Theatre At Lime Kiln Announces Changes To Summer Schedule

Theatre at Lime Kiln today announced two changes to the summer schedule. On Thursday, July 29th the Traveling Players Ensemble will perform Shakespeare's MacBeth in the Bowl, starting at 7:30pm. On Friday, August 21st, Eddie from Ohio returns after a five year gap to perform in the Bowl.

"We always have something exciting happening at Lime Kiln," said Executive Director Kim Renz. "The Westfield Shakespeare Festival was forced to cancel their tour of Much Ado About Nothing in August, so we reached out and found two great replacements."

Traveling Players Ensemble is a touring theatre company based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, with the mission to bring great theatre into the great outdoors by training teenagers to perform classical theatre in ampitheatres. The company's programs reflect the very origins of theatre, when troupes of actors roamed the ancient and later the medieval countryside, relying on the barest props and the boldest imagination to convey their art.
The company is committed to superior artistic work and innovative arts education, while being aligned with and supported by leaders in the environmental movement. In 2006 the Traveling Troupe was launched to take the most advanced students, which follows a professional touring schedule. The Traveling Troupe has toured to such locations as Skyline Drive, Canaan Valley Resort, Douthat State Park, Snowshoe Resort and Colonial Williamsburg.
MacBeth will be offered as a "pay-as-you-will" event, which Lime Kiln does on occasion as a public service. "We want everyone who wants to experience the show to come, regardless of ability to pay or not," said Renz. "As Director of the National Endowment Dana Gioia says, ‘A great nation deserves great art.' And great art like Shakespeare is too important to our lives and to the future of this country to depend on a ticket price. Sometimes we have to hope that those who can will help those who cannot pay for great art."

"When we started planning for this season, I had hoped to produce MacBeth in the Kiln, using professional actors alongside our community members and area students. I hope that this model program will illustrate what we may be able to with youth in the Rockbridge County area in the near future. Youth are the future of Lime Kiln, if we are to regain our spot as a regional theatre force," said Renz

Eddie from Ohio is a Lime Kiln favorite. Too energetic to be labeled just "folk" and not angry enough to be pegged "alternative," Eddie from Ohio continues to defy description with their unique blend of vocals and acoustic instrumentation. A bedrock foundation of hand and stick percussion and a textural flavoring of guitar/bass/harmonica support the four-part harmonies and lyrically-driven original music. While this combination has drawn comparisons like the Grateful Dead meets Peter, Paul & Mary, or like Jewel fronts the Bare Naked Ladies, EFO fuses a multitude of musical influences to create their own trademark sound. Performing Songwriter writes, "The manic strumminess recalls Ani DiFranco or Dave Matthews, but there's also a deep undercurrent of high, lonesome mountain harmony that should appeal to fans of Alison Krauss and Union Station."

With this trademark sound, EFO has produced nine CDs independently (selling upwards of 150,000 copies to date), toured from Florida to Washington State, cultivated massive postal and email lists, received air play from hundreds of radio stations worldwide, been invited to play the Main Stage at prestigious festivals like Philadelphia Folk, Falcon Ridge Folk Festival (Hillsdale, NY), Telluride Bluegrass Festival (CO) and Strawberry Music Festival (CA), appeared on syndicated radio programs Mountain Stage, West Coast Live and World Cafe, & were awarded "Best Contemporary Folk Group" by the Washington Area Music Association six times since 1997.

Not bad for a Virginia-based band that began in 1991 playing covers in neighborhood bars when three James Madison University graduates (Robbie Schaefer, Eddie Hartness & Michael Clem) teamed up with Virginia Tech alumnae Julie Murphy (now Murphy Wells). After a popular seven year Tuesday night residency at Bad Habits Grille in Arlington, VA, EFO graduated from town taverns to renowned listening rooms and concert series throughout the country, where their tight harmonies and humorous lyrics, set against an eclectic array of musical forms, can be featured to best advantage. Since signing with a national booking agent in 1996, the band has covered the country, from The Somerville Theater outside of Boston to The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco.

Gates and concessions open at 6:30pm and performances commence at 7:30pm. For more information about the season and ticket pricing, go to theateratlimekiln.com or call the Lime Kiln office at 540-463-7088.

Upcoming Theater at Lime Kiln 2009 Performances
July 25 Gary Ruley and Mule Train in Concert
July 29 Traveling Players Ensemble - MacBeth
August 8 Juggler/Comedian Mark Nizer
August 16 The Seldom Scene in Concert
August 21 Eddie from Ohio in Concert
Office: 540-473-7088
Website: theateratlimekiln.com