Tickets now on sale for VGCC Dinner Theater production

Vance-Granville Community College’s third annual Dinner Theater event, “Smoke on the Mountain,” is set for the evenings of Thursday, April 30, and Friday, May 1, in the Civic Center on VGCC’s Main Campus in Vance County.

 

VGCC’s Drama and Culinary Arts departments are teaming up once again to present a delicious meal followed by an entertaining play, which this time will be the college’s first musical.

 

Tickets for the event are $25 per seat and are now available online at vgcc.springerstudios.net/dinnertheater . Standard seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Tables can be reserved for $250 and can seat up to 10 people. College officials ask any attendees who plan on sitting together with other parties to arrive at the same time.

 

“Smoke on the Mountain” tells the story of a Saturday night “Gospel sing” at a country church near North Carolina's Smoky Mountains in 1938. The show features two dozen rousing bluegrass songs played and sung by the Sanders Family, a traveling group making its return to performing after a five-year hiatus. Pastor Oglethorpe, the young and enthusiastic minister of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, has enlisted the Sanders Family in his efforts to bring his tiny congregation into "the modern world." Between songs, each family member "witnesses" — telling a story about an important event in his or her life. Though they try to appear perfect in the eyes of a congregation who wants to be inspired by their songs, one thing after another goes awry and they reveal their true — and hilariously imperfect — natures.

 

One of the country’s most frequently produced musicals, “Smoke on the Mountain” was written by North Carolina native Connie Ray and conceived by Alan Bailey, with musical arrangements by Mike Craver and Mark Hardwick. The show was first performed in 1988.

 

The cast, which includes VGCC students, faculty and staff, features Spencer Nunn of Warrenton (Pastor Oglethorpe), Lauren Elliott of Oxford (“June”), Rev. Pat Cox of Oxford (“Burl”), Button Brady of Clarksville, Va. (“Vera”), Derek Jones of Henderson (“Stanley”), Jessie Hartley of Oxford (“Denise”), Morgan McFalls of Oxford (“Dennis”) and Sidney Henderson of Henderson (“Cousin Sid”).

 

The crew includes Jason Sharp (technical director), Mara Shelton (costumes) and VGCC students Mark Tillotson of Oxford (costume assistant/make-up and hair) and Jordan Bunting of Macon (lighting board operator). Sets were constructed by VGCC Carpentry students and Carpentry program head Keith Tunstall. Betsy Henderson, VGCC’s Department Chair/Instructor of Humanities and Fine Arts, is the director of the play.

 

Dinner begins at 6 p.m. each night and will be prepared by VGCC Culinary Arts students under the direction of program head Chef Ross Ragonese and instructor Chef John Boretti.