Flinn’s Theater pours another potent glass of the prohibition-era comedy ‘Shine on Scio Moon’

By Heather Crabtree/Photos by Scobel Wiggins
The Entertainer

Written in 1991 by playwrights Joseph Majesky, Robert Waterhouse and Linda Ziedrich, “Shine on Scio Moon,” started out as part of a fund-raiser for the Scio community.

Actors and musicians from the Scio area came together to produce the one-time performance, and the script and music changed up until a few days before the spring Sheepskin Revue.

Fourteen years later, the comedy about moonshining during the Great Depression and Prohibition has come back to life with several firsts.

The play will open for the first time since its original performance at 6:15 p.m. for dinner and show, and 7 p.m. for show only Friday, Oct. 21, at Flinn’s Living History Theater, 222 First Ave. S.W., Albany.

Additional performance will be on Oct. 22, 28, 29, and Nov. 4 and 5.

The production will also be a first-time performance at Flinn’s and will be one of the few plays not written by either of the theater’s founders, Ellen West Lilja and Bill Lilja.

Duncan Tucker, who plays Mayor Cheatem and was in the original production in Scio, started the idea of Flinn’s producing “Shine on Scio Moon” when he presented the original script to Ellen Lilja.

She initially liked it but thought it was a bit short, Majesky said.

“We added a bit more, got this group together, and here we are,” he said.

The experience at Flinn’s is also different because for the original performance things were constantly changing.

“Here we’ve had structure and will be doing it for six nights instead of just once like at the Scio theater,” he said. “If it gets popular, we’ll be able to do this year after year.”

The premise of the play is essentially a game of cat and mouse between local moonshiners and Revenue Agent Henry Henderson, who Majesky describes as a Barney Fife-like character.

Mrs. Nofun, played by Ann Lawson, decides to stomp out moonshining in the small town with the help of the Rev. Barnstorm, played by Susan Jones.

Nofun also enlists the help of Cheatem and calls in the revenue service to assist in her campaign. What she doesn’t realize is that the mayor is corrupt. Cheatem is secretly trying to keep moonshining going in order to keep the town going. During the time period, moonshining was the only thing generating revenue in the community, and he doesn’t want to see the community go under.

While Cheatem plays the devil’s advocate, the moonshiners, storekeeper and runners are all trying to keep two steps ahead of Nofun and the bungling revenue agent, played by Majesky.

The cat-and-mouse play is full of energy and action, exemplified by a cast that Majesky describes as energetic and fun.

“It’s nice to get away and have some fun,” Majesky said after describing the play as slapstick. “Everyone here is a volunteer, and it’s nice to be able to give back to the community.”

If You Go

WHAT: “Shine on Scio Moon,” a play by Joseph Majesky, Robert Waterhouse and Linda Ziedrich.

WHERE: Flinn’s Living History Theater, 222 First Ave. S.W., Albany.

WHEN: 6:15 p.m., dinner and show; 7 p.m., show only, Oct. 21, 22, 28, 29 and Nov. 4 and 5.

COST: $27.50, dinner and show; $10, show only. Reservations can be made by calling Flinn’s at 928-5008 or 800-636-5008 or at www.flinns.com.