“… Nashville, a little town with a big — and complex — reputation. Some outsiders condemn the place for its lazy, backward ways, while others extol it for its easy-going indifference to the modern world. The truth of the matter, now as then, is that neither opinion is fair. But outsiders will believe what they want to believe. Once a community is labeled as entirely graceful, or disgraceful, it becomes difficult for outsiders to recognize its actual inner life.”
— Dillon Bustin, “If You Don’t Outdie Me: The Legacy of Brown County,” 1982
Brown County Playhouse leaders are hoping that characters of the past will help fuel the theater’s future.
A reworked version of the Brown County-themed musical, “If You Don’t Outdie Me,” will be read Thursday night, Aug. 16 as a fundraiser for the Playhouse.
Written in 2014 by Ball State University students, the musical was based on a 1982 book by Dillon Bustin of the same name. The book tells the stories of notable folks in Brown County history such as innkeeper Allie Ferguson, brothers Chris and Felix Brummett, Sheriff Sam Parks and barber Harry Kelp.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]While writing, the students also studied the newspaper columns and iconic photographs of Frank Hohnenberger, who chronicled the everyday life of Brown Countians between the 1920s and 1950s for the Indianapolis Star; visited the Brown County Historical Society’s Pioneer Village; and spoke to local people.
The goal was to “do for today’s audience what Hohenberger’s did then: showcase the local stories of a place that’s inspired a slower pace of life and sparked creativity in so many,” wrote Jennifer Blackmer, the professor who guided those students.
Two performances took place at the Brown County Playhouse in May 2014 before enthusiastic crowds, and there was talk of bringing the show back.
The Nettle Creek Players of Hagerstown are now taking up that mantle.
Their staged reading at the Playhouse on Aug. 16 will be a general fundraiser for the Playhouse, said Executive Director Suzannah Zody. The downtown theater has been holding August fundraisers for the past four of five years, she said.
In recent months, theater board President Bob Kirlin has been asking people to contribute more to help sustain the Playhouse into its 70th year. Donations have been falling over the past several years, and they need to make up about 40 to 50 percent of its budget. Last year, donations were at 13 percent.
To produce this musical and give it a longer run at the Playhouse than just one night, grant money would be needed, Zody said. The work that the Nettle Creek Players are doing on the show is a step in that direction.
“It was just so full of promise … with characters that were just crying out to be on stage,” Zody said.
Nettle Creek Players members Julie Lyn Barber and her husband, Darrin Murrell, were both involved in the original show, Barber as assistant producer and Murrell on harmonica. Over the past nine months, Barber has been reworking the script, which she calls her “baby,” to make it more manageable as a fully staged production.
The original show had about 20 characters; they’ve been pared down to about six or eight, she said.
She’s also aware that people seeing the show might not know the history of Brown County, so some tweaks are being made to help introduce the characters. “We’ll be able to include some more storytelling aspects, too, rather than watch people be other people for the whole show, and it has a little more interaction with the audience,” Barber said.
She’s hoping that the musical can remind the audience of tales they used to hear in their own communities — “things from that shared past we all have, where, ‘That sounds like a story I once heard, but I don’t really remember who told me that story.’”
As a staged reading, the characters probably won’t be wearing costumes, and they will be reading from scripts rather than reciting memorized lines, Barber said. One of this aims for this one-night-only performance will be to test how well the characters and the script connect with the audience. “Audience feedback is really important to develop this for the next level,” she said.
The show could be brought back to the Playhouse as a full musical as early as next year, Murrell said.
Bustin, writer of the “If You Don’t Outdie Me” book, likely will be at the Aug. 16 show, Zody said.
Many of the people Hohenberger immortalized in his photos and newspaper columns didn’t like being made into characters, or the fact that tourists were being drawn here to marvel at their quaintness. Many longtime locals never accepted him as one of their own though he lived here for 20 years, Bustin wrote. They saw his chronicling of their conversations, their manner of speaking and their way of life as offensive or mocking.
Hohenberger kept working despite some residents’ resistance — and it’s a good thing he did.
“How well may we know them today?” Bustin wrote. “Through the sustained and detailed efforts of Frank Hohenberger we may appreciate the words and images of a select few. Thanks to his achievement we can be better acquainted with these individuals than curious visitors could have been in their own time.”
Zody, a longtime local herself, knows the musical isn’t a true portrayal of old Brown County. “Some of it’s just legend,” in the tradition of the courthouse Liar’s Bench.
“But it’s like any other story that lasts long enough; it morphs,” she said.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”If you go” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
WHAT: “If You Don’t Outdie Me,” a musical about historic Brown County characters, performed by 14 Hoosier actors/musicians from the Nettle Creek Players. This is a workshopped version of a 2014 show written by Ball State University students.
WHERE: Brown County Playhouse, 70 S. Van Buren St.
WHEN: Thursday, Aug. 16. Show starts at 7:30 p.m.; a finger-foods buffet, cash bar and silent auction start at 5:30 p.m. for specific ticketholders.
WHY: To benefit the Brown County Playhouse, a 69-year-old nonprofit community theater
TICKETS: $55.50 for buffet, silent auction and show; $24.50 for show only. Available at browncountyplayhouse.org.
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The “If You Don’t Outdie Me” performance on Thursday night will be followed by six performances of a different show, “Hoosier Harmony,” also by the Nettle Creek Players. It will feature the music of Indiana-born composers such as Cole Porter, Hoagy Carmichael, the Hoosier Hotshots, Michael Jackson, John Mellencamp, John Hiatt, The Ink Spots and Harry Von Tilzer. All ages are welcome.
Choreographer Julie Lyn Barber said the playlist will include “On the Banks of the Wabash,” “Georgia On My Mind,” “Hang On Sloopy,” “Don’t Fence Me In,” several numbers by the Jackson Five and some “one-hit wonders.”
WHERE: Brown County Playhouse, 70 S. Van Buren St.
WHEN:
- 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 17
- 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 18
- 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 24
- 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25
- 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26
TICKETS: $19.50 for adults, $18.50 for seniors and military, $7.50 for students and children, available at browncountyplayhouse.org.
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