Even before the show began, as I entered the theater and seated myself just a few rows from the stage, I sensed I was in for a good show. The speakers blared several popular, powerful, and political tunes from the sixties, and I leaned back and lost myself in the lyrically charged, musically moving tunes. And before I knew it, the curtains rose on The Hatboro Village Players latest production, "A Piece of My Heart," and the 62nd season of the theater.
"A Piece of My Heart" is a script, by Shirley Lauro, that was based on Keith Walker's non-fiction novel appropriately titled, "A Piece of My Heart: The Stories of 26 American Women Who Served in Vietnam." As the name suggests, the show follows the lives of six women who went to, and served (one way or another), in Vietnam. The show opens with all six women, onstage, shrouded in darkness. One by one, each character comes into the light, literally, to tell their story--i.e. why they are going to Vietnam--and as the play progresses, we see how each young woman lives and survives during and after their tour of duty.
The story is gritty, unrefined and, unfortunately, very real. The snippets of these six women's lives, as portrayed, are similar to shrapnel; we see moments, memories, in fragments, and no one knows where they are going next--are they going to land in a rice patty or splinter the shoulder of a six year old's arm? Emotions are buried in bottles, memories hidden beneath clouds of smoke, and life, in some cases, was worse then death. However, I think the heart of the show can be best summed up by its final scene. With full company on stage, the room faded to black and back again. The Vietnam War Memorial and the infamous wall at Washington projected on the bodies and faces of the cast. As each character stepped forward to leave a sentimental token behind, at the base of the now unveiled monument, Mary Jo, played by Laura Buttenbusch, sang "America, the Beautiful." Silence fell on stage; however, the audience could be heard orchestrating its own piece--a chorus of sniffles, sighs, cries, and the breathy mumblings of purple mountains and amber waves of grain. When the house lights came on and the cast took their curtain call, the audience rose to their feet, tears in eyes, tissues still in hand.
You can catch The Village Players and "A Piece of My Heart" every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from now through October 24th. For more information regarding tickets and show times, please visit the theaters official website.
The Full Company includes:
Director: Jeff Cronin
Assistant Director: Andrea Hartman
Producer: Kyle Aptacy
Cast:
Martha.............................Marina Zeccardi
MaryJo.............................Laura Buttenbusch
Sissy................................Ashley Werner
Whitney............................Beverly Sharp
Leeann.............................Cier Rice
Steele..............................Bridget Swanson
The American Men............Chris Connelly
Guitarist...........................Francis X. Carroll
About the players and playhouse (as cited from The Village Players of Hatboro website):
"The Village Players are a registered 501c3 non--profit organization. Our members are made up of volunteers from the surrounding communities. We are a diverse group with varied ages, occupations and skills. All actors, members and staff are volunteers.
We have been producing plays for over 6 decades. We produce 4 regular season productions, with 8 performances each production. We have 6 evening and two matinee performances per production.. Our season runs October through June. In addition...we also have some form of a summer production (one-acts, children's theater, dramatic readings) that runs one or two weekends."
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