A Holiday "Ballad" at Stage 3

Something went wrong on the mountain that warm Appalachian spring day. Terribly wrong. And the lives of the women of those remote hills were changed forever. Jenny Laird's haunting "Ballad Hunter" weaves their story into a song of beautiful sorrow and exquisite longing that ultimately becomes a powerful myth of atonement and resurrection.

Stage 3's holiday offering, which opens Friday, November 16, is part fable, part mystery and part love story. The year is 1937 and the setting is the vast, timeless wilderness of the Appalachian Mountains. Echoes of magic still twangle in the air like music and superstitions are as deeply rooted as the mountains themselves. The term ballad hunter refers to those musical historians that roamed the hills in the early 20th century preserving local folk songs. And, like many those songs, "Ballad Hunter" is an ode to loves lost and found and the healing forgiveness of family.

The story centers around three generations of mothers and daughters who are in a desperate plight. Grandma Hetty believes a curse has brought the family to near starvation. Crops have dried up and even the rabbits are dying off from some strange affliction. Her daughter Gussie, the local midwife and healer, keeps a great secret locked in her heart about events which might have caused the trouble. And Gussie's daughter, Lotta, is a wild forest creature, on the verge of womanhood, aching to know the truth about her origins. The sole man in their lives is the mute and mysterious Buzzy who owns a junkyard at the edge of the women's property. Their sleepy and isolated lives are shattered one day by the arrival of Cecil, a representative of the Rural Electrification Administration, bringing with him the promise of power, light and a new, modern way of life. His coming sets off a surprising chain of events that cracks open the mysteries of the mountain and reveals the secrets these women have held for so long.

Director Don Bilotti is delighted to be on the project. " I was immediately drawn to this piece. It has such a great atmosphere of mystery. The revelations take you by surprise and the characters draw you into the story without realizing it. The dialog is incredibly musical. It's powerful, it's passionate and compassionate, it's poignant and it's funny. Jenny Laird really knows how to create characters and spin a story."

Author Laird is Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists and teaches play writing at DePaul University. Her work has won the Cunningham Prize for play writing and she was the recipient of the first Selma Melvoin New Play Commission.

Featured in the cast are some of the region's most formidable talents. Bette Laws-LeFevre plays cantankerous Hetty. She was most recently seen in Stage 3's powerful "Wit" as well as "Foxfire" and "Three Tall Women". Maryann Curmi takes on the role of Gussie. Ms. Curmi directed this season's smash hit "A Show of her Own" and has distinguished herself in a variety of roles; from a passenger on the doomed Titanic in "Scotland Road" to a ditzy mayfly in "Mere Mortals". Jason Kell as Cecil is making his first appearance with Stage 3. Among his many credits are Huck Finn in "Big River" and Albert in "Bye Bye Birdie". Stuart Pierce plays the mute Buzzy, a radical departure from his last Stage 3 appearance in "Art" where he never stopped talking. Finally, "Ballad Hunter" introduces audiences to the talented young Kiri Dyken as the willful Lotta.

Ballad Hunter Plays November 16 through December 16 at Stage 3, 208 Green St. in downtown Sonora. Ticket prices are $8-$14. Call 536-1778 for information and reservations.