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The Earl Hamner, Jr. Theater

By: Peter Coy

The organization:

Who are we? : The Earl Hamner Theater, a project of the Rockfish Valley Community Center. Peter Coy, artistic director; Boomie Pedersen, managing director.

What exactly does the Hamner Theater look like? It is an intimate and flexible theater, created in a 26’ by 42’, handicapped accessible, former elementary-school classroom. Forty-nine seats are on risers that can be configured in the way that is best for each particular production. A lighting grid with dimmer packs is permanently attached to the ceiling. The lobby and the dressing room are in adjacent classrooms.

What is our mission? : To offer a performing arts venue in Nelson County and to create a community theater open to and reaching out to all residents of Nelson and its surroundings.

What is the need for a theater in Nelson County? Nelson County is a rural county in central Virginia that has a diverse population of about 14,000. There is a rich vein of artistic talent here. Professionals and amateurs from many of the arts – potters, classical musicians, bluegrass and rock bands, traditional Irish fiddlers and dancers, actors, painters, sculptors, poets, novelists, playwrights, songwriters, set and lighting designers for the stage, film makers, and probably more – are living in the county. We have assembled a group of core of organizers who, in addition to being involved in every aspect of the theater themselves, will start the process of training.

We are actively planning training programs for adults, teens, elementary school children in all aspects of theater production: acting, directing, improvisation, technical theater, lighting and set design, and playwriting. We have the personnel and the facilities. We are working with the high school to find interested and motivated teens. Earl Hamner has offered to fund a program to develop young writers in the county.

Having a theater space of our own gives focus to everyone involved, those creating the performance and those in the audience. The theater itself creates a desire to reach and maintain a standard of solid work. It creates loyalty in the audience because they feel the theater belongs to them as much as to the performers. It creates an atmosphere of familiarity and permanence. This is Nelson County’s theater.

Starting in 2006 we are planning to produce five plays each year. In addition, the space will be a venue for music, dance performances, storytelling nights, and film clubs. We also intend to create a series of evening events where Virginia writers will read from their new work. Because this is the only theater in the county besides the high school auditorium, we want to fill it with a variety of shows that appeal to as many different county residents as possible.

Plays considered for 2005-2006 are: CARRIE ROSE, a love story from Nelson County (March); STORY THEATER, by Paul Sills, a magical romp through the stories of the Brothers Grimm (May); THE TWILIGHT ZONE SCRIPTS, of Earl Hamner, Earl’s tales of the bizarre from the famed TV series (September); POE & ALL THAT JAZZ, , a macabre musical trip into the strange and wonderful love Edgar Allan Poe had for the women in his life (October); THE HOMECOMING, by Earl Hamner, the return of the Christmas classic (December).

We are in the process of organizing the Earl Hamner National Playwrights Conference that will be held in late July each year. We will bring together four to eight playwrights who have demonstrated a serious commitment to theater and who have a script that we feel will benefit from development. For three weeks they will be in residence in Nelson County and will work with a director, a dramaturg, and company of actors in workshops and rehearsals to recreate the play as they want it to be. At the end of the conference each play will be give a staged reading open to the public.

One element of the Playwrights Conference will be a three-week teen workshop in which a company of teenaged actors will develop a theater piece under the guidance of a professional playwright and director. This work will also be performed at the end of the conference.

Who is eligible and how many people have we served? :

Even though not fully completed, the Hamner Theater has presented a workshop performance of the national singing act, THE BOBS to a sellout audience of 85. On December 1st we opened a new adaptation of Earl Hamner’s classic, THE HOMECOMING, the story of his family during the Christmas Eve blizzard of 1933 in Nelson County. The response from the community to the production was overwhelming. After opening night, the entire eight-performance run of the show was sold out. We added an extra performance that sold out before we had announced it. We sold a total of 495 tickets:. We had a cast of 22 (12 children) and another 15 volunteers working on the show. We have now have a managing director and are working diligently on audience development.

The need for a theater: : Until now there has been no theater space in Nelson County devoted to the performing arts.

It seems clear from the response to our first two offerings that the theater is filling a need both for the participants and for the audiences.


The inspiration for creating the theater:

We have dedicated this theater to one of Nelson County’s most famous residents, Earl Hamner, Jr., creator of THE WALTONS, the long-running and award-winning TV series. We did this to express our thanks for the contribution he has made to the county in telling the timeless story of his family’s life during the Depression here. The association with Earl Hamner is giving the theater important visibility in the county.

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