BRDT REVIVES FIRST PLAY FOR 25th SEASON

July 6, 2004

    For the final production of its 25th anniversary season, The Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre is proud to revive the very first play presented by the theatre in 1979, R. Rex Stephenson’s historical drama, Too Free For Me. The three performances of this play will be presented in the Sale Theatre of Schoolfield Hall, on the Ferrum College campus.

    Too Free For Me is a moving, true story about the heroism of two women – one black, who wanted freedom for herself and for her children in 1850, and the other white, who sought to have her father’s wishes upheld against her husband’s demands, and the people who helped and opposed them. All of the characters depicted in this play actually lived, and most incidents dramatized actually happened. The play is based on court records, diaries, and census figures.

     Featured in the large cast are Joe Ray, as Jubal Early; R. Rex Stephenson as Gresham Choice, Michael Trochim, as Andrew Edmundson; Jody D. Brown, as Margaret Oxley; Nikki Payne Dunn, as Indiana Choice; and Emily Rose Tucker, as Cassandra Choice.
   
     Too Free For Me has had more than 50 performances in Virginia cities from Winchester to Richmond to Martinsville. In 1995 the play won the American Alliance for Theatre Education playwriting contest and received a production in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The play was published by Encore Performance Publishing in 1998.

    Performances of Too Free For Me include matinees on July 15 and July 16 with lunch served at 12:15 and the performance at 1:15; and one evening performance on July 15, with dinner served at 6:45 and the performance at 8:00. The underwriter for Too Free For Me is BB&T, and the Media Sponsor is Cable 12. Contact the theatre box office at (540) 365-4335 for information about prices and ticket availability.