WILMINGTON — At the request of the Wilmington town clerk for “something patriotic,” the Deerfield Valley Players is presenting a production of “1776,” a musical that was first performed on Broadway in 1969. The local show is part of the town’s celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in collaboration with the Vermont 250th Anniversary Commission.
Beginning in 1997 with “The Pirates of Penzance,” the Deerfield Valley Players is a Wilmington-based community theater troupe. The summer production of “1776” is directed by Diana Stugger, with musical direction by Barbara Lipstadt, technical direction and set design by John Iverson, Katherine Chandler as the stage manager, and Liz Hoffman as the co-stage manager.
“It’s huge,” said Lipstadt, when comparing “1776” to other productions the troupe has performed. “It’s funny, it’s poignant. It says everything it needs to say … The songs are not bigger; [they’re] not too big of a deal, but just the whole concept of this is a bit harder.” Lipdstadt has been with the Players since “Penzance” as its musical director — 18 productions over the course of 30 years.
“It’s easy for people to think of these [founders] as pictures on money, or portraits — so they’re not real.” said Veda Crewe, who is playing John Hancock. Performing Hancock, Crewe believes it’s her job to bring humanity to the role, and dimensions beyond the dollar bill.
As something relatively common in many theater productions, while all but two characters in “1776” are presented as male, many of the roles are still played by women. “I have to set aside my natural instinct, my natural instinct as being a woman to try to understand something of what John Hancock was like,” said Crewe. “I don’t pretend that I [will] be completely convincing the audience that I’m a man.”
“1776” is a very relevant show right now — many of the things the characters in it are fighting against are happening today, said Iverson, who is technical director, set designer and also portraying John Adams on-stage. The show “really brings home to you what is happening politically in this country,” said Iverson. “Twenty years ago, I could never imagine what was happening now could possibly happen in this country. And yet it is.”
According to Iverson, performing the show will hopefully make a difference somewhere — maybe not in the country at large, but at least in Wilmington, Vermont. “You gotta change what you can change where you can change it,” he said.
“We either have to stand together or not do anything,” said Crewe. “Can we stand together? Can we agree on things? … This show illustrates the disagreement about what should be done … and what the solution is.”
“Theater often points at different social issues,” added Iverson. “It’s [not that] we’re going to resolve them, but if we make people aware of that … [we’re brought] a step close to [getting resolved].”
“A piece of theater is successful when people walk away from it, and a few days later, they’re still thinking about [it] — then, we’ve done our job.” said Crewe.
Katherine Chandler, an incoming freshman to Middlebury College, has been with the Players since last years’ production of “The Addams Family.” As stage manager, Chandler monitors attendance, gives run-downs of rehearsals and gives everybody reports of what was covered in rehearsals, as well as the director’s notes, she said.
“I think that it is important to learn about our history, but also to really reflect on why things have changed — or how things have changed, and why they’ve changed, or why they haven’t changed.” said Chandler on putting on “1776.” “Even though we’re not at war with Britain, and I hope we’ll never be again … a lot of the themes ring true and [are] salient, too.”
George Adair, who is playing Benjamin Franklin, is the “resident character actor” of the Players, for over 30 years. The Founding Fathers were the “original gangsters,” according to Adair. “They were risking [their] lives … It’s a shame there doesn’t seem to be anybody in our politics nowadays that are willing to do that.”
Rob Lawrence, playing Charles Thompson, is new to the world of theater — the last time he was on stage was 55 years ago, in sixth grade. Doing work with the Players “has been a lot of fun,” he said. “I watch a lot of movies, I go to a lot of plays, so I felt like I had some kind of feel for [acting].”
“There were plenty of people of color during the Revolutionary War that made contributions of all sorts — none of them were in the continental congress, obviously,” said Lawrence, on being a Black man portraying a Founding Father. To Lawrence, the concept of diversity casting is not a problem; he brought up the other Revolution-focused musical, “Hamilton,” as an example.
“These [the Fathers] were very flawed individuals. Some were incredibly brilliant and incredibly dynamic — Thomas Jefferson’s a perfect example,” explained Lawrence. “The principle[s] [of the Declaration] are things that we, even today, should be aiming for … That all men are created equal, that no men should live in tyranny — that no people should live in tyranny … You have to put everything in perspective.”
The Deerfield Valley Players’ production of “1776” premieres this Friday, July 24, at 7 p.m., with evening performances on July 25, July 31 and Aug. 1, and a matinee performance on July 26 at 2 p.m. To purchase tickets, visit https://www.friendsofthehallvt.org/shows/1776-the-musical.
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