By Joel Frady

The Ashe County Little Theater is used to taking audiences to far away places, but this weekend they will premiere a brand-new play set in Ashe County. Dinner is at Noon, a two-act play written by Crumpler resident Bill Baker, tells the story of a New York couple who get stranded at the Healing Springs Resort in 1929.

Director Michael Yelton said he was drawn to the play because he “liked what it said,” and added that it’s about the crashing of two cultures.

“It’s a play about change,” said Yelton. He later added that the New Yorkers “come with big-city prejudices toward these hillbillies and mountain folk, and the mountain folk likewise have their view of the city folk.

“The title itself is illustrative of this concept of differences,” Yelton said. “The folks [in Ashe County] call it breakfast, dinner, supper, with dinner being the biggest meal of the day, which it was – the mid-day meal.

The Yankees can’t get used to that, because they call it breakfast, lunch and dinner. It illustrates the differences, and the way that change affects the two groups.”

The play has gone through rewrites throughout the rehearsal process, settling on the tenth draft, which Yelton cited as one of the production’s toughest challenges.

“This being a brand new play, it’s been an evolutionary process because we knew it was going to require re-writing and editing,” he said. “So the biggest challenge has been just developing the play to where it’s production-worthy.”

Yelton said he decided to incorporate real images from 1920’s Ashe County to add to the “time warp” feeling.
“I wanted to tie what we’re doing in terms of the play to the historical nature of the play,” Yelton said. “What we’ve opted to do is, as each scene takes place, we will be showing actual photographs and scenes from that era. So when we talk about the Old Virginia Creeper train, you’ll actually be able to see the Virginia Creeper Train. When we talk about West Jefferson, we have photographs of West Jefferson as it was during the 1920s.”

Baker said that the production has had its ups and downs, like any production, and noted that “it’s like a train. It starts out at ground zero, and then one car gets going and the next one gets going and pretty soon the whole train’s going. We’re at about that point right now.”

Aside from the rewrites, Baker has also faced the challenge of playing Norman, the rich New York banker who visits the resort.

“I didn’t want to do the acting part,” said Baker. “I didn’t write the play for myself, I just wrote the play. But with everybody being gone over winter we didn’t have enough cast members to do it, so I had to take a part.”

Baker said that there have been different challenges from his two jobs. He said the hardest part as an actor was caused because he had “so many versions of this play running around in my head, it’s hard to keep the current version on top for the lines that I need.”

Baker said that he has enjoyed “seeing it done, actually working through the process and getting it done, finally, after all this time.” He noted that he wrote the first draft of the play in 2001.

Baker said that Yelton’s input helped the play grow during production, and that Yelton has “been a tremendous help in making this thing work.”

The play opens on Friday, April 3, at the Ashe Civic Center, and Baker said that he’s waiting for an audience to make his final judgment on the play.

“I think the real enjoyment will come for me when it’s done and I see the reaction of the audience,” he said. “If the audience likes it, and we entertained them and informed them at the same time, then great.”

Dinner is at Noon will play at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, with a matinee at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. To find out more or to purchase tickets, contact the Ashe County Arts Council at (336) 846-2787 or the Ashe Civic Center at (336) 246-4483.