Yuba Theatre

The Sierra Turnpike Players Strike Gold in Downieville

“The Villain Wore a Dirty Shirt, or…
Always Wash Your Long Johns ‘Cause it Makes a Lotta Cents,”
 a melodrama by Tim Kelly is coming to the Yuba Theatre in Downieville.  The setting for this new community theater production is the gold mining town of  Downieville itself, a place where the gold digging past echoes through the canyons and gold dust rises from the cracks in the floorboards of its Victorian buildings.

For generations miners have plied the hills and streams around Downieville in search of promised treasure.  Tales are told of fortunes found and lost and found again, sometimes in the most unlikely places.  Such is the story of Olympia Klenz, owner of the Tub ‘n Scrub and our heroine, laundress Sweet Sally.  Be prepared to boo and hiss as the evil plot of villain Phineas Flatworm unfolds.  Ooh and aah as love blossoms and goodness prevails.  And don’t forget to duck as the water spurts and the soap flies. 

Tim Kelly's first stage play, Widow's Walk, was published in the 1960's, at the same time his A Darker Flower opened at New York's Pocket Theatre, The Trunk and All That Jazz at Boston's Image Theatre, and Die Blum in Germany.  For the rest of his life, he kept up a steady flow of amazingly diverse work...  with well over 350 plays currently in print — and in continuous production. During his life, Kelly received countless honors for his playwriting including seven major university awards and grants.

The Sierra Turnpike Players have been presenting local community theater in Sierra County, since 1994.  The groups’ first play, Strange Tales of the Sierra Turnpike Players, was performed in the one room, Goodyears Bar Schoolhouse, four miles downriver from Downieville.   In 1996, in cooperation with the Yuba Theatre owners, the Arts Council renovated the theater transforming it into a performing arts venue where the Sierra Turnpike Players have performed ever since.  The Yuba Theatre, through state and local funding, has recently been renovated, upgrading its heating and air-conditioning system and also adding improvements to better serve Americans with disabilities. This event is co-sponsored by the Sierra County Arts Council, State-Local Partner with the California Arts Council and produced by special arrangement with the Pioneer Drama Service.
Who:            The Sierra Turnpike Players Present
What:           The Villain Wore a Dirty Shirt, or… Always Wash Your Long Johns ‘Cause it Makes a Lotta Cents 
When & Where:    Friday, March 18, 2011 , Saturday, March 19, 2011 at 7:00 pm.
                                Matinee Sunday, March 20, 2011 at 2:00 pm. 
                                The Yuba Theatre, HWY 49, Downieville, CA
Tickets:          General Admission $12.00.  12 and under or 65 plus $8.00