Lewisville Playhouse is putting up a play, “Old Town Neighbors,” in commemoration of Lewisville’s Centennial, paying homage to special events that happened throughout the city. The play references the 1946 bank robbery where the robber got tackled by the school’s football players.
Sam Wilson (tackle) Alvin Jones (running back) and Uel Stockyard (guard) were the players who tackled S.A. Brueggemeyer with J.K. Delay’s (1929-2020) permission, which is how the school received the name “Fighting Farmers.”
The play follows the life of a father and a daughter of a recently lost mother who are moving away from their home, and also provides a viewpoint of the past homeowner which was a mayor-businessman who almost lost the city due to a fire.
“[This play] does a really good job of tapping into nostalgia, but also not relying on that,” actor Elaina Berry said. “It does a really good job with showcasing the humanity of history because sometimes history can be a little bit boring, but when you put it in [a play] format, it feels more engaging.”
Written by Zachary Cantell, the play has references, including the house off Purnell and Charles Street as their set, & the creation of Lewisville, this play is a story that hits close to home in every shape and form.
During the play, one of the child actors got invited to tape a scene of Route 66, which happened in Lewisville, “Love is a Skinny Kid” aired on April 26, 1962.
“Very rarely do you get a chance to perform a show that is a love letter to the city as opposed to a tragedy,” actor J.R. Bradford said. “Everybody knows somebody who’s made a transition and lived in a house that may may or may not have been haunted.”
Audiences can attend the last viewings of this play during Western Days on Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. and Sept. 27 at 4 p.m. at the black box theatre in the Grand Theatre.
“We got to the point where we were pretty good with lines [and] blocking everything,” actor Will Frederick said. “So we just had a speed rehearsal. It was a shorter rehearsal process but by no means was it truncated. Everyone was on their A-game.”
