News

Happy New Year – a few weeks and one Winter Storm Fern late…

A lot has happened since my last post. Let me sum up the fall and Christmas of 2025 real quick:

AT BARTER

The Barter Players’ production of THE CALL OF THE WILD had a great run in Smith Theatre. It was good to see the Pack in action again, serving in the harness, toiling in the traces, all for the honor of the sled dog!

The Barter Players followed up with their production of JINGLE ALL THE WAY on Gilliam Stage. This was the first time James Hendley directed for The Players, and he smashed it! It’s a wacky take on sibling rivalry, sugar addiction, and the high-stress environment known as Santa’s workshop in the runup to Christmas. All set to the wonderful music of Dax Dupuy.

Meanwhile, the Barter ENCORE Players toured the east coast with I WANT A HIPPOPOTAMUS FOR CHRISTMAS – again, music by Dax Dupuy. A great group of humans/actors – their audiences were well served!

And to finish out Christmas at Barter was a brand new play I wrote called THE INNKEEPER’S WIFE. As always, with a new work, changes were made up to the last minute, but the two actors starring in it – Paris Bradstreet and Michael Poisson – handled the changes/cuts like champs. The result – a play of which I am enormously proud. Highest compliment received – “I loved it. It wasn’t at all what I thought it would be.” Kudos to director John Hardy, who also dramaturged this piece. He’s a genius. And of course, this play would never have been written if not for the inspiring life of my favorite midwife and dear friend, Leah Terhune. Thanks, doll – I love you.

AT OTHER THEATRES

My adaptation of IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE had productions at Clemson Little Theatre and Nashville Rep. I’m so excited to see this one grow legs. I love the theatricality of this piece!

And FROSTY had a production at St. Croix Festival Theatre in Wisconsin. Talk about a show with legs! The Best Snowman Ever has seen a lot of this country because of ENCORE tours, but this is the first time he’s traveled this far west. A big shoutout to former Player Lindsey Fry for recommending it!

Onward to 2026!

Got a lot going on – which is so very exciting.

UPCOMING BARTER THEATRE PRODUCTIONS

BOOK WOMAN – a new musical Dax and I have written about the Appalachian Packhorse Library will be given its first reading at Barter’s Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights. We worked our butts off to get this done in time – excited to hear it read and sung.

THE THREE MUSKETEERS – my 17-person adaptation has been pared down to 9 actors, which not only makes it more produceable, but much more hilarious. A swashbuckling good time at this Spring at Gilliam Stage!

GRANDMA GATEWOOD TOOK A WALK – our favorite Appalachian Trail hiker Emma Gatewood finds her way back to the Smith Theatre stage this summer for a limited run.

KINGS MOUNTAIN, a brand new play will be produced on the Smith Theatre stage this fall. Here’s the blurb:

Kings Mountain — the battle that turned the tide of the Revolutionary War and eventually led to American Independence. But how did we get there? Barter actors in a theatrical tour-de-force lead us through the events that surround that fateful day, giving us a glimpse into the world of Overmountain Men and the women who loved them, English kings and the soldiers who served them, and enslaved Americans who wondered what Liberty could possibly mean for them. Commissioned by VA250, this is an experience you don’t want to miss.

I’m in the throes of rewrites on this one – just finished first draft of new Act One. Onward!

WOODEN SNOWFLAKES – a Barter favorite, this two-hander will run Christmas season at Smith Theatre.

UPCOMING BARTER PLAYER PRODUCTIONS

ALICE IN WONDERLAND has been turned into a musical with the help of magical composer Dax Dupuy and is currently touring the east coast with the Barter ENCORE Players.

PETER PAN will run at Gilliam Stage this spring.

THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER will run at Smith Theatre this fall.

HERE COMES SUZY SNOWFLAKE is a brand new musical Dax and I are concocting. It will run at Gilliam Stage this Christmas season. Draft 1 is done – we’ll hit rewrites this summer.

FROSTY and I WANT A HIPPOPOTAMUS FOR CHRISTMAS will both be touring with the Barter ENCORE Players this Christmas season.

And as if this embarrassment of riches wasn’t enough – here’s a few more…

UPCOMING PRODUCTIONS AT OTHER THEATRES

THE THREE MUSKETEERS – U.C San Diego (California), February
GRANDMA GATEWOOD TOOK A WALK – Ferrum College (Virginia), February
GRANDMA GATEWOOD TOOK A WALK – Florida Studio Theatre (Florida), February
GRANDMA GATEWOOD TOOK A WALK – Public Theatre (Maine), May