Time For ‘Hard Times And Hope’

Mountain Mail reports

London Frontier Theatre in Magdalena presents “Hard Times and Hope: the Lost Wife Creek Years.” Created from LFTC’s popular “Lost Wife Creek” series, the new play takes the Aragones and the Trotters from 1933 to 1941, the years of the Great Depression.
As the play opens, Roosevelt’s New Deal is “turning the country around,” but life is still hard in rural New Mexico. Dreams of lost gold, Spanish land grants and stardom in “talkies” vie with the realities of drought, a ne’er-do-well son, and a decrepit old flivver.
Local, national and international events are all interwoven with the daily lives, struggles, and misadventures of Manny and Ruby Aragone, Cass and Gardy Trotter.
Against a backdrop of politics and dust storms, we follow the inauguration of the New Deal, the end of Prohibition and Mr. Gibbers’ progress from bootlegger to politician, as well as the Homestead Act, the WPA Civilian Conservation Corps, and the “documenting America” photography program.
The story also touches on the building of Boulder Dam in Nevada, the rise of the mobs in Chicago, the shadow of Hitler over Europe, and the American divorcee who captured an English king.
From the “nest-egg caper” initiated by the women (with courage drawn from their heroine Eleanor Roosevelt), to Manny and Cass’s bumbled attempt to emulate Dillinger - from sister Ivy’s creative way of dealing with an abusive spouse, to the strange discovery of the origin of Lost Wife Creek - “Hard Times and Hope” is a rollicking, touching, and fondly-wry look at the gritty, personal side of a difficult, formative era of American history.
And extremely relevant today.
Live music performed by Randall Engle and Emily Johnson carries us along, from the too familiar “Hard Times” to “Frankie and Johnnie,” and other favorites, both old-timey and of the era.
Actors in “Hard Times and Hope” are Diane Allen, Janice Brunacini, Josi Holt, Frank Howard, Fernando Montano, Ruth Ryan, Terry Stone and Donna Todd. Musicians are Randall and Emily Johnson, with Nicola Maynard. Tech direction Ronald Thornton handles set, lighting, and sound.
Performances are Friday, July 30 and Saturday, July 31, both at 7 p.m., with a matinee on Sunday, Aug. 1, at 2 p.m. at Magdalena’s WPA Theatre, at Main and Fourth.
Performances will repeat next weekend, Friday and Saturday, August 6-7 at 7 p.m., and Sunday, Aug. 8 at 2 p.m.

And that’s not all, a gala at the theatre on Saturday, July 31, features a display of 1930’s New Deal Art – opening at 2 p.m. and free to the public – presented by the New Deal Preservation Association, with speakers on the New Deal’s artistic heritage at 3 p.m. Visitors can look, learn, and purchase copies of this quintessentially American art/photography, as well as enjoying live music of the era. A real pit barbecue, with all the trimmings, will be available from 3 to 6 p.m., tempting the taste buds and benefitting the Steel Chicks, Magdalena’s talented young steel drum band.

London Frontier is celebrating its 15 years in Magdalena, continuing to present a wide variety of plays incorporating our vivid multi-culture and history in exciting, entertaining theatre.
This project funded in part by the McCune Charitable Foundation and Friends of the Theatre.
Tickets are $5 for adults, and $2.50 for children, available at the door an hour before performance, and by reservation at 854-2519, or londonfrontier@gilanet.com. Further information can be found at www.londonfrontiertheatre.com.

Picture: (from left): Donna Todd, Frank Howard, and Fernando Montano. London Frontier is celebrating its 15 years in Magdalena, continuing to present a wide variety of plays incorporating our vivid multi-culture and history in exciting, entertaining theatre.

Courtesy photo

Time For ‘Hard Times And Hope’