What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1463527
BECCA MARTIN-BROWN NWA Democrat-Gazette I am not sure we are good poster children for staying sane through all of this," says actress Terry Vaughan about life during the covid pandemic. "To be honest, it's been pretty depressing for us, and we drank too much, ate too much, and watched too much TV." But Vaughan and husband Tim Gilster, who together are Smokehouse Players, knew the show must go on, in one way or another. "We worked on a virtual production of 'Mastergate' for Arkansas Public Theatre and did a few industrials for Walmart, but it has been a long dry spell from a creativity perspective for both of us," she admits. "We are blessed to have great friends who became bubble buddies during the dark days. We have a great wrap-around porch in the front of our house and a terrific deck in the back so folks felt safe coming over to sit outside and visit." One of those friends was Warren Rosenaur, retired a couple of years ago after decades of teaching theater at Fayetteville High School. "We adore him," Vaughan enthuses. "I met Warren when I was a college freshman at the University of Arkansas in 1977. He was cast as my father in my first theater department show! When we moved back here in 2011, we were very lucky to get the opportunity to reconnect with him. He did a brilliant job directing 'The Gin Game' for Smokehouse Players in 2018. I can't tell you how fortunate we have been to have Warren in our lives!" So on that back porch, Vaughan, Gilster, Rosenaur and other friends like Jules Taylor plotted and planned. The first and hardest step was to put Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," slated for May 2020, on the back burner. "All of the pre-production work was in the bag, and Tim and I had been working on our scripts for weeks so we would be in great shape when our rehearsals began; we were playing George and Martha," Vaughan remembers. "We were ready! "The next communication we had with the cast and crew was to tell them we were postponing until further notice because of the pandemic. It was heartbreaking." That left the unique space that is home to the Smokehouse Players — the Chillin' Room, which Vaughan describes as a large walk-in refrigerator inside the Ozark Mountain Smokehouse in Fayetteville — dark and waiting. It also left them unable to support Magdalene Serenity House, "a nonprofit that helps rebuild the lives of women who have experienced trauma, sexual exploitation, addiction, and incarceration through safe housing, long-term support and community partnerships." "Since our first production in February 2018, matching donors have come forward and turned our modest effort to help MSH into a great success," Vaughan enthuses. "The MSH benefit performance for 'Night Mother' raised over $6,800 thanks to matching contributions by four donors, and we have six matching donors lined up for our benefit performance on April 7!" The show will be "Love Letters," an A.R. Gurney classic which will star Vaughan and Gilster and be directed by Rosenaur. "We feel 'Love Letters' is a perfect choice for our first show back," Vaughan says. "'Love Letters' is a very sweet and funny play that we are confident our audience will appreciate." The show runs April 7-9, and proceeds from the first night go, as always, to Magdalene Serenity House. But Vaughan and Gilster are in the process of putting together something bigger in June. "It's a Northwest Arkansas Playwrights Festival, which will be a spotlight series of staged readings presented by Smokehouse Players and Arkansas Playwrights Workshop," she reveals. "All of the donations received for this entire event will go to Magdalene Serenity House! This festival will be tons of fun with a company of about 20 actors and directors working on 14 different scripts by many of our amazing local playwrights. Performances will be June 14 through June 18 [with] different scripts each night." Oh, and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" will finally get its turn Nov. 10-12 with Jules Taylor directing. "Theater heals, instructs, and transforms thinking," Vaughan concludes. "It brings people together and sparks conversations. We have all felt very alone over these past two years while living with covid. I can't think of anything better than seeing our community seated together in our audience as one entity experiencing live theater." APRIL 3-9, 2022 WHAT'S UP! 7 Love Letter To Theater Smokehouse Players back after covid hiatus Terry Vaughan and Tim Gilster star in A.R. Gurney's "Love Letters" as the Smokehouse Players take the stage April 7-9 for the first time since covid-19 hit in March 2020. (Courtesy Photo) FAQ 'Love Letters' WHEN — 7:30 p.m. April 7-9; doors open at 6:30 p.m. WHERE — Ozark Mountain Smokehouse in Fayetteville, 1725 S. Smokehouse Trail at the corner of MLK and Rupple Road COST — Free; no reservations. Donations go to Magdalene Serenity House and Smoke- house Players. INFO — Email smokehouse- players@gmail.com or call 935-4219 FAYETTEVILLE