Back in the summer of 1931, a cadre of college performers took to the dusty back roads of New Hampshire and Maine in a caravan of open touring cars and a second-hand truck to herald their first theater season. Their debut play was Arnold Ripleyıs six-year old thriller, The Ghost Train. Now, 75 years and 560+ plays later, The Barnstormers offers the same spirit of summer fun and melodrama as the play returns for its tenth haunting production, Tuesday, August 16 through Saturday, August 20 at 8:00 p.m. with a special matinee slated for Saturday, August 20 at 3:00 p.m.
Set in a cheerless train station on the South Cornwall Joint Railway, The Ghost Train is the story of an ill-fated party of train riders who find themselves stranded on a very dark, very stormy night after an overzealous (and quite obnoxious) passenger has pulled the emergency brake and stopped the train from going on. What ensues is a night of driving rain, wind, and tall tales that even after 80 years of telling, still manage to produce a tingly sensation up the spine. Blair Hundertmark directs the production and an ensemble cast of Barnstormer veterans and newcomers spark the quirky characters to life.
The true star of the play is the train itself, which screams past the waiting room windows with a thunderous roar of sound and light, rattling the windows of the nearby houses on Tamworth's Main Street. The original sound effects for the play's 1925 debut required ten men using drums, a galvanized iron tank, a milk churn, a thundersheet, cylinders of compressed air, and a garden roller. The requirements for todayıs sound effects are not so far off from the original no computerized technology is ever used. But only the stage crew is privy to the secrets behind the train secrets passed down through generations of backstage crew since the first Barnstormers production in 1931.
While the world has become more complicated in the last 80 years, our imaginations remain as eager as ever to be thrilled and titillated by the prospects of ghosts and the tension of suspense, said Blair Hundertmark, who is no stranger to New England theater. Hundertmark has acted at Portland, Maineıs renown Mad Horse Theater; Providence's Perishable Theater; and Milford, New Hampshire's American Stage Festival. As director, he has been nominated twice as New Hampshireıs best professional director, and his work includes direction of The Diary of Anne Frank at the Palace Theatre and The Adventures of John Paul Jones at the Music Hall in Portsmouth.
Paul Kerry, who many enjoyed as the win-at-all costs Don in this seasonıs Rounding Third, plays the obnoxious Teddie Deacon who dishes up a few secrets throughout the long siege in the train depot. Frank Wells plays the chilling Saul Hodgkin the stationmaster who unveils the red-eyed horror story of the ghostly train. Amanda Baker plays the high-strung Julia Price whose mind is slipping away even as the train screeches into the station. Priscilla Murray plays the zany Miss Bourne a role she has perfected in prior performances. John Schnatterly plays Charles Murdock and Pam Rodgers his wife, Peggy. Bob Bates plays Herbert Rice and Will Cabell plays Jon Sterling. Parker Roberts and various members of the crew play detectives and police officersyouıll have to see the play to find out why they show up amidst the castaways.
The Ghost Train is Arnold Ripleyıs best-known written work. (He was best-known as the character of Private Godfrey in Britainıs Dadıs Armyfor which he was awarded an OBE [The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire] for his services to the British theater in 1982.) Ripley crafted the play after he found himself stranded for several hours on a deserted platform at Mangostfield Station on a trip from the British Midlands.
This 75th yearıs production is sponsored by Anonymous Friends. The set is designed by Tamworthıs own Jesse Beecher and Karen Perlow is creating the startling light effects. Sandra King is building the costumes, which are vintage 1920ıs. As The Barnstormers hallmark production, the play is fine for all theater-going ages and is truly an important link in the theatreıs legacy. All audience members are welcome to try to guess whatıs behind the trainıs effects but no crew secrets will be unveiled even for the 75th anniversary production.
Tickets for the play are $25 for orchestra and $20 for balcony each night. Matinee tickets are just $12 and offer a great opportunity to introduce younger people to the thrill of live theater and to the chill of The Ghost Train. Group rates are available and tickets are already on sale for the seasonıs last play, The Fantasticks, which is being directed by Dan Rubinatewho celebrates his 50th year with The Barnstormers. Call (603)-323-8500 for tickets today as the play is sure to sell out.
For more information:
Donna Woodward
207 935-3959
