St. Marys history recounted in play

Aug. 15—ST. MARYS — The city of St. Marys is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year.

This weekend will see the culmination of that bicentennial with a weekend of historical events including a concert, a civil war exhibit and a play about a native son's experience in the war.

"The vast majority of the people in the play are amateurs, but they all have a passion for history," Todd Spieles, who discovered the letters that the play "A Long Journey Home" is based on, said. "Michael (Hurwitz), the playwright is so excited."

Hurwitz, who has been in theatre since 1965 and came to St. Marys to work on the site of this weekend's events, the Grand Opera House, said that he was asked to look at the letters of Charles Kruse, who left St. Marys to fight in the war, and then dramatize his story.

"And so we started on this project, a little over a year ago and I did the appropriate research," he said. "I've been a Civil War devotee and collector for pretty much all my life and so it fascinated me. The story was just remarkable."

The free play will tell of several significant details from Kruse's life, but Spieles said that he hopes the audience understands that even though these events were incredible, they were not unique in a war that spanned from Maine to New Mexico with over 10,000 conflicts.

"I just want people to be able to grasp at least part of what we're trying to say here," he said. "This is so much bigger than what we are. It's a great, great story."

Hurwitz echoed those hopes, saying, "I think there will be a renewed appreciation for the people who came before us and for the people who lived and sacrificed from St. Marys in the Civil War."

For him, telling the story is important on its own, but to have the buy-in from community members who make up the cast and crew, as well as longtime friend and star of "WKRP in Cincinnati" Gary Sandy who is serving as narrator, has been even more rewarding.

"The most important thing about the show itself is that this has been truly a community effort," Hurwitz said. "This has been an effort from volunteers within the community. And my purpose in writing, producing and directing this was to make it a community project to show them that they can come together to tell a story like this and have an impact on their immediate community."

By Hurwitz's estimation, they have knocked it out of the park.

"I've worked with a great many professional actors and I've never seen anybody come through the way these people have come through without any kind of experience before," he said. "That's awesome. If people want to take 90 minutes out of their day either Saturday night or Sunday afternoon to come see us, they won't be disappointed."

The free Civil War exhibition, about the story of the steamboat disaster Sultana, will start at 4 p.m. Friday at the St. Marys Grand Opera House and will be followed by a performance from nationally known music group Loco Focos.

For more information or to purchase tickets to either the 7 p.m. Saturday or 2 p.m. Sunday showing of "A Long Journey Home", visit the Grand Opera House website.

Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.