Diva Productions to present ‘The Judas Sheep’

SCRANTON — The time is Good Friday in 1983. The place is an East Texas community called Shuteye. The plot is a quintet of citizens deciding what to do with the murderous town bully Buck Skidmore. That’s the plot of Diva Productions’ upcoming play The Judas Sheep. Thanks to a community arts grant by Lackawanna County, playwright Jeff Boam’s play will be performed by Diva Productions at the Olde Brick Theater on Sept. 12, 13, 19 and 20 at 7: 30 p.m. and Sept. 14 and 21 at 2 p.m. It is directed by Paige Balitski.

After being shut down in court by Skidmore’s oily lawyer, the five “jurors,” who were chosen to hole up in the town’s VFW, butt heads on how to bring justice back to the conservative small town.

One of the five people is Vic Turett, a level-headed Vietnam vet who, according to actor who plays him, Jonmichael Brennan, knows what to be done but will exhaust all options before settling on the outcome.

“My experience with this production has been extremely positive. Character development has been a huge part of the process, trying to reach the right tones to coincide with the subject matter,” said Brennan. “Having such a well written script puts the onus on the actors to make sure the words on the page reach the audience the way Jeff intends. Being able to be directed by Paige and work with such a talented cast has allowed me to reach for different levels of emotion I didn’t know were residing within. I think the audience will really enjoy what should be a wonderful show with amazing writing, stellar direction and outstanding acting.”

Actress Liz Naro plays Pudge Persimmons, a member of the group. She see her character as a combo of a fiery spit-fire and a doting mama with a Southern sass.

“It’s been about eight years since I’ve acted locally, so playing Pudge Persimmons is a blast,” said Naro. “It’s fun to play tough and tender in the same breath.”

Portraying Buck’s loyal but broken wife Almeda Sue Skidmore, actress Melissa Uchic feels like it’s an honor to bring a character so angry and sad to life.

“There are parts of Almeda Sue’s life that I have personally lived through and it’s been kind of cathartic to be able to express myself through her words,” said Uchic. “I just hope I can do her justice!”

Boam sketched out the characters to The Judas Sheep in 2006, not long after returning from Southern California. While living in LA, he had won a playwriting contest. He wrote a few screenplays, but he unsuccessfully tried to sell scripts to studios and production companies. He came back to northeast PA because a local production company offered to help turn his once-act comedy, Charlie Chaplin’s Body, into a short film.

“I had this plan to reverse engineer my career – taking intended screenplays and mounting them as theatrical productions first to work out any kinks before repurposing them for the movies — and The Judas Sheep was the second of these,” he said. “I was blessed to meet a number of actors locally — post and pre-California – and we did a few readings before live audiences as a way to workshop it. Once my first full-length drama, Behind the Six, played to some sold-out houses and won a number of awards, it paved the way for the follow-up, which is connected to the former in a small fashion.”

He loosely based the play on the real-life murder of Ken Rex McElroy in Missouri in 1981.

“I’ve been a True Crime aficionado since the ‘80s and came across the McElroy case sometime in the ‘90s,” he said. ” Whatever the specifics of the murder, none of the townspeople ever said a word. What was primarily of interest to me was not the victim (I’m not a supporter of capital punishment, but this man — by all accounts of his crimes — definitely seemed to have earned it and seemingly left them no choice) but the people who decided what to do and how to act on it. You start to wonder if they volunteered or if they were volun-told to do this.”

Boam didn’t want to tell McElroy’s story but based as a seed the character of Skidmore. He has relatives in and has visited Texas for extended stays.

“Texas has always been his own entity with a very colorful personality,” he said. “It’s not that Missouri doesn’t have these qualities. It’s just that Texas immediately brings up images of a western which is a genre that originated in the United States. I make it a point never to talk politics but facts are facts: Texas has long been a conservative state and is considered to be part of the Bible belt. Add these factors into the mix in regards to the “jurors” butting heads and you have their deliberation pitting the Law of God, Law of the West and American Justice on a collision course in a Reagan-era conservative Texas small town.”

The Judas Sheep was first staged in 2016. The production went down to win two Northeastern Pennsylvania Theatrical Alliance (NEPTA) Awards, one for Best Supporting Actress (Betsy Seaforth) and one for Best Original Production.

Boam has been friends and associates with Balitski for 25 years. He has done every production, including his short film and a revival one-act play with her.

“Besides Paige and her husband Bob, who does the lights and sound, I want to say a huge thank you to Lackawanna County for the very generous grant” said Boam. “I also want to give huge accolades to our amazing cast: Jonmichael Brennan, Eric Lutz, Liz Naro, Harry Powell, David Spitzer, Melissa Uchic, and Mark Zdancewicz. I’ve also been the luckiest person in theater to have the greatest stage manager, Sandy Hailstone, add assistant stage manager, Meggie Roche, in the business.”