Inspiration for 'The Waltons' brings family together at ACT

By Heather Crabtree

The Entertainer

For nine seasons, "The Waltons" followed the day-to-day lives of an impoverished family during the Great Depression in rural Virginia.

Even 25 years after the end of its original run in 1981, new generations are introduced to the Walton family in reruns on the Hallmark Channel and in the Walton specials that followed the series in the 1980s and '90s.

But there is more to the story than the fictional family that was spun from the novel "The Homecoming" by Earl Hamner Jr.

A recent play adaptation of the book will open at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1, at Albany Civic Theater, 111 First Ave. S.W.

Additional performances will be at 8 p.m. Dec. 2, 8, 9, 14, 15 and 16, and at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 10.

"The Homecoming" was based on Hamner's life growing up in Virginia, and the characters resemble his family members.

The book was adapted for the stage and premiered in 2005 for the opening of the Earl Hamner Community Theater at the Rockfish Valley Community Center, near where Hamner grew up and the story is set.

The play takes place on Christmas Eve of 1933 and the entire Spencer family eagerly awaits the arrival of Clay Spencer Sr., who is late getting home. His family speculates over where he could be or what could have happened to him.

The story is narrated by Clay Spencer as he looks back on his boyhood and the journey he took that night in search of his father.

In a lot of ways, the play is closer than the television series to what Hamner tried to portray about the Depression, assistant director Barbara Brugger said, because the Depression wasn't fun, funny or cute.

Cute may not be what Hamner intended, but while the 21-member cast shines in portraying the seriousness of life in the 1930s, it also provides a "cute" and heart-warming atmosphere.

The younger faces stand out amongst the cast because of the innocence they bring to their roles. The lines are not just delivered, but done so that it leaves the audience with the thought, "That's something only a child would say."

ACT veteran director Pat Kight worked with the kids as if she was working with "short" adults, she said.

"The main personal challenge has been to keep up with them," Kight said in an e-mail. "Children have an amazing amount of energy, and I've found that if I want to guide them into productive work, I have to match with energy of my own. And that often leaves me exhausted by the end of the night. I've gained a whole new level of respect for parents, who have to deal with that all day, every day!"

In the role of Becky, Katie Beth Sramek does a wonderful job portraying the obstinate 15-year-old. Becky has it set in her mind that "if daddy were only here" things would be better. She could do and say what she wanted.

Becky struggles against the other children, to not be like them with their silly beliefs in Santa Claus. She fights against her mother's ideas that a woman's place is in the kitchen; she'd rather go with her older brother to get the Christmas tree.

What Sramek brings to the role is a combination of childish naïveté and the maturity that comes with being a veteran actor. (Sramek was also in "Suessical, The Musical.") Her arguments are not just lost words but come across as if she were truly battling her siblings, which makes her performance stand out.

Charlie Prince plays the adult Clay Spencer, who narrates the story from a desk and typewriter on the front left corner of the stage.

Prince, a regular in ACT productions, gives an animated performance and brings as much energy to the stage as the children. The way he tells the story draws the audience to the edge of their seats because you can't wait to hear the end of the "memory."

Kight used every inch of free space to allow the past and present to share the stage.

The set feels as if you are looking back in time. The very front is the present, and everything else is the past with the sections fading back based on the importance of the room.

The front of the stage starts off black with the narrator in one corner and props in the other. It fades into a white flooring that forms into mounds of snow at the edge of the kitchen, which is where most of the "family" action takes place. There is an entry way to the living room behind the kitchen on the right side of the stage.

Completing the atmosphere of the production is a live band, led by Don Taco. The band will perform Appalachian pieces from the period as an intro to the play and during scene changes.

Additional cast members include: Trevor Brandt as Clay-Boy; Jodi M. Altendorf as Olivia; Anna Anderson as Shirley; David Allen as Matt; Brandon Allen as Mark; Braden Rosevear Wingo as Luke; Kelley Riggs as John; Tatum Slinger (Dec. 1, 8, 10, 15) and Kathleen Elliott (Dec. 2, 9, 14, 16) as Pattie-Cake; Craig Currier as Grandpa Homer; Norma Newton as Grandma Ida; Russell Roberts as Charlie Snead; Loren Dunn as Birdshot Sprouse; Kris Watts as City Lady; John Sams as Sheriff Ep Bridges; LaVerne Woods as Hawthorne Dooly; Johanna L. Spencer as Etta Staples; Lisa Bell Sramek as Emma Staples; and Phillip Brown as Clay Spencer Sr.

If you go home

WHAT: "The Homecoming," a play adapted by Peter Coy from the novel by Earl Hamner Jr.

WHERE: Albany Civic Theater, 111 First Ave. S.W., Albany.

WHEN: 8 p.m. Dec. 1, 2, 8, 9, 14, 15 and 16, and 2:30 p.m. Dec. 10.

TICKETS: $10 general admission or $7 for students under 18 and seniors over 60. Tickets are available at Sid Stevens Jewelers in Albany, Rice's Pharmacy in Corvallis or ACT box office before the show.