Readers’ Theatre: Last Wagon West May 25, 2010

A man builds a conestoga wagon, packs up his wife and children, and travels west from his home in Providence Forge, Va. Only this story takes place in 1961, and the man is Leon Gillis, a modern pioneer and maverick adventurer who leads his family through a life-changing odyssey. Based on a real-life family, the Gillises were, for a time, the most photographed family in America after the Kennedys. The world, in the grip of the Cold War, was charmed by their “new pioneer” spirit. The play is narrated by Leon and his wife in turn, the time alternating between present day 1990 and flashbacks to the early sixties. An ensemble cast portrays the characters they meet all over the country and the world. This play is a portrait of a strong family, a headstrong father and a snapshot of an era that is at once more innocent and more ominous than today.

Official Website: http://www.firehousetheatre.org/events/item/readers-theatre-holy-days-by-sally-nemeth/