Duende Drama & Literature

Bringing Plays and Stories to Our Schools and Communities

  • Home
  • About Duende
    • Organization and Board
    • Support Duende
  • Live Performance
    • ABOLITION
    • Money Man
    • The Air We Share
    • Friendly Fire
      • Resources
    • The Starry Messenger
    • The Great Blight
    • Gunpowder Man
      • Resources
    • Seabiscuit
    • The Betsy Ross Of the Bears
      • Resources
    • Dust Storm
    • On Fire!
    • Inventing the West
    • Vivien
    • Playwrights Collective
    • California History Theatre 2002
    • The Bookshelf
  • Video
    • ABOLITION – The Film
    • Money Man Video
  • Rick’s Blog
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Live Performance / California History Theatre 2002

California History Theatre 2002

  • Gunpowder Man
  • Wicked Dick Three Eyes
  • Inventing the West

This Festival of Plays was performed at Sonora’s Stage 3 Theatre from May – July 2002.

Gunpowder Man

Lisa Kang as Little Tiger
Lisa Kang as Little Tiger

A memorable hit at Sonora’s Stage 3, Gunpowder Man tells the story of Little Tiger. Her incredible journey begins when she and her twin brother are born at the start of the Taiping Rebellion. Her mother dies in the revolution. When the Taiping are defeated, the twins flee their doomed village. They reach California just in time to find work on the Central Pacific Railroad. Disguised as a boy, Little Tiger faces her deepest fears.

The Union Democrat called Gunpowder Man “a magnificent tale of hope and betrayal on two continents.” The Modesto Bee wrote: “It documents a single life, sketches many lives, and it deserves to be heard.”

More about Gunpowder Man…

Wicked Dick Three Eyes

Don Bilotti and Van Gordan in Wicked Dick
Don Bilotti and Van Gordan in Wicked Dick

It’s 1851 and a band of actors staggers into Sonora. They’re broke, beat, and coming apart at the seams. Suddenly a rich patron appears.

Theater-lover Stanley Starbottle has just struck his bonanza. He’ll gladly bail the thespians out. All they have to do is let him act the arch villain in Shakespeare’s Richard III, in Sonora’s makeshift theater. The problem is, the mild and kindly Stanley has never been on stage. And his grandiose conception of the part horrifies the actors.

Money talks, but can it overcome the screams of Shakespeare’s ghost?

CAST (in order of appearance):
Don Bilotti, Thomas F. Maguire, Gary Holman, Van Gordon, Terry Richardson, Taylor Swaty, David Wagner, Rick Foster, Jeff Cooper, Rex LeFevre, Daniel Acree, Victor Belprez, Bev Woodland, Taylor Jordan

DIRECTED by Maryann Curmi

Inventing the West

Tom Maguire and Randy Maple as Bret Harte and Mark Twain
Tom Maguire and Randy Maple as Bret Harte and Mark Twain

A barely-known reporter moves from Virginia City, Nevada, to San Francisco. His pen name is “Mark Twain.” He’s helped by a young magazine editor called Bret Harte. These two will do more than anyone to create the popular picture of the Old West.

Soon, Harte is America’s best-paid writer and Twain is on the road to even bigger celebrity. Together they will write a comedy whose failure dooms their friendship.

In this new drama, Thomas F. Maguire plays Harte and Randy Maple expands on his well-known characterization of Twain.

More about Inventing the West…

Support Duende


Donations are tax deductible and processed securely through PayPal.

ABOLITION

ABOLITION tells the story of two friends, Frederick Douglass and John Brown, during the tumultuous decade leading up to the Civil War. Produced as an acclaimed two-man stage play in Sonora and Sacramento, Duende is now in production of a broadcast quality film adaptation.

Learn more about the progress of the film version, as well as the historical background of the stage play.

Theater venues interested in presenting our production of ABOLITION should contact us to discuss the possibilities.

Don’t Miss Out!

Join our email newsletter and get advance info about special performances and events.

On the Blog

Tribute to Frederick Douglass

July 4, 2020 By Rick Foster

A Thumbnail View of Abolition

June 28, 2018 By Rick Foster

A Thumbnail Early Life of Frederick Douglass

June 28, 2018 By Rick Foster

info@DuendeDrama.org · 209.532.9177 · P.O. Box 5469, Sonora, CA 95370
Copyright © 1999–2023 Duende Drama & Literature · Website by Webdancers ·· Log in