By Jeff Eason
Despite rumors to the contrary, the show will go on at Horn in the West this summer.
The Horn and the Southern Appalachian Historical Association (SAHA) are working in collaboration with the town of Boone to ensure that overdue physical repairs to the outdoor drama’s facilities take place before opening night this summer.
Horn in the West has a few other changes in the works for its 58th annual season, including new artistic director Julie Richardson.
Richardson, a Watauga High School and Appalachian State University graduate, is a native of Boone and has ties to both the Horn and the Blowing Rock Stage Company.
“Both of my parents used to work at Horn in the West when it was still called ‘Echoes of the Blue Ridge,’” Richardson said. “My mom was part of the Women’s Club in Boone that put on the show as part of the town’s centennial celebration. The Women’s Club ran the gift shop at Horn in the West for years and I used to watch the show from the top of the hill near the gift shop.”
While attending Appalachian State in the 1970s, Richardson joined the Horn in the West crew during the summer.
“Ed Pilkington gave me a job at Horn in the West in 1975 running the sound for the show,” Richardson said. “We did a big renovation the following year, and I got a job with the maintenance crew. I learned all of the tricks of the trade, and in 1977 I was the props mistress for the show.”
After leaving the area in 1978, Richardson continued to work with outdoor dramas in Texas. She returned the following summer and served as stage manager for the Horn in 1979 and producing stage manager in 1980.
During her tenure with Horn in the West, Richardson observed several major changes to the show.
In 1981, the playwright for the show, Kermit Hunter, rewrote the entire drama to include more Native Americans in the story.
“There were two Indian attacks in every show back then,” Richardson said. “They were fun scenes to do. No one pulls that script out anymore.”
According to Richardson, all of the original “Horn in the West” scripts have been preserved at ASU’s Appalachian Studies Program.
They include many of the original Kermit Hunter drafts that were donated by his widow.
“We’re going to use one of the scripts from the ‘70s,” Richardson said. “It includes a beautiful father/son scene with the Stuarts, and a scene where the people describe this area.”
Richardson said that the core trio of actors in “Horn in the West” — Wes Martin as Daniel Boone, Jenny Cole Reed as Mrs. Morris and Darrell King as Reverend Isaiah Sims — will return in their accustomed roles this summer.
Most of the other roles will be determined through open auditions at the Hayes Performing Arts Center in Blowing Rock, which were held on Feb. 23, and at the Institute of Outdoor Drama at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Saturday, March 15.
As far as the rumors that Horn in the West is closing due to physical problems with the outdoor amphitheater, Richardson is adamant that they are false and the show will go on.
“The town of Boone has said it will help us with some of the repairs,” Richardson said. “Mayor Loretta Clawson has been very supportive, as well.
“People should remember how tourist attractions like Horn in the West helped to put the High Country on the map. For years, families would come to the mountains in the summer to see “Horn in the West,” Grandfather Mountain, the Blowing Rock and Tweetsie Railroad, when there was little else to draw them here.
“We know it’s not as prominent of an attraction as it used to be,” she continued. “But we’re going to do everything we can to bring people back.”