re going to learn something
from it,” said Thomas. “We have some parts where we honor
our fallen heroes. We have other parts that bring out the folklore
and the language of the county. Loretta and I coordinated it. It’s
also our kickoff performance as a private group.”
There will be plenty of original music in the show.
“Danny Thomas wrote several new songs for the show,
including the title song “Our Town, Your Home, One Heritage,”
said Murphy-Birster. “Home, family and faith mean a lot to Danny.
His music and lyrics often reflect these values. But he likes to have
fun, too, and wrote a song called ‘Across Schuylkill County’
that pokes a little good natured fun at ‘coal speak.’
“I’ll be performing ‘The Ballad of the
O’Donnell House,’ my tribute to the now demolished Wiggans
Patch home that was the focus of my novel, ‘The Pipes Are Calling,’”
she said.
Murphy-Birster said the show also includes a brand new
polka co-authored by her and Thomas called “Another Firehouse
Wedding.”
“It’s every Schuylkill County wedding you’ve
ever been in, been at, or heard about,” she said. “There
are lots of other surprises and great performances by all of the LYSPA
troupe.”
Thomas was contacted by Rader about doing a program
for Homecoming Weekend, which got the ball rolling. Three months of
writing, rehearsals and recording sessions have culminated in a show
that is “very emotional and very telling.” He said it has
been a learning experience in doing the research.
“The group has grown and continues to grow and
we look forward to performing in a lot of different areas,” Thomas
said.
Advanced tickets at $30 are required. Only 125
tickets are available. For tickets or more information, call 773-1688
extension 15, or e-mail to info@upperschuylkill.com.
© The REPUBLICAN & Herald
2007
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