Looking for a Few Good Actors...

...and writers, musician, researchers, stage hands.

We need volunteers to help with the writing and stage work. We especially need actors. Experience? Not needed.

Anyone who can put in the time and effort to make this as successful a show as last year's "The Founding of Sullivan County" is welcome. No one will be turned away.

We are also looking for musicians, especially those who have some knowledge of what was played and sung in the area between roughly 1850 and 1910.

Interested? Always wanted to be on Stage? Call Derek or Linda at 570-928-8927 or email .

This coming July, join a Hillsgrove family as they shoot the temporal rapids on a rafting trip along the Loyalsock Creek. They won't be stopping at familiar places - they'll be docking at years past.

In "Floating Past Hill's Grove," the 2008 Roving Historical Theater production, we'll visit a Native American hunting camp, listen in to a chat between pioneering residents of Hillsgrove, jaw with the "woodhicks" in a 19th century lumbering town, and chow down in the rank mess hall of a tannery - part of one of the 10 largest corporations in America.

Finally, we'll pole through the dwindling lumber business of the 20th century and disembark in the present, with its scattering of family-run saw mills - not that far removed from the small-scale mills of early years.

Along the way, you'll be treated to theater, music, song, and tales of real-life characters from Sullivan County's rich past. A bit of mystery, a goodly lot of humor, more than a smidgeon of nostalgia and hard-rock life - "Floating Past Hill's Grove" will have it all, just like last year's production, "The Founding of Sullivan County," which followed the (often ludicrous) machinations surrounding the choice of Laporte as the county seat.

"Floating Past Hill's Grove"
July 11 and 12
Hillsgrove Fire Hall

The tentative lineup of future sites and topics:

• Forksville: The English influence in the original settlement of Millview in the late 18th century, and the establishment of the rural electric co-op in the 1930s.

• Dushore: The French influence in the settlement of Dushore, with a look at the French Azilum.

• Mildred/Bernice/Lopez: The early 20th century coal mining industry, World War I, and the glory days of Bernice baseball.

• Eldredsville: The German and Irish farming communities, the Underground Railroad, the CCC camps of the 1930s, and the Depression.

• Sonestown/Muncy Valley: World War II, and the 1950s.

• Shunk: The modern decline of family farms, and the growing influence of technology.

The Roving Historical Theater is a work-in-progress, its realization depending on the musicians, actors, writers and others who become involved. Many of the topics outlined above may change as the productions evolve.

Casting is open to anyone in Sullivan County, regardless of age or acting experience - all will be accepted; no one will be turned away. Actors and actresses from outside the county are welcome to take roles that cannot be filled from within the county.

The Arts Council is also looking for musicians familiar with local music from earlier ages. If you know of the types of music and instrumentation that were popular locally in various periods, please email Gwen Klus. Finally, writers are needed to help craft the skits that will form the backbone of each heritage production. Playwriting experience is not necessary, just a feeling for the spoken words of the region.

Anyone interested in volunteering to help with the Roving Historical Theater can email us or phone 570-928-8927.

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Sullivan County Council on the Arts · PO Box 243 · Dushore, PA 18614
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