July 30, 31 & August 1
and
August 6, 7 & 8

Created from LFTC's popular "Lost Wife Creek" series (reviewed as, "historic, hilarious, nostalgic... thoroughly enjoyable"), this saga takes the Aragones and the Trotters from 1933 to 1941, the years of the Great Depression. Roosevelt's New Deal is "turning the country around", but life is still hard in rural New Mexico: dreams of lost gold, Spanish landgrants and stardom in "talkies" vie with reality of drought, a ne'er-do-well son, and a decrepit old flivver. Live music - dulcimer, guitar, fiddle & song - carries us along, from the (too-familiar) "Hard Times" to "Frankie & Johnnie" and other favorites, both "old-timey" and of the era.

Local, national, and international events - politics and duststorms, the inauguration of the New Deal; Prohibition's end and Mr. Gibbers' progress from bootlegger to politician; a truly American transition; the Homestead Act (the Trotters are homesteaders from Arkansas); the WPA Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the "documenting America" program; the building of Boulder Dam in Nevada and the rise of the "Mobs" in Chicago, the shadow of Hitler over Europe, and the American divorcee who captured an English king - are all interwoven with the daily lives, struggles, and misadventures of Manny and Ruby Aragone, Cass & Gardy Trotter. From the Nest-Egg Caper, initiated by the women (with courage drawn from their heroine Eleanor Roosevelt), to Manny and Cass's bumbled attempt to emulate Dillinger, from sister Ivy's "creative" way of dealing with an abusive spouse, to the strange discovery of the origin of Lost Wife Creek, HARD TIMES & HOPE is a rollicking, touching, fondly-wry look at the gritty & personal side of a difficult, formative era of American history, & extremely relevant today.

Actors in HARD TIMES & HOPE are Diane Allen, Janice Brunacini, Josi Holt, Frank Howard, Fernando Montano, Ruth Ryan , Terry Stone and Donna Todd; musicians are Randall and Emily Johnson, with Nicola Maynard.  Tech direction Ronald Thornton handles set, lighting, and sound.

Performances are Friday, July 30 and Saturday, July 31, both at 7:00 PM, with a matinee on Sunday, August 1, at 2:00 PM ; again, Friday and Saturday, August 6 and 7, 7:00 PM, and Sunday, August 8, 2:00 PM, at Magdalena's WPA Theatre , Main at Fourth. Tickets are $5.00 for adults, $2.50 for children, available at the door an hour before  performance, and by Reservation at (575) 854-2519, or londonfrontier@gilanet.com

A gala on Saturday, July 31 features a display of New Deal (1930's) Art - opening at 2:00 PM (at the theatre) and free to the public - presented by the New Deal Preservation Association, with speakers on the New Deal's artistic heritage at 3:00 PM .  Visitors can look, learn, and purchase copies of this quintessentially American art/photography, as well as enjoying live music of the era.  From 3:00 to 6:00 PM, real pit barbecue , with all the trimmings, will be available - tempting the taste buds and benefitting the Steel Chicks, Magdalena's talented young "pan" (steel drum) band.

London Frontier, now in its 15th season in Magdalena, continues to present a wide variety of plays incorporating our vivid multi-culture and history in exciting, entertaining theatre.

This project funded in part by the McCune Charitable Foundation & "Friends of the Theatre."

Click here for advance reservations.
 

Review our Last Performance... The Ballad of Babe and Beau  

*Each episode of the "Lost Wife Creek" is a complete play in itself.

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