Montevallo Main Street Players

MMSP stages Smoke On the Mountain

Smoke on the Mountain Cast Photo
Standing: Sam Rodgers, Mary-Kate McLaurine, Len Ward, Brent Murrill, Karin Goodman
Seated: Paul Barnes, Anne Blair
Photo by Steve Gilbert

The Montevallo Main Street Players staged Smoke On the Mountain April 18-20 at 7:30 p.m. and April 21 at 2 p.m. in the Parnell Memorial Library Theater, 277 Park Road in Montevallo.

A musical in two acts, Smoke On the Mountain was conceived by Alan Bailey and written by Constance Ray. Mike Craver and Mark Hardwick arranged the score.

The cast starred Anne Blair, Karin Goodman, Elaine Hughes, Gene Lightfoot, Brent Murrill, and Len Ward of Montevallo; Paul Barnes of Alabaster; Mary-Kate McLaurine of Tuscaloosa; and Sam Rodgers of Huntsville. Libby Medicus of Hoover directed the show. Natalie Dixon of Panama City, Fla., served as musical director.

Set in the 1930s, this family-friendly musical tale introduces the singing Sanders family, who perform their traditional and bluegrass gospel songs for the members of the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Mount Pleasant, N.C. Pastor Oglethorpe welcomes the family to the church, where they share their individual stories and beliefs during the concert. The audience serves as the members of the congregation.

The score includes some thirty gospel tunes, all of which could have been performed during the period by such a group. A pleasant mixture of energetic rousing numbers, plaintive hymns, and soulful praise songs, the score varies from the well-known, such as "Amazing Grace" and "I'll Fly Away," to more obscure tunes, such as "Filling Station" and "Christian Cowboy."

Smoke On the Mountain was produced by special arrangement with Samuel French.

Visit the Montevallo Main Street Players at www.montevalloartscouncil.org/mmsp.

The Montevallo Main Street Players staged Radio T.B.S. Trailer Park Broadcasting Scandals by Mark Landon Smith August 16-18 at 7:30 p.m. and August 19 at 2 p.m. in the Parnell Memorial Library Theater.

Directed by Leah Kirk, the comedy revolves around radio hostesses and society doyennes Vesta Poteet and Dixie Mandrell who bring to the audience the comings and goings of the activities in and around The Luna Del Mar Manufactured Home Oasis and Monkey Empire.

The cast included Kittye Keener, Danielle Warren, and Kathy Weese of Montevallo; Dottie Moore of Calera; Sharon Morgan, Cassidy Clevenger, and Paige Blake of Helena; Dianna Murphree of Pelham; Salena Stalker of Vestavia Hills; and Jamie Yonfa of Inverness.

Radio T.B.S. Trailer Park Broadcasting Scandals was produced by special arrangement with Baker’s Plays.

Directed by James Kitchens, the cast included Todd Ponder as Don, Aaron Moore as Teach, and Stephonn Ammons as Bob.

The setting is a Chicago junk shop in which three small time crooks plot to rob a man of his coin collection, the showpiece of which is a valuable buffalo nickel. These high-minded grifters fancy themselves businessmen, pursuing legitimate free enterprise. But the reality of the three—Donny, the oafish junk shop owner; Bobby, a young junkie Donny has taken under his wing; and “Teach,” a violently paranoid braggart—is that they are merely pawns caught up in their own game of last-chance, dead-end, empty pipe dreams.

American Buffalo was produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.