Johnston County, NC - Bicentennial Series

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                     Staging the Musical "Johnston!"

Reprinted with the permission of the Smithfield Herald
Tuesday, June 13, 1989

 "Johnston!" - a musical extravaganza based on Johnston County history -
will be staged the first and second weekends in November in the auditorium 
at Johnston Community College.

 Planning sessions for the November presentation are scheduled next week at 
the American Legion Hut by the Neuse River in Smithfield.

 The Johnston County Committee on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution
is producing the show in celebration of North Carolina's ratification of the
Constitution and Bill of Rights in November 1789. Ray Boyette of Kenly is 
committee chairman.
 
 The show, designed as a countywide project, has about 70 speaking parts for
men, women, and children. There are numerous non-speaking roles, orchestra, 
and chorus.

 The Neuse Little Theatre will present the play, which begins in the time 
when only Indians lived in Johnston County and ends when schools were 
integrated and Johnston Technical College was founded in the 1960s. Ellen 
Landau of Smithfield has been named producer.

 Doris Cannon of Smithfield wrote the script, using information from a 
history of Johnston County written by Thomas J. Lassiter; materials in
the Johnston County Room at the Public Library in Smithfield; legends; and 
other sources. Portions have been fictionalized for the sake of drama.

 Robert Goodwin of Selma, who plays hammered dulcimer and other traditional
instruments, has composed music for the early section of the play.

 Civil War re-enactment groups, Lane Dance Academy in Smithfield, Baker 
School of Dance in Pine Level, and the Johnston Community College band are 
among groups to make commitments to the project. Others are being sought.
With the exceptions of a director, who will be hired later, there are no 
paid positions.

 Tony Medlin, who is completing his term as visiting dramatist at Johnston 
Community College, will help organize the production during meetings at 
7:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday (June 19-20) and Thursday and Friday, June 
22-23 in the Legion Hut.

 Individuals and groups wishing to be part of "Johnston!" can get additional
information at the meetings and fill out forms. Businesses are also urged 
to take part in the effort.

 In addition to actors, singers, dancers, and musicians, there is a need for
back-stage workers in lighting, set design and construction, makeup, 
costumes, and other areas.

 Auditions will be held after a director is hired. Major speaking roles are
the narrator; Thomas ONeals, a Johnston resident and early advocate of 
freedom from Britain; John Smith, founder of Smithfield in 1777 (he will 
also sing); General Cornwallis, a British general who led troops through 
Johnston County in the waning months of the Revolutionary War;

 Cornelia Smith (fictional character), who had a conversation with
Cornwallis when he and his troops paused and talked to field hands outside 
Smithfield (she will also sing); Johnston delegates to the Constitution
Convention in Fayetteville in 1789; school children, who will recite the
Bill of Rights;

 A slave who tells of an occurence in Smithfield in 1780; Martha Pruitt, a
child slave who was interviewed in 1942; John Harper and wife Amy, who
lived at Bentonville when the last major battle of the Civil War was fought
there; "Uncle Jack" Ellis of Clayton, who at age 97 was Johnston County's
last surviving veteran of the Civil War (he will also sing);

 Actors from each Johnston town, except Smithfield, who will tell of their
town's founding in the "Coming of the Railroad" segment; an old time 
preacher; Mina Johnson Higgins, teacher in a one-room school; Lunette Barber,
10, Mrs. Higgin's student;

 Robert Holt, a black educator and artist who attended a black school in
Johnston County; an old-time tobacco farmer; a tobacco auctioneer; an early
home Extension agent; a mother, children, and hobo who appear in a Depression
Era scene (they also sing); Lieutenant Will Stephens, who was killed in
World War II; and blacks who tell of the impact of the civil rights
movement on Johnston County life.

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This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by
Guy Potts - gpotts1@nc.rr.com
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