The Arts Alliance of Portage County (AAPC) will hold its annual fundraising Community Show March 8 to 10 at the Theater@1800 in Sentry, with a performance of “The Romance of Scarlet Gulch: A 49’er Musical Melodrama.”
The play, directed by Linda Martin Moore, is set during the California gold rush. New and veteran actors from the community will play a variety of characters; from villains to cowboys, miners, maidens and cancan girls.
“It’s delightful entertainment,” Martin Moore said. “You can also fit many people on stage and the audiences love it.”
Martin Moore, a former University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP) professor of acting and costume design, was also an actress in New York City and in Hollywood.
The play is personal for Martin Moore because it was written in the 1940s by Carol Crisler, a friend of her mother.
Although the play was written almost 70 years ago and has been performed several times before, Martin Moore said she has updated and localized the script. The play now makes references to central Wisconsin towns and places.
“The jokes are contemporary and deal with our community,” she said. “It’s fun to make fun of the community and the characters in the community.”
Ronda Wadina, the production’s producer, also plays Lily White, a pure, naive maiden.
The rest of this content is only available in our print edition.
Subscribe or locate a newsstand.
