2014 Season

Moon Over Buffalo

It is the summer of 1953, and George and Charlotte Hay, formerly a couple of Broadway stars, have taken their run-down touring company to Buffalo, New York. In Buffalo they have the intention of running “Cyrano de Bergerac” and “Private Lives” in repertory, all the while grumbling about missed Hollywood opportunities. But on-stage harmony is compromised when George performs an off-stage infidelity, impregnating the company’s ingenue. When Charlotte learns of this, she prepares to run away with the family lawyer, sending lightweight George on a grief-stricken drinking binge. It turns out that Frank Capra is headed to town on a talent scouting mission looking to hire the couple for his swashbuckling Scarlet Pimpernel epic. As a result, the Hay family — including scornful, deaf mother in law Ethel, determinedly practical daughter Rosalind, and dashing actor Paul, Rosalind’s ex-boyfriend — must work overtime to get sloppy drunk George into his Cyrano hat and nose…. or is it his Elyot Chase smoking jacket? With the entrance of Rosalind’s fiance, anxious TV weatherman Howard — one man with two mistaken identities — and Richard Maynard, the wealthy lawyer hoping to lure Charlotte away to his mansion — the confusion only intensifies. With a plethora of pratfalls, slamming doors aplenty, and backstage shenanigans, Ken Ludwig’s Moon Over Buffalo is a fast-paced, hilarious screwball comedy in the old tradition, a throwback farce, a valentine to the stage, and the larger-than-life personalities that inhabit the world of the theatre.

Tasties, Toddies and Theatrics

This is an evening featuring food, drink, a cabaret, and a one-act comedy, which has become one of the most anticipated events of the year.

Smoke on the Mountain

Smoke on the Mountain tells the story of a Saturday Night Gospel Sing at a country church in North Carolina’s Smoky Mountains in 1938. The show features two dozen rousing bluegrass songs played and sung by the Sanders Family, a traveling group making its return to performing after a five-year hiatus. Pastor Oglethorpe, the young and enthusiastic minister of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, has enlisted the Sanders Family in his efforts to bring his tiny congregation into “the modern world.” Between songs, each family member “witnesses” – telling a story about an important event in their life. Though they try to appear perfect in the eyes of a congregation who wants to be inspired by their songs, one thing after another goes awry and they reveal their true – and hilariously imperfect – natures. By the evening’s end, the Sanders Family have endeared themselves to us by revealing their weaknesses and allowing us to share in their triumphs.