A local history organization will stage a play this weekend to raise funds for a preservation project. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
[actors talking in the background]
Members of the Staunton-Augusta County African American Research Society were busy running lines and arranging props when I stopped by their rehearsal this week. This Sunday the 17th, they'll perform "Voices of our Past," about the Fairview Cemetery – where many historic figures of the city's Black community are interred. On the property sits the Shea House, which was built in –
SUSIE KING: 1871. So that's a jewel!
Susie King is the board president of the research society, and an actress in the play. The story takes place at the turn of the 20th century, when the community filed a lawsuit against the cemetery caretaker.
KING: It's a conversation about how the trial came about, and what the big gossip was in Staunton about the Shea House! And so this will fill people in on the real story.
The play was written over a decade ago by local genealogist and author Laten Bechtel. This will be its second-ever presentation.
KING: We're going to dress up in the early 1900's clothes. [chuckles] I'll wear the long dress and my hat has a lot of feathers in the front. It's white … and the women are going to wear the minks and the stylish clothes, because they were sophisticated people.
The research society is raising $200,000 to renovate the Shea House, which needs roof repairs, plumbing, electrical work, and more. The group has money to repaint the exterior, and hopes the play will provide the funds for prerequisite repairs to the wooden siding. The performance is at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the Augusta Street United Methodist Church. The suggested donation for attendees is $20.
