By Carol Davis
VISTA, California.– It isn’t often my memory takes me back to 1959 when my late husband, Gerry, and I motored across the country from Massachusetts to California in our then Valiant. We had our TripTik from the Automobile Club routed so we could see some of the southern most country on the way to our new lives in San Diego. We also wanted to drive on Route 66, just because we could.
About the third day or so out (here memory fails) we were motoring through the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Great Smoky Mountains hitting every major city in the state of Tennessee, touching on a variety of other states on our way. (We were also sidetracked by many road closures) Memories of pulling our nearly-filled-to-the-top auto up those mountain hills are clearer than the sights we saw, but I do remember the peaks of those mountains covered in clouds (smoke) and the deep greens along the way.
“So why now”, you might ask, “is the memory thing coming to the fore?” I recently saw the Susan Cooper/Hume Cronyn play Foxfire at the Avo Playhouse in Vista and between the charming story of Annie Nations (Jill Drexler) and her husband Hector (Charlie Riendeau) who lived in the mountains of Appalachia and the Blue Grass Music of the Vista-based band, Needle in a Haystack, my mind took a journey back 50 years and I recalled how impressed I was the beauty and spaciousness of that part of the country. It’s no wonder Annie and Hector wanted to stay on their land, forever.
Foxfire premiered on Broadway in 1982 and starred Jessica Tandy, Cronyn’s wife for whom he co- penned the play. The play isn’t something that will rock your socks off or last in your memory bank as one of the greatest plays ever seen, but it is a wonderful take on our pioneering spirit and how the land, home and family, based on documents chronicling the older generations in the history of Appalachia, will be remembered in one teacher’s history class project in 1966 in Rabun County, GA.
The play opens on a clearing of the farm ‘Stony Lonesome’ where Annie the 79-year-old widow is talking to her deceased husband, Hector. He’s been dead five years now, but she won’t let go and he won’t go away. She’s dedicated to the land and everything they farmed even though her strength is failing and she is hoping their son, Dillard (Ted Leib) will come to claim it.
Land developers (Howard Bickle, Jr. is Prince Carpenter an old neighbor turned land developer) visit every now and then wanting her to sell her property, the same property Hector turned down for a $50,000 offer years ago. She continually defers any decisions on the land to Hector. When son Dillard, who is a country singer, does come to visit on his way to a concert, he reveals that things between himself and his wife are not so good and he would be happy if his mother did sell, move to Florida with him and help out with his two children.
And so begins the struggle of letting go and giving up the old and moving on to the new. Annie’s struggle is complicated by the interference of her ghost like husband always being around to put the kibosh on every new idea, contradicting her every memory on the one hand and her longing to hold on as long as she can yet anxious to be with her grandchildren on the other.
Moonlight Stage Production of Foxfire under the deft direction of Kathy Brombacher lumbers along in an absorbing and all encompassing production with Jill Drexler and Charlie Riendeau working together like hand and glove, as Annie and Hector, where this production seems to have found a comfortable home on the Avo stage.
Drexler looks, acts and becomes the strong willed and headstrong Annie Nations in both flashback and present time as if this role was written for her. Her mannerisms, especially her look, stride and speech are comfortable together with Riendeau’s omnipresence and strong character. He is better than ever. In short, they play beautifully off one another.
Ted Leib, a man of musical talents, (he is also the Musical Coordinator) is perfect as their son Dillard who is caught between his music, the city and the disappointment his father feels toward him for not wanting to continue life on the farm. When he’s performing it’s difficult not to tap your toes and slap your knees.
Howard Bickle, Jr. is the stereotypical used car salesman in a real estate disguise and he does it well. Fred Harlow is the country doctor who comes in when Annie is giving birth to Dillard and Sharon Wezelman is fine as Holly Burrell, the gal who had a high school crush on Dillard and is now a schoolteacher.
N. Dixon Fish designed the all-purpose set that morphs from a run down farmhouse into a public concert playing area in one small sweep. The bonus, of course in addition to this fine production, is the live music (before and during the show) and the musicians who make up the Needle in the Haystack Band (Stony Lonesome Band). They include Jonathan Broberg (banjo), Tim Broberg (bass), Rebecca Broberg (fiddle), Joshua Broberg (guitar) and Brent Wong (mandolin). Great job!
For a touch of homegrown nostalgia, Foxfire at the Avo should do it.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: through April 10th
Organization: Moonlight Stage Productions
Phone: 760-724-2110
Production Type: Drama
Where: 303 Main Street, Vista, CA
Ticket Prices: $22.00-$30.00
Web: moonlightstage.com
Venue: Avo Playhouse
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Davis is a San Diego-based theatre critic. She may be contacted at carol.davis@sdjewishworld.com