Actors’ NET uncovers ‘Dark of the Moon.’
By: Stuart Duncan
In the overall scheme of things, 60 years is not such a long time, but a 1945 play, Dark of The Moon, has just about disappeared from the theatrical lexicon. Actors’ NET of Bucks County has just brought it back into the sunlight, given it a rousing revival at its postage stamp stage at the Heritage Center in Morrisville, Pa., and in the process proved why it deserves to be left unattended.
We are in and around Buck Creek in the Smoky Mountains, which form the border between North Carolina and Tennessee. It is the 1930s. That’s Hillbilly time in those parts and a time when witchcraft was in full blossom. In fact, the first five folks we meet once the lights dim are witches. There is our hero, John the Witch Boy, who has made the tragic mistake of falling in love with a human girl and desperately wants to become an authorized hu-man. There are two female witches, one dark, one light (the color of the hair apparently is what distinguishes them apart). And there are two conjurors, one male and one female.
Only after we have survived the palaver about flying with the freedom of the boy’s eagle and flirting with the moon do we get to meet the ordinary folks of the area. And they are far from ordinary. There are people like Uncle Smelicue and Burt Dinwitty and Preacher Haggler who "don’t mind if I take a nip once and then." He is talking about Mountain Dew, and the Allens make the best in the territory. And it’s the 19-year-old daughter Barbara Allen who has so caught the Witch Boy’s eye. Seems she already has dabbled a bit in the moonlight with him.
It gets worse. Harold Richardson and William Berney’s script does a powerful lot of wandering from cabin to cabin, with stops at the mountain ridge, the town center and the church in the process. By Act 2, not only has Barbara Allen had her baby (who is immediately burned because it looks like a witch), but she herself is raped in the church with the Preacher urging everyone to take the curse of her marriage off.
Don’t blame the director, Joe Doyle. Or the hard-working company of 22 who find fun and even humor wherever they can and play (and sometimes sing) for all it is worth. It’s just that "Praise the Lord, there ain’t much to set it on, I reckon."
Some good actors get to talk real funny and savage the English language. Michael Niederer and Tess Ammerman will have you empathize with their plight. Audrey Mills will remind you of Minnie Perle. Marco Newton can locate laughs in the dullest of scripts. Virginia Barrie can find character where there clearly is none. John Helmke, Chuck Donnelly, Kyla Marie Mostello and Ed Patton continue to look good on stage no matter what they are doing. Tami Feist and Susan Fowler warm up for "The Scottish play" by playing witches. And just about everybody picks up a guitar and strums a bit as they sing.
And if you don’t mind the 60-year-old creaks and offenses, it may be your last chance to visit that lexicon.
Dark of the Moon continues at Actors NET of Bucks County at The Heritage Center, 635 N. Delmorr Ave., Morrisville, Pa., through April 7. Performances: Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 6 p.m. Tickets cost $15, $13 seniors/children. For information, call (215) 295-3694. On the Web: www.actorsnetbucks.org

