RANSOM to Play Town Hall Theater, 11/1

The White River Valley Players' acclaimed production of "Ransom," an original drama based on the Civil War letters of Ransom Towle, a young soldier from West Rochester, plays Middlebury's Town Hall Theater on Saturday, November 1 at 7:30 p.m.

"Ransom" was first produced four years ago, to mark the sesquicentennial of the beginning of the Civil War. That original production was so well-received--becoming the subject of newspaper articles around the state, and mounted as a professional production by Lost Nation Theater in Montpelier in 2013--that the Players decided to produce it again, to mark the 150th anniversary of the end of the war.

The Middlebury performance is the second stop on a three-town tour, which also includes the WRVP home base, Rochester High School Auditorium, and the Chandler Music Hall in Randolph.

Rochester's monument to local soldiers who fought in the Civil War is the focal point of the park in the center of the village. The second name on the south side is that of Lieutenant Ransom W. Towle, a 25-year-old medical student, farmer, devoted son and brother turned soldier who, during the war, wrote many letters home to his family in West Rochester.

Towle, who became a Civil War hero, was born in 1838 to Rufus and Sebra Towle in that part of the town of Goshen that would later become the West Hill and Bingo areas of Rochester. He is buried in the Bingo Cemetery.

Rochester resident Joe Schenkman was researching West Rochester (once a separate town from Rochester, with its own post office) at the Vermont Historical Society when he came across a box containing 31 letters, a diary, and a printed narrative, all written by Towle. The letters were all from the camps and battlefields, and the diary had day-to-day notes, recording letters sent and received. The narrative told the tale of his capture by the Rebels, his escape as they were marching him to Andersonville Prison, and his amazing journey back to Union lines.

Schenkman transcribed Towle's letters, and composer and music director Dorothy Robson of Hancock came up with the idea of using a theatrical event to give the letters a wide audience. Playwright Dick Robson, with collaboration from Schenkman and intern, April Dodd; composers Dorothy Robson and Jake Wildwood; and director and dramatist Ethan Bowen, formed a creative team. The White River Valley Players agreed to produce the resulting play.

The team decided that the creation would be a "play-with-music" (differing from a musical in that leading characters would not sing). The composers would use music from the Civil War era and they would also create original music.

The script uses many verbatim passages from Ransom's letters, as well as from letters written by his neighbor Joshua Whitney, who enlisted at age 51, leaving a 14-year-old son to run his farm. No letters written back to these men by their families and friends exist, but letters from other Vermont women to their husbands were found. The two worlds, home and battlefield, co-exist on the stage as letters are read by their writers and recipients.

Tickets for the Town Hall Theater performance of "Ransom" on November 1 are available through the Box Office: 802-382-9222, www.townhalltheater.org, or in person Monday - Saturday, noon - 5:00 pm.