“There’s Still Snow on Silver Star” to debut at Love Street Playhouse in Woodland

A fire is coming in the new play “There’s Still Snow on Silver Star,” written by David Bareford. The play, to be performed by Love Street Playhouse in Woodland, is set in the early 1900s Yacolt. Pictured: Michael Reid as Hiram, Katie Norcross as Kit, Laura Henderson as Essie and Cody Swires as Jamie. Photo by Bobby Pallotta.

A play by local playwright David Bareford is set in early 1900 Yacolt, and will run from Sept. 12 through Oct. 5 at Love Street Playhouse

Love Street Playhouse in Woodland will debut an original play that explores a family’s struggle to survive on their homestead in Yacolt in the early 1900s.

“There’s Still Snow on Silver Star,” a story of land, family, and fire, will debut Sept. 12 and run through Oct. 5. The play was written by local playwright David Bareford.

Set in the tiny settlement of Yacolt, Washington, in the first days of September 1902, “There’s Still Snow on Silver Star” follows Essie Garner, a determined young woman in her early 30s, and her father Hiram, a weathered homesteader in his late 50s. The Garner family potato crop has been completely wiped out by an unseasonable blight. Facing ruin and a bank foreclosure, Hiram is ready to sell their homestead, a place he built with his own hands and where his children were raised and his wife is buried.

But Essie is fiercely determined to save the land at any cost, as it’s the only home she’s ever known.

Laura Henderson as Essie and Cody Swires as Jamie react to having a weapon pointed their way by Michael Reid as Hiram in the upcoming play, “There’s Still Snow on Silver Star.” The play will open Sept. 12 at Love Street Playhouse in Woodland. Photo by Bobby Pallotta

The family’s situation becomes even more complicated with the arrival of a handsome but mysterious Irishman, Jamie Walsh, a land purchasing agent who holds a secret that would allow him to buy the Garner’s property for a song. To save their land, Essie hatches a desperate scheme to marry Jamie to keep the homestead in the family.

But when a massive wildfire threatens to engulf the Garners and all of Yacolt, Essie must weigh her fierce loyalty to the land against the difficult choices she’s made to protect her family and their legacy.

This is the latest creation of Bareford, the resident playwright for Love Street Playhouse. His previous works that have premiered there include “Live in 3, 2, 1 …,” “Seeking Mister Hyde,” and “Robin Hood.”

Best friends Essie (Laura Henderson) and Kit (Katie Norcross) share a laugh as Jamie (Cody Swires) contemplates his scheme to procure the Garner land. The world premiere of “There’s Still Snow on Silver Lake” is Sept. 12 through Oct. 5 at the Love Street Playhouse in Woodland. Photo by Bobby Pallotta

Bareford enjoys including real historical events and people in his works. Many of the events in There’s Still Snow on Silver Star are factual, such as the massive Yacolt Burn forest fire and how the Weyerhaeuser Company changed from land speculation to the timber industry.

Love Street veteran performers are set to bring this piece to life. Laura Henderson is Essie, Cody Swires is Jamie, Michael Reid is Hiram, and Katie Norcross is Essie’s friend Kit. Bareford is also directing this play.

Tickets start at $26 and are on sale at www.LoveStreetPlayhouse.com or by phone at 800-966-8865. Opening night is already sold out. Love Street Playhouse is located at 126 Loves Ave., in Woodland