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ON STAGE: Truthful and engaging 'Foxfire' shines on Sonora stage
By LEO STUTZIN BEE ARTS EDITOR (Published: Tuesday, August 08, 2000)
SONORA -- Foxfire glows. It glows in nature in the mountains of Georgia, in the southern reaches of the Appalachians; it shines in the human truths of a grand work of theatrical fiction, at Sonora's Stage 3.
Foxfire is an odd lichen that shines in the dark on decaying trees; it is also the name of a journal of folk histories that was conceived and inaugurated 1966 by a ninth-grade class in Rabun County, Ga., and later published as a series of books; and it is the name of a play that actor Hume Cronyn and writer Susan Cooper shaped around the anecdotes revealed in those tales of vanishing folkways.
The show was one of the most successful of the early 1980s, when it earned accolades galore and productions from coast to coast for its blend of compassion, quirkiness and insight. It remains every bit as engaging in these first days of century 21. It's also funny, touching and at times musical, thanks to sprinkling of country-flavored songs and hymns.
The story focuses on widow Annie Nations, who is forced to confront changes taking place in her own life and in the world she has known throughout her 79 years. Sonora's Annie is Bette Laws-LeFevre, who plays the role with spunk, sensitivity, wit and intelligence that reflects her four decades on the profesional stage.
A woman whose values and perceptions are firmly grounded in rural Appalachia, Annie is nonetheless a universal figure whose struggles and joys would be as valid and comprehensible in Eurasia's Georgia as in America's, or in the foothills of California.
Central to her predicament is the question of whether to remain on her hilltop farm, alone and out of touch with her children and neighbors, or to concede her frailty and move to a place where care would be quickly available.
Pressures to leave come from two sources: a real estate hustler who offers to buy the land for a price that would allow her to live in financial security, and a son, Dillard, who is fearful for her well-being.
Pressures to remain on the farm come from her own fear of leaving a place and lifestyle she has always known, from memories prompted by the men's visits, and from the crusty presence of husband Hector (Doug Scott), who is vibrantly alive in Annie's mind even though he is five years dead.
Vivid flashbacks recount events that include their awkward courtship and simple dreams, their son's birth, and the growing alienation between Hector and Dillard: a father pressing his son to continue and take over the family farm; a son determined to break with the past.
They clash over such traditions as the time to plant potatoes, which Hector insists must coincide with the dark of the moon; they clash over Dillards guitar-strumming and dreams of becoming a country singer, which he eventually achieves with moderate success.
Dillard, incidentally, involves enough singing to have lured Keith Carradine to play the role on Broadway and John Denver to re-create it on television. Veteran foothill showman Jeff Cooper does the honors for Stage 3, with dramatic warmth and musical polish.
The narrative unfolds with seamless ease, aided by strong performances all around, including the secondary roles: Mitch Hrdlicka as the folksy-seeming real estate developer, Laura Dyken as a teacher who remains Annie's friend after meeting her while doing an interview for a Foxfire-type history project, and Vernon Rickard as the country doctor who delivers Dillard, for $5, cash, no potatoes.
Barbara Segal-Mill directed the production, with maximum concern for truthfulness and a minimum of sentimentality.
Chris Sutherst designed the exquisite set, which includes a cabin surfaced with real logs; Kathy Story contributed a lovely painted backdrop, perfectly capturing the hazy look of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where I lived many years ago.
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