WINSTON COUNTY - “Buffalo Trail to Byler Road”, a play detailing the story of people, places and progress along the state’s first public road, will be performed in both Double Springs and Haleyville over the next two weeks.
The play will be performed as a matinee at Looney’s Indoor Theater at the Looney’s Complex and Cultural Center, at 22400 Highway 278, Double Springs, this Sunday, Oct. 18, at 3 p.m. for a $10 admission price.
The play will also will be performed Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 6 p.m. onstage at the Heart of Haleyville Pocket Park, located on Main Street.
Although no admission will be charged at the Haleyville performance, donations are welcome to be made, which will go to the Winston County Arts Council.
The arts council has collaborated with Winston County native and celebrated playwright Brad Bailey, who wrote “Buffalo Trail to Byler Road” and is directing it, said Arts Council Vice President Theresa Snoddy.
The public is invited to bring their portable chairs to the Haleyville pocket park to watch the play, organizers said.
The one-act play, which will last about one hour, features some characters of historical interest, including Aunt Jenny Brooks Johnston, Snoddy said. In all, the play will feature seven actors, Snoddy said.
Other characters in the play were based on persons told in legends and stories passed down through generations in Bailey’s family, which he used as inspiration in writing the play, Snoddy explained.
The play is also based on Joel Mize’s book The Byler Road and its People, Snoddy added.
“Try to come out and see this because there’s a lot of history in it,” Snoddy said. “This is the true history of Byler Road.”
The play will describe history relating to the state’s first public road created by the state legislature, from buffalo paths to pioneer wagons, from early settlers to the Iron Horse, aka the railroad and its effect on the Byler Road, organizers said.
The play will detail these parts of local history while telling the story of people, places and progress along the Byler Road, which goes through Winston County, organizers described.
The Haleyville pocket park is located near the historic Byler Road, which adds even more meaning to the event, organizers said.
“One of the reasons we’re doing (the play) at the pocket park, is the Byler Road went through Haleyville,” Snoddy pointed out. “That’s historic in itself. We’re performing the play where the road came through in the 1820s.”
“I hope the Haleyville people will take the opportunity to get out and see the play,” Snoddy said.
Haleyville City Council Member Brian Berry encourages the public to come out to another free event in the downtown pocket park.
“We encourage everyone to come out. It’s going to be a great performance, a great history of our local area on the oldest road in Alabama,” Berry said.
Cast and crew for “Buffalo Trail to Byler Road “include:
Narrator 1: David Jacobs;
Narrator 2: Gen Jacobs;
Luke, a young teenage boy: Luke James;
Noah, a Winston County Civil War Soldier: Adam Baker;
Nancy, a pioneer Winston County settler: Rebecca Oliver Haines;
Katie, Nancy's 10-year-old daughter: Harper Wren Noblett;
Aunt Jenny Johnston: Amy Bartlett Dodd;
Sound and Lights: Jacob and Matthew Rice, Skip Garrison;
Amanuensis: Lisa Gosselin.
See complete story in the Northwest Alabamian.
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