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

PART 5

In the middle of all this heat and drought, one day it finally rained. Our village was right next to a little creek that was about 3 feet down and it was very shallow. Well, the night of the rain, that itty-bitty creek apparently became a torrential river. It came up over the banks and flooded the Village -- all the way back to the dressing area. Our sets were about 18” off the ground and the water was so high they covered the floors of the set!

When we were able to return to the Village we found it totally covered in a smelly, gooey, mud (henceforth called “Johnnycake Mud”). We had to wash all the floors (some of our tongue-in-groove planks actually warped from the flood), and spread hay in the “town” since the ground was still saturated. Unfortunately, there was nothing we could do about the smell which lasted most of the next weekend’s worth of performances.

But the show must go on!

To be continued ...