Summer 2009

Heritage Kick-Off Party
Helms Theater
June 13, 2009
8:00 pm
Enjoy a concert performance by members of this summer’s acting company singing some of their favorite songs. A dessert reception catered by Clifton Inn will follow. Sponsored by Clifton Inn and Festive Fare.

Oliver!
Music, Lyrics and Book by Lionel Bart
Directed by Robert Chapel
Culbreth Theatre
June 25-27, 30, July 1-3, 2009
Post-Show TALK-BACK with cast members on July 1

The boy who dared ask for “More” is sure to leave audiences wanting just that when Oliver! hits the Culbreth Theatre stage.  The all-time classic will once again take audiences of all ages on a wild ride through the seedy underworld of 19th Century London and reacquaint them with an unforgettable cast of characters. There’s the sinister Fagan, the plucky Artful Dodger, kind and tragic Nancy and of course, the wide-eyed, sweet-voiced title character.  Add in a score chock-full of Broadway’s all-time classic songs and a story with more twists and turns than the streets and back alleys in which it takes place, and you have one of the most popular family musicals of any generation. Sponsored by Embarq

Pump Boys and Dinettes
Conceived and written by John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel, Jim Wan
Directed by Renee Dobson
Helms Theatre
June 30, July 1-4, 6-11, 2009
Post-Show TALK-BACK with cast members on July 7

Want directions to an evening of great fun and great music?  Set your GPS to Highway 57, between Frog Level and Smyrna. Pull over when you see a back-in-the-day gas station and neighboring diner.  Introduce yourself to the “Pump Boys,” a quartet of song-swapping, beer-guzzling good ole boys, and the “Dinettes,” a.k.a the sassy and singing Cupp sisters, who regularly serve up delicious home cooked treats and country-and-western beats.  Then just sit back and enjoy a whole night’s worth of toe-tapping tunes that celebrate the simple pleasures of small-town country life, from fresh pecans to farmer tans and more.Sponsored by 1070 AM WINA Newsradio and 106.1 FM WCNR The Corner

Moonlight and Magnolias
By Ron Hutchinson
Directed by Douglas Sprigg
Culbreth Theatre
July 9-11, 28, 31, August 5, 2009
Post-Show TALK-BACK with cast members on July 28

The biggest movie of all time is in trouble before it’s even released.  Shooting starts in a week, and you have no script.  So what’s a legendary producer to do?  If you are David O. Selznick, and your movie is Gone with the Wind, you hire the best director and screenwriter of your day and lock yourself in a room with them for five straight days. Then you and the director proceed to act out the entire story, from burnin’ buildings to birthin’ babies and beyond.  And you do it all on self-imposed diet of peanuts and bananas.  Ron Hutchinson’s fabulous farce is a behind-the-scenes, off-the-wall comedy that proves in Hollywood, the ends always justify the means.
Sponsored by Barrett-Johnson & Associates: A Platinum Financial Advisory Practice of Ameriprise Financial and The Daily Progress
NOTE: Peanuts will be consumed on stage during Moonlight and Magnolias.

On Golden Pond
By Ernest Thompson
Directed by Robert Porter
Culbreth Theatre
July 16-18, 29, August 1, 3, 6, 2009
Post-Show TALK-BACK with cast members on August 3

Can’t stand the heat?  Head North to the idyllic woods of Maine and meet up once more with the theater and film world’s most beloved curmudgeon.  Norman Thayer is facing 80 with more “grrr” than grace. And when long-estranged daughter Chelsea arrives with her fiancée and 13-year-old son in tow, the scene seems set for fireworks.   What happens instead is a heartwarming love story for the ages where generations overcome seemingly insurmountable barriers and where Norman and ever-understanding wife Ethel prove that there is a rare beauty in a love story made from the stuff of forever.

Red, White and Tuna
By Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard
Directed by Robert Chapel
Helms Theatre
July 21-25, 27-31, August 1, 4-8, 2009
Post-Show TALK-BACK with cast members on August 4

Ever since Heritage audiences first visited the tiny town of Tuna, Texas, they’ve been begging for a return trip.  Now they’ve got it.  Red, White and Tuna, the sequel to Greater Tuna, finds the town all aflutter thanks to an upcoming high school reunion, which brings out the best (and worst) in its citizens.  Two talented actor/comedians (and Heritage favorites) John Paul Scheidler and Evan Bridenstine use lightning-quick minds and costume changes to play more than 20 characters, including men, women, children and even animals.  Catch up with the Prayer Posse, the Tastee Kreme gals and the rest of the town’s colorful, polyester-clad citizenry for an evening of side-splitting satire that will make you glad you visited. Sponsored by Esther Cash

Little Shop of Horrors
Book by Howard Ashman
Music by Alan Menken
Lyrics by Howard Ashman
Based on the film by Roger Corman and
Screenplay by Charles Griffith
Directed by Geno Carr
Culbreth Theatre
July 23-25, 27, 30, August 4, 7-8, 2009
Post-Show TALK-BACK with cast members on July 27

He’s green.  He’s mean.   He’s hungry.  And he’s on his way to Charlottesville.  Never in the history of theatre has one green thumb wreaked such hilarious havoc.  This story of down on his luck Seymour, a lowly florist’s assistant who sees an insatiable bloodthirsty plant as his ticket to fame, fortune and true love, Little Shop has had worldwide audience screaming with laughter for nearly three decades.   From the unforgettable, high-energy Motown-style tunes to a show-stopping sadistic biker/dentist (not to mention a star who literally chews the scenery), it’s no wonder this classic musical has been delighting audiences around the world for decades. Sponsored by Roberta Bell Williamson. Media Sponsor: THE HOOK