Nuttin’ much happens in Holeinroad, a pair of narrators explain at the outset of “Holder Posey, the Felonious Photographer.”
With one exception. And it’s a hum-dinger… inger… inger.
A TALENTED cast of young actors will bring Billy St. John’s melodrama to Riverside Park Friday and Saturday for Allen Community College’s Summer Play in the Park.
“Holder Posey” follows the goings-on of one fateful day in Holeinroad, a small Old West community devastated by a recent lightning storm that caused its only bank to burn down.
Not all is lost. A local saloon owner happens to have a vault to double as the town’s repository until a new bank is built. Even better, the town is due to receive a sizable bonus from Western Union if it can store a passing shipment of cash overnight.
But as fate would have it, the shipment coincides with the arrival of a new stranger in town, Holder Posey, a ne’er-do-well photographer intent on keeping his other identity as a notorious bank robber secret.
And, as in any quality melodrama, Holder has an accomplice: the lovely, albeit blind-as-a-bat Candide Cameron.
The pair — Cody Cokely as Holder and Molly McEwan as Candide — are a delight. Their incessant bickering over items large and small will leave the audience in stitches (when they’re not booing incessantly).
And what’s a melodrama without its hero and heroine? Roy Anderson and Kailey Boyd are newcomers to the ACC summer play series. Here’s hoping they return frequently. Anderson is the stoic Drew Deline, a struggling young artist hopelessly in love with Boyd’s Ida Claire Yawl, Holeinroad’s new schoolmarm. Boyd shines with her southern belle accent and small-town charm.
Can the fiendish Holder get out of town with his ill-gotten gains, and almost as importantly, drive a wedge between the two love birds?
Find out at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday south of the stone shelter house in Riverside Park. Admission is free. Audience members are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating.
AS HAS become a tradition under Tony Piazza’s direction, the strength of the melodrama comes from the remainder of the 18-member ensemble.
Maggie Terhune is a riot as Nurse Cutter, who comes by her name naturally. She’s eager to find a patient on whom she can operate, usually whether they need it or not.
Madison Luken is the memorable Winnie Gallop, a Pony Express rider who takes her job a bit more seriously than her hygiene. Her presence is noted in more ways than one (sight and smell).
Nick Thomsen is Sheriff Freddy Katt, Holeinroad’s chief lawman, who notes sheepishly that he’s never had to bring in a criminal. His sidekick, Deputy “Deadeye” Seymour Orb, known to locals as Zach St. Clair, is a bit more aggressive. Try not to say “shoot” too close to Ole’ Deadeye.
Krista Nelson and Katie Terhune are the town gossips, Gilda Lillie and Echo Chambers. They sparkle on stage as they help advance the story and clue the crowd into important elements of the story. Their timing is impeccable; their inflection even better. As her name suggests, Terhune caps each sentence by repeating the last syllable of each word shey says… ays …ays.
