Between the Lines - Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming
About the production
 Left to right: Theresa Holmes, Candace Vance and Edd Key. Photo by Erik Stuhaug. |
Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming will continue the series’ decades-long tradition of bringing laughter and joy to audiences. Running for an unexpected four months in 1992, Taproot’s first staging of Smoke on the Mountain—the initial installment—became a surprise hit: The play was supposed to run for four weeks! Taproot brought Smoke on the Mountain back in 1996 as part of its first season in its new permanent facility in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood, then again for its 30th Anniversary season in 2006, a season of audience favorites. The second installment, Sanders Family Christmas, delighted audiences for two consecutive holiday seasons in 1999 and 2000. (Click here to see the photo gallery of past productions.)
The Sanders Family series goes back to 1988, when Smoke on the Mountain was first produced at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey. It then ran for over a year off-Broadway at Lamb’s Theatre. Between 1991 and 2001, Smoke on the Mountain was the most-produced musical in the United States. The story follows the Sanders Family on a hot June night in 1938. The Great Depression has left rural Mount Pleasant, North Carolina, in need of renewal, and Pastor Mervin Oglethorpe has planned his church’s first “Saturday Night Sing.” The Sanders Family Singers’ bus overturns on the way, and they arrive in a flurry, but it turns out to be a great night of celebration and fun.
The second installment, Sanders Family Christmas, takes place on Christmas Eve three years later. Dennis Sanders is leaving for the front lines of World War II the next day, and the whole family has gathered together for one final song service on the gospel trail.
Finally, Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming revisits the Sanders Family on a balmy evening in October 1945. The war is over, Dennis Sanders is back from the front lines, and the family is getting ready to sing him in as the new pastor; Pastor Oglethorpe, meanwhile, is packing up for his new post at a Texas church with his very pregnant wife, June. Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming saw its world premiere at the Piedmont Players in Salisbury, North Carolina, in November 2006.
The series’ creators have history on the stage, television and film. Playwright Connie Ray has appeared in numerous films and television shows, including Thank You for Smoking, How to Deal, About Schmidt, Stuart Little, Hope Floats, ER, Touched by an Angel, the Disney sitcom The Torkelsons and much more. In addition to directing Smoke on the Mountain off-Broadway, Alan Bailey has directed the off-Broadway production of Squeezebox, produced by Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft, in addition to numerous other productions throughout the country and in Europe. Music arranger Mike Craver has been a member of the Red Clay Ramblers, and was involved in the creation of Smoke on the Mountain, Radio Gals, Wilder and more.
In Taproot Theatre’s production, many of the actors from the 2006 production of Smoke on the Mountain return for the third installment. Edd Key and Theresa Holmes return as Burl and Vera Sanders, Kevin Brady is back as Pastor Oglethorpe and David Anthony Lewis plays Stanley again; they’re joined by Candace Vance as Denise, Brent Ashton as Dennis and Jenny Cross as June. The production team includes scenic designer Rick Lorig, sound designer Mark Lund, costume designer Sarah Burch Gordon and lighting designer Richard Schaefer. Debbie Evans serves as stage manager, Edd Key as musical director and L. Nicol Cabe as dramaturg.
