P.O. Box 188, Bramwell, WV 24715 * (304) 248-8145
Reservation Line – (304) 589-0246

Like picnics, VBS, swimming at the pool and going to camp, SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN has become a summer time tradition in Bramwell!

Back for the umpteenth time the loveable Sanders Family will make their long anticipated appearance on July 26 at 7pm at the Bramwell Wesleyan Church when the Bramwell Theater Festival presents SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN.

SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN takes place in June of 1938.  The United States is in the last years of the Great Depression and organized religion is at its peak.  The setting is Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Mount Pleasant, North Carolina, located just west of Hickory, near the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Mount Pleasant’s principal industries are farming and pickle production.  The Mount Pleasant Pickle Plant has lately begun laying people off at an alarming rate due to the economy.  The factory makes everyone and everything in Mount Pleasant smell of vinegar and dill.

Mount Pleasant Baptist has a membership of 63 – 64 when Becca Robinson gets baptized next Sunday.  Saturday Night Sings by families of gospel singers have become the much needed and highly appreciated entertainment of the time.  The play presents a Saturday Night Gospel Sing featuring the Sanders Family in their first night back on the gospel circuit in five years.  The play uses a cast of seven with the audience being the congregation.

Pastor Oglethorpe (played by Bobby Lacey), a young and enthusiastic minister, has enlisted the Sanders Family in his efforts to bring his tiny congregation into the “modern world.”  Opening night jitters combined with the disdain of a pair of spinsters, the church’s chief benefactors, keep the evening on the verge of chaos.  Between songs, the family members “witness,” or tell personal stories that relate to their trials of faith. 

SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAINuses twenty-seven standard bluegrass gospel songs.  The actors who play the Sanders Family sing and play these songs – they are the only musicians in the production.  The actors play such instruments as piano, guitar, string bass, banjo, autoharp, ukulele, and harmonica.

 

Smoke on the Mountain
July 19 – July 21
Thursday – Saturday at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m.
Bramwell Weslyan Church
All Tickets $15 – Reservations strongly recommended – (304) 589-0246

Coffee House at the Depot after the show
Live music by local musicians on Friday and Saturday nights