"Thunder in the Hills"

The Live Performance of

“Thunder in the Hills”

For the first time ever a live production of “Thunder in the Hills,” an historically accurate dramatization of the sensational events that rocked the nation in March 1912 – the Carroll County Courthouse Tragedy in Hillsville VA and its aftermath.   The play faithfully recreates the trial of Floyd Allen that ended in the tragic shooting of the judge, prosecuting attorney, sheriff and two other participants and the nation-wide manhunt for the Allen clan.  Performances will be Friday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoon for three consecutive weekends beginning March 9.  This incredible recreation is performed in the actual courtroom where the tragedy occurred.

Thunder in the Hills is written by the award winning, New York Times best-selling author and playwright, Frank Levering.    Terri Ingalls will be directing, along with Angell Caudill and Levering. The cast of 36 performers, chosen from local talent, includes descendants of the Allen family and a juror serving that day.

Levering spent three years painstakingly researching the 1912 courthouse shooting and skillfully weaving a powerful dramatic portrayal.  Levering’s work brings to life the complex characters involved in the events and insightfully explores the human emotions that gave rise to the bloodshed.  Called, “historically accurate and riveting”, the play recreates the explosive scene complete with antique guns of the types used that day.  Levering makes use of the historic courtroom venue to directly engage the audience in events, with the play audience being the courtroom spectators on that fateful Thursday morning of March 14, 1912.

Levering says that his play “spans the years 1910 -- when Wesley Edwards drew a red ear of corn at a corn-shucking and kissed the girl of his choice, leading to all the trouble -- to 1926, when Governor Harry F. Byrd pardoned Sidna Allen, who then returned home to his family.”  For the first time, Levering explores the roles of the women who, for the most part, remained behind the scenes as the tragic events unfolded from the shootout at the courthouse to the executions in Richmond of Floyd and Claude Allen. “I have long felt that what has been written about the courthouse tragedy has, for the most part, left the lives of the women who were in these families unexamined and unimagined. The play at least tries to imagine what they experienced.”

Performances are on March 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24 and 25.  Thursday, Friday and Saturday performances start at 7:00 PM and Sunday performances start at 2:00 PM.  Tickets are SOLD OUT .... SOLD OUT for every performance.