Lime Kiln Announces Paul Ferguson's GOOD OL' GIRLS Musical Revue 6/12-6/14

Good Ol' Girls, a musical revue by Paul Ferguson, with music and Lyrics by Matraca Berg and Marshall Chapman, runs Friday, June 12 through Saturday, June 14 at 7:30pm at Theater at Lime Kiln.
"This is our second in-house production since we resumed last season," said Executive Director Kim Renz. "The Ghosts of Music City, USA was a great success for us in many ways. It showed that we could present viable community theatre here. This is one more step forward."
Inspired by Lee Smith's writings, top songwriter Matraca Berg ("Strawberry Wine," DeAnna Carter's #1 hit) approached fellow Nashville hit-maker Marshall Chapman about creating a musical in the late 1990'S. Chapman knew Smith from their Nashville days in the 1970s. Smith's friend, fellow writer and former student McCorkle, brought more great stories to the table.

They contacted Paul Ferguson, then a professor at UNC Chapel Hill. Ferguson had successfully adapted The Devil's Dream by Smith into a musical several years before. Bluegrass picker/songwriter Joe Newberry and actress/musician/teacher Julie Oliver originally adapted and arranged the music. The Carolina Theatre of Durham toured the piece to ecstatic crowds in the early part of the decade.

More recently Cape Fear Regional Theatre produced the piece in North Carolina, and their production was filmed and aired on PBS in April of 2009.
"We chose this show because of its strong female characters and the style of production," said Renz. "The music is great, and with the talented actresses and singers here we knew it would be a great fit."

McCorkle describes the show as "women of all types in all different places, coming to terms with some big issues in life. The characters don't shy from these issues - love, marriage, pregnancy, work, abuse, faith, family and aging. Like spoken and sung journal entries, Good Ol' Girls shows that there's more to these gals than just what's on the surface - from God-fearing to hell-raising, hard partying to party hosting, and from bright futures to fading glories."

"You see the range from childhood to the nursing home," reveals McCorkle. "You can see your mother, your aunts, all the women you have known and loved. You can see yourself."

Robert Bowen Smith directs the Lime Kiln production. Smith has an MFA in Theatre from Mary Baldwin College's program with The American Shakespeare Center. He has most recently served on the faculty at Southern Virginia University and performed the role of Snoopy in last year's SVU production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown at Lime Kiln.
The local cast includes three members of last year's The Ghosts of Music City, USA, Music Director Mary Harvey, Elizabeth Shupe and Alexa Rose. Harvey, a popular local performer and member of the Rockbridge Planning Commission, serves on faculty as professor of piano at SVU. Shupe, Associate Director of Career Services at Washington and Lee University, also performed the role of Tessie Tura in the University of Richmond production of Gypsy. Rose starred in the title role of the recent Alleghany High School production of Cinderella.

Other members of the cast include: April Harris of Buena Vista; Ashley Thompson, who recently performed in the Rockbridge County High School Broadway Revue; Lesley Larsen Nesbit, Mary Baldwin MFA who serves on faculty in the Theatre Department at James Madison University; Anne-Marie, Lilli and Emma Altenburg of Lexington.

Harvey will be joined by guitarist Brian Blickle of Lexington, who was last seen at Lime Kiln in Ghosts last summer and who was formerly lead guitar for Baroness, and Brian Switzer, who performed with Accursed Dawn, The Knife Trade and, most recently, Peregrine.
The Bookery at 107 W. Nelson has several titles in stock by both Lee Smith and Jill McCorkle.

To round out the June lineup at Lime Kiln, Purgatory Mountain, featuring James Leva, performs on Saturday, June 27th, and Peter Neofotis, who grew up in Lexington, performs his acclaimed one-man play, Stories from Concord, Virginia, on Sunday, June 28th.
For tickets to an upcoming event, call the Lime Kiln office at 540-463-7088.
Theater at Lime Kiln Upcoming Performances

June 6 Fatty Lumpkin - Classic Rock
June 12 - 14 Good Ol' Girls Musical Revue based upon characters of Lee Smith and Jill McCorkle
June 27 James Leva and Purgatory Mountain
June 28 Stories from Concord, Virginia - William Faulkner Award Winner Peter Neofotis
July 10 -12 Stonewall Country (Concert Version) featuring Robin and Linda Williams from Prairie Home Companion

Office: 540-473-7088
Website: theateratlimekiln.com