Celebrate The “Spirit Of America” With The Mountain Valley Players Over The July 4th Holiday Weekend

Warm Springs,Va – Where do music, comedy, local talent, and community come together to celebrate the 4th of July? Why, at the Mountain Valley Players’ 2011 holiday production, “Spirit of America!” The play is offered three times over the holiday weekend and Musical Director, Betty Kay Cauley, highlights why the group chose to offer another production for this 4th of July season.

“We simply want to continue to celebrate July 4th and we want to do this as a thank you to our community because they are so supportive of Mountain Valley Players, we couldn’t do it without the community” says Cauley. “So this is part of our thank you to the community but it is also a way to help the community to pull together to celebrate the 4th.”

Cauley adds that Bath County and its surrounding areas enjoy a rather symbiotic relationship with the local theater troupe.

“We have a huge amount of talent in this community, not only musical which is where I fall into the picture, but acting and drama and comedy, and this provides an outlet for some of that talent” she says. “One of my personal goals in Mountain Valley Players, also though, is to give the community another way to pull together, to increase our community spirit and to provide another outlet for people to work together, to get to know people you might not otherwise get to know; that you wouldn’t get to know at work, or through school, or through your church. This is kind of a mixture of folks, anybody who is interested in the stage and it’s been a wonderful experience for anybody who participants and a lot of our community supporters enjoy it, as well. It gives them another community event to go to and enjoy that’s kind of different from what is otherwise available.”

“Spirit of America” will provide its audience with a variety of entertainment as Cauley notes.

“The show is primarily music, but we have some dance in it also, we have some comedy, a couple of comedy skits in it” she says. “And, it’s just kind of a musical revue with some comedy and skits thrown in.”

Mountain Valley Players is offering “Spirit of America” at no charge, but is requesting free-will donations. Cauley states that proceeds from the donations will be used to cover the costs of production.

“This show is being done, not by ticket sales; admission is simply by donation, voluntary donation” says Cauley. “We do request donations because it takes money to put on the shows, to purchase music, to pay licensing fees, to get the staging; we pay our sound person who helps us, so there is a lot of expenses. We ask for donations, but you don’t have to; just come and enjoy.”

“Spirit of America” by the Mountain Valley Players will be presented at the Bath County High School Auditorium Saturday, July 2 at 7 pm, Sunday, July 3 at 2 pm, and Monday, July 4 at 7 pm. Admission is by free will donation.