THE EDEN VALLEY STORY (A 40TH ANNIVERSARY SERIES)
as told by Bette Lou Higgins, Artistic Director

PART 11

The best “audience” story, though, involved a truly higher power!

One of our stories was set in 1833 when many prophets of doom were predicting the end of the world with the arrival of a spectacular meteor shower! Theories for saving the earth from such a catastrophic collision were everywhere.

One of these Gloom & Doom preachers was Lucien Darr (played by Tony Wrobel). He delivered a real hellfire and brimstone speech. Our town hall/church sat on the side of the village with the woods behind it. The audience was seated facing the pulpit and the trees. One day, as the minister was getting into his speech, the wind kicked up. The trees were swaying, the wind whistled threateningly through the leaves and the sun went behind a cloud. Both the minister and nature reached a fever pitch at the same time! Maybe the world WAS coming to an end! It was truly amazing. One of the audience members came up to me on the way out and said, “I really love your special effects person!”

To be continued ...