I met Patricia Hill-Davidson of Warrenton two years ago when we did a stage reading of Marching Through Culpeper. She heard about the event through another actor and called to volunteer. Her warm outgoing personality and laugh were captivating. After she read the part of Selene, she let me know she was one hundred percent committed to the project. Patricia founded Kapak Talent Direct, a casting agency, to help lesser known but talented performers gain roles. Her life is about helping others realize their dreams and encouraging them to undertake new challenges. And she has been a tremendous friend to me and an enormous help to us in the casting process.

We are blessed to have a woman of great faith and wisdom play Sadie, a beloved character of great faith and wisdom. Patricia has walked my faith walk with me for the last two years, both the ups and the downs, by constantly telling me, “Virginia, God hasn’t gotten us this far to desert us now.” Knowing I had the perfect Sadie ready, willing, and waiting in the wings has been a key ingredient to bringing this story to the stage. Sadie is the rock that gets Constance through the war and without a great Sadie, we wouldn’t have much of a show.

Patricia is a very busy lady who will soon receive her hard-earned college degree. But when she walks onto the stage as Sadie she will also be moving into new territory. Her acting experience has been in film. She says, “I’m basically a cut and let’s do it again person.”

But I am confident that when audiences fall in love with her, she will fall in love with theater. Be prepared to meet a Sadie who will make you laugh and bring tears to your eyes.

Patricia says, “When I read the script for Sadie, I felt the enormous strength she possessed. I also felt the deep love she has for Constance while protecting her through the trials and tribulations of war.

My dream is to be able to bring Sadie to life so the audience feels the love she has in her heart for Constance. My hope is to one day see Marching Through Culpeper on the big screen!”

A recent newcomer to Culpeper, Maddison Stainback, will walk onto the Eastern View High School stage as Constance Armstrong—headstrong heroine of the story. The Spotswood High School graduate teaches music at St. Luke’s school and gives private guitar lessons. She’s played the guitar since age five and says, “Music has always been a part of my life. Singing the original songs written for Constance will be a real joy.”

Stainback bubbles with enthusiasm about being Constance and feels she shares many similarities with the character. She says, “I keep dreaming about Constance at night. I dream that I am on the stage and that every time I cry for her, I’m crying for me. And it’s like she and I are both in the same body, understanding each other in mourning, but pushing each other in perseverance. I’ve had some tough times in my life so I identify with her.”

Honored to have the opportunity to bring Constance to a wide audience, she concludes, “What strikes me is that, by stripping her of her possessions and family, we see how pure her character is. Constance stays steadfast in Culpeper, overcoming the worst while remaining the best she can be. She’s a fighter and a bit rambunctious along the way. That’s why I love her.”

And Stainback surely shares the emotions of the love story since she will be walking down the aisle with her beloved on June 2.

Constance’s love interest, Maine soldier Aaron Ames, will be played by John Flemming, a sophomore at East Carolina University. The Musical Theater and Professional Acting double major has been in four productions at East Carolina. While at Eastern View High School he performed in numerous shows including several at Riverside Dinner Theater in Fredericksburg.

Flemming is intrigued at the thought of bringing Culpeper’s Civil War inhabitants to life on stage. He says, “Being a part of something this big for my hometown is going to be incredibly rewarding. And I am honored to be a part of it.”

He is currently working with a dialog coach to learn the Maine brogue. He feels, “Preparation for Marching Through Culpeper will be different from any other show I have done, because I get to study Culpeper’s history and delve into the particular period when bringing Ames to life.”

According to author Virginia Morton, Taylor Ballard read the part of Confederate scout Frank Stringfellow at the stage reading of the script in 2010. She says, “Taylor was totally uninhibited and not daunted by donning a ball dress or portraying any of the other true antics of the irrepressible Frank Stringfellow. Taylor is slender, the right age, and we’re delighted to have him in the role. He will keep the audience on the edge of their seats and laughing along the way.”

Now a freshman theater major at Virginia Commonwealth University, Ballard has appeared in more than a dozen shows in Culpeper and also starred in an independent movie, Kidney Beans, filmed in Warrenton.

Ballard is looking forward to the show. He says, “I remember how much fun the stage reading was, so I said yes.”

Another performer from the 2010 stage reading, Patricia Hill-Davidson, will portray Constance’s beloved former mammy Sadie.  The Warrenton resident founded Kapak Talent Direct, a casting agency, to help lesser known but talented performers gain roles.

Hill-Davidson is moving into new territory as a stage actress. Her previous acting experience has been in film. She says, “I’m basically a cut and let’s do it again person.”

“When I read the script for Sadie, I felt the enormous strength she possessed. I also felt the deep love she has for Constance while protecting her through the trials and tribulations of war.

My dream is to be able to bring Sadie to life so the audience feels the love she has for Constance. My hope is to one day see Marching Through Culpeper on the big screen.”

Directors Johncie and Tim Carlson have scheduled auditions for the remaining 25+ cast members for May 5 and May 6 at 2:30 p.m. and May 8 at 6:30 p.m. at Culpeper United Methodist Church. Use the lower parking lot and enter by the door on the right. Soldiers, townspeople young and old—both Caucasian and African-American— are needed. See www.marchingthroughculpeperonstage.com/auditions/ for details. Contact Johncie Carlson johncie@studiocphoto.com with questions or to volunteer to help on the stage crew.

Here’s what she says about being Constance: 

When I heard I got the part, I called everyone in my family. I’m just honored to be a part of Virginia Morton’s dream and pray that I can become the character she created. 

I keep dreaming about Constance at night. I dream that I am on the stage and that every time I cry for her, I’m crying for me. And it’s like she and I are both in the same body, understanding each other in mourning, but pushing each other in perseverance. I feel honored to be trusted with this character, and I pray that I can not only do her justice on stage, but help sell her to whatever future God has in mind for her. 

Constance is this powerful concoction of character. She is what modern women should aspire to become: intelligent, opinionated, honest, selfless, dedicated, and so much more. Not that I am anything close to the paragon of womanhood Constance is, but I feel like she and I have a lot in common, and that, by reading her in my home and playing her on stage, I will reap some catharsis of my own emotional struggles and hopefully help others to experience that same catharsis as well. 

Of course, while the plot of the script seems to focus on the love story, it also shows everything painful in the world stripping this happy, powerful woman of her life. What strikes me is that, by stripping her of her life (of the things that most women let define them: family, friends, luxuries, habits, schedules), we see just how pure her actual character is. She doesn’t change. She is constant. That purity is what fuels her perseverance.Constance stays steadfast in Culpeper, overcoming the worst while remaining the best she can be. 

“Rod has given us beautifully haunting love songs with universal appeal that not only fit the Civil War era, but speak to modern audiences,” says Virginia Morton, author of the historical novel Marching Through Culpeper and the stage script by the same name. “It’s fantastic that two of our songs will be recorded before we even bring the show to the stage.”

What amazing sequence of events connected Morton to Washington state songwriter Rod Stone, to California promoter Dave Yancey, to Nashville music arranger Dave Huntsinger?

“Prayer,” Morton says. She started weekly prayer conference calls in 2007 with a core group of her readers across the country. The group began praying for her Civil War novel Marching Through Culpeper to be made into a movie. Minnesota native Rick Heeren of Harvest Evangelism, who visited Culpeper on several occasions to teach community transformation through prayer, joined the calls. In 2008 his book Marketplace Miracles highlighted the faith journeys of people who were taking their faith into the marketplace. Morton’s story caught the eye of Carrie Stone, wife of song writer Rod Stone. Carrie contacted Heeren and suggested that her husband write the music for the Marching Through Culpeper movie.

Rod Stone spent twenty years in Nashville where he had several songs recorded in the Country genre from artists like George Hamilton IV, Ricky Lee Watson, Crystal Gayle, and Jeff and Sheri Easter to Lee Greenwood who recorded and released his song, USA Today for the twenty-fifth anniversary of his famous song, God Bless the USA.”

After reading Marching Through Culpeper, Stone began turning out songs that Virginia Morton called, “Perfect! They brought tears to my eyes!” Eventually the movie concept was transformed into a stage musical with the hope that someday this production will lead to a movie.

Dave Yancey, song promoter said he admired Stone’s song, USA Today, and contacted him about it, thus beginning their friendship. When Yancey heard these two Marching Through Culpeper songs for the first time, the sound of war was long gone, and in his heart he heard the gentle yet powerful words of two people dedicating their lives to each other with the commitment that, Their Union Shall Be Strong. Dave believed the song was both pre- and post-wedding music in a message that never grows old or out of vogue.”

Yancey was caught off guard when he heard the words to the twin song, My Love Will Never Die. He said, “The same beautiful emotion swelled up in his heart again.  And from a marketing perspective this song speaks of a love relationship that is seasoned and when tried and tested, embraces the assurance that My Love Will Never Die. These twin songs have a natural fit for funeral settings, as well as love relationships.”

Yancey intends to market the sheet music and CDs of the songs through his Sacramento based company, Creative Marketing Plus. Dave believes the dual application will be immediately embraced and give a fresh face on Love and Loss that can only be experienced through these newly inspired songs written by Rod Stone.

David Huntsinger, pianist, composer, songwriter, and arranger, moved from his native California to Nashville, TN, in 1976 and played for the Rambos. He co-wrote the song, Holy Spirit, Thou Art Welcome, with Dottie Rambo, as well as the children’s musical, Down By The Creek Bank.  In 1979 he left the Rambos to pursue a career as a studio pianist. He wrote and arranged music for the 1989 Grammy-winning album A Child’s Gift of Lullabyes, and arranged for and co-produced Andy Griffith’s 1996 Grammy-winning album, I Love To Tell The Story: 25 Timeless Hymns. He has worked with many artists, such as Sandi Patti, Steve Green, Kathy Troccoli, Michael Crawford, Glen Campbell, Carman, Larnelle Harris, Johnny Cash, and Dolly Parton. He toured with Vince Gill for a Christmas tour in 1999, and in 2001 for the Amy Grant/Vince Gill Christmas tour. He has also written a number of children’s musicals, as well as produced many albums of his own original works and arrangements. He played the piano for An Unfinished Life, and contributed to two songs heard in The Great Debaters.

Huntsinger says, “When Rod Stone called me to help him arrange and record two songs that he wrote for a theatrical production of Morton’s Marching Through Culpeper I was excited. I love history and music from the American Civil War era. Then Virginia sent me her novel, which enthralled me from the first page. Very soon I felt as though I was in Culpeper County, Virginia 150 years ago. I knew if the play captured the heart-tugging story that I’d read in Morton’s novel, it would be compelling on stage.”

Huntsinger stated, “I have known Rod Stone and his songs for almost twenty years, and when I heard the first two written for this production, I was struck by their timelessness and universality. They reflect his sophisticated song craftsmanship, a skill honed in Rod’s years as a commercial songwriter in Nashville, but they also sound as though they could have been written in the 19th century.”

“The timeless classic quality of these songs must in a theatrical work not only define setting and time, but also transcend it,” said Huntsinger. “The upcoming Nashville recordings will feature compelling, American voices to portray the lead characters Constance and Aaron. We will also work with musicians whose credits include contributions to films like Cold Mountain and O, Brother, Where Art Thou? I look forward to these recording sessions and to capturing the heart of Rod Stone’s songs in the service of what I believe will be a stellar production.”

When asked why someone from the West Coast would want to invest so much time in a Civil War story, Stone responded, “Truth! This story is dripping with real events and real history in a high-paced, dramatic form. Also, the characters were very captivating to me—Constance Armstrong, Aaron Ames and Frank Stringfellow in particular. Their personalities were so well defined that it was a joy to write their songs.”

The search is on for talented performers/singers to bring these three beloved characters of Constance, Aaron and Stringfellow to life. The fourth key role to be cast is that of Sadie Jordan, Constance’s over 40 mammy.

To give college students and working adults ample opportunity to audition for the four leading roles, auditions will be held on Sundays, March 4 and 11 at Culpeper United Methodist Church, 1233 Oaklawn Drive, Culpeper, Virginia 22701 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.; and Tuesday, March 6 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

For more information see http://www.marchingthroughculpeperonstage.com/auditions/ or contact Patricia Hill-Davidson of Kapak Talent Direct kapakdt.patricia@hotmail.com,  (571) 275-1069.

A historic Culpeper book will be hitting the stage this summer.

Virginia Morton’s novel “Marching Through Culpeper” will be performed on the stage Aug. 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 2012 at Eastern View High School as part of the Civil War Sesquicentennial commemoration.

Aug. 3-4 and 10-11 will be at 7:30 p.m. and the Aug. 5 and 12 will be at 2:30 p.m.

Morton, who wrote the book several years ago, says the process to bring it to the stage has been a long and arduous one.

“Initially we began focusing on a screen play and I wrote a mini series,” Morton said. “Then a lot of my readers were saying ‘you could do it on stage.’ I thought ‘not possible.’ We actually started working on the stage production well over a year ago.”

The play went through a stage reading and revisions before being able to be presented on the stage.

“The organization has taken a long time, it’s been a huge amount of work,” Morton said.

Morton and the Friends of Cedar Mountain Battlefield — which will be using the play as a way to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the battle — have chosen Culpeper residents Johncie and Tim Carlson to direct the stage production along with assistance from Eastern View High School drama teacher, Jeff Walker.

“As we really backed off and thought about who is going to bring the best talent to this production and who people in this community will want to work with – it was just obvious it was the Carlsons,” Morton said. “They have been involved in theater ever since they’ve been in Culpeper. They’re well-liked and respected.”

The play will follow the characters of Morton’s book — Constance Armstrong, Aaron Ames, Frank Stringfellow and Sadie — as they navigate love, life and the Civil War in Culpeper County.

“My motivation for writing ‘Marching Through Culpeper’ was to promote tourism and battlefield preservation. This is an exciting way to reach larger audiences and broaden those goals. I am thankful for the enthusiastic support of my readers and their many prayers that have helped us persevere,” Morton said.

Morton pointed out that the play will make Culpeper a unique tourist destination during the commemoration, as it may be the only community presenting the Civil War story on stage.

“Culpeper is so fortunate to have some very exciting events planned for the Sesquicentennial of the Battle of Cedar Mountain next year,” Culpeper Tourism Director Lori Sorrentino said. “Culpeper’s Civil War history holds a strong attraction for visitors, particularly our heritage travelers, and the events planned around Marching through Culpeper on Stage will be an excellent addition to tourism. How many other localities are telling their Civil War story on stage?”

Morton hopes the play will attract tour buses of retired groups and women’s groups to the town.

“This could have a great impact on restaurants in town and sightseeing areas like Brandy Station,” FoCM member Melanie Chambers said.

Morton said the group will hold an organizational meeting Jan. 19 at the EVHS forum and potential actors, singers and musicians are invited to attend. To volunteer call Diane Logan at 727-8840 or email dianelogan@aol.com or visit marchingthroughculpeperonstage.com.

Morton said they hope to audition roles in the early spring and already have certain people in mind for roles.

Tickets for the production will be $18 for adults in advance, $20 at the door and $9 in advance for children under 18 and $10 at the door.

“It is a light at the end of the tunnel, it is a huge undertaking,” Morton said. “If it’s popular it can become a yearly event that draws in tourism. Let’s be honest, people don’t read much anymore. This will reach a whole audience that wouldn’t take the time to sit down and read the book. I’m hoping they become intrigued enough they want to read the book.”

The Civil War Sesquicentennial is generating unprecedented excitement and an enormous upswing in tourism. The Friends of Cedar Mountain Battlefield are spearheading efforts to capitalize on this tourism opportunity in a unique way. Virginia Morton’s popular Civil War novel will be brought to life in 2012 during six multimedia performances at Eastern  View High School. Evening performances are August 3, 4, 10 and 11 at 7:30 p.m. and matinees are August 5 and 12 at 2:30 p.m. This show will serve as the cornerstone event of two weekends of stirring and varied activities planned to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Cedar Mountain.

According to Cate Magennis Wyatt, Journey Through Hallowed Ground Executive Director, “Prince William, Fauquier, and Culpeper counties have a four-year window that is the equivalent of an Olympic moment.”

Culpeper Tourism director Lori Sorrentino agrees saying, “Culpeper is so fortunate to have some very exciting events planned for the Sesquicentennial of the Battle of Cedar Mountain next year. Culpeper’s Civil War history holds a strong attraction for visitors, particularly our heritage travelers, and the events planned around Marching Through Culpeper on Stage will be an excellent addition to tourism. How many other localities are telling their Civil War story on stage?”

Diane Logan, president of the Friends of Cedar Mountain Battlefield (FCMB) says, “We are fortunate to have the author of a book that has sold over 10,000 copies and garnered 50 five-star reviews on Amazon. A large audience is waiting to see this story of love across the battle lines. This is our chance to tell the world the saga of ‘the most marched across county’ of the Civil War in an entertaining manner. And I assure you, the daring adventures of Culpeper native Confederate scout Frank Stringfellow will prove more hair-raising on stage than in print.”

FCMB board member and chairman of the “Marching Through Culpeper on Stage Committee,” Dale Duvall, indicates that members of the Brandy Station Foundation, the Germanna Colonies Foundation, the State Theater Foundation, Culpeper Public Schools, and Stageworks of Culpeper are working with FCMB to stage this show. Profits will be donated to battlefield and historic preservation in Culpeper County.

Duvall says, “This is the birth of a show that can grow in many directions within Culpeper and around the state.  It will clearly serve as the perfect centerpiece to attract tourists to annual Culpeper Heritage Weekends. To succeed, we will need the cooperation of our neighboring counties and our local citizenry. All of our expenses are up-front, so we are relying on sponsors to produce a quality show.”

For many years, author Virginia Morton and her readers have dreamed of bringing this story to life on stage or screen. Morton says, “My motivation for writing Marching Through Culpeper was to promote tourism and battlefield preservation. This is an exciting way to reach larger audiences and broaden those goals. I am thankful for the enthusiastic support of my readers and their many prayers that have helped us persevere. And we are thrilled that theater veterans, Johncie and Tim Carlson, will direct the show. This is a community project and we have respected community leaders leading the charge. The show promises to be one of fun and excitement for audiences of all ages.”

Eastern View High School drama teacher Jeff Walker will assist the Carlsons. Marching Through Culpeper will be the second show of Eastern View’s Summer Stages program. It will give students not only a few acting opportunities, but the chance to learn history by touring the sites depicted in the show, as well as to gain first-hand knowledge of theatrical technology. They will be taken under the wings of college students and adults in the cast.

Original, memorable melodies and haunting lyrics by professional song writer and musician Rod Stone of Anacortes,  Washington are beautifully woven into the show. And award-winning Culpeper gospel singer and song writer Octavia Yates is scheduled to make a special guest appearance singing one of her original songs.

For those interested in helping with this production, on or off stage, an organizational meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 19, 2012 in the forum of Eastern View High School. Additionally, singers and musicians are needed. To volunteer with the production, contact Diane Logan at 540-727-8849 or dianelogan@aol.com. To learn more about
the production, go to www.marchingthroughculpeperonstage.com.