Trails West

"Local actors fill 'Trails' cast"
(Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, June 23, 1976, p. 5)

By GLEN GIBBONS JR.
of the Union-Bulletin

Walla Walla has a lot invested in Trails West. The community has contributed the author, Bill Gulick, the director, Rod Alexander, former Whitman College drama chairman, and the theater site, at Fort Walla Walla. Local interests have pungled up much of the $400,000 to establish the outdoor production, which will run daily from July 1 to September 10.The historical origins of the play's events are as close as Whitman Mission.
    
So, the fact that more than half of the play's 76 actors and actresses come from the Walla Walla area seems a small surprise.
    
Drawing 54 members of the cast from this area "certainly hasn't hurt the quality" according to Gulick "Whitman College theater has always been highly talented," he said "and the Little Theatre and community college add to that. It's just splendid." Alexander said of the large local contribution to the cast "I'm very excited with the tremendous enthusiasm of the company." he said.  "They're not going to let anyone down."
    
Alexander said he had hoped in casting to draw heavily from the Walla Walla area to enhance local interest in the production.  "They understand the background better than outsiders might have," he said. "This is especially true of the Indians, who are from tribes related to the [historical] situation."
    
Since the pay for cast members averages between $45 and $105 per week, the number of available outside actors was limited.  "You can't travel very far or live too high on that kind of money." Gulick said. Nevertheless, he said he's had several actors from Oregon, California and other states say they wished they'd heard about the play in time for tryouts.
    
Walla Wallans fill seven of the 11 major roles in the sweeping historical drama-comedy-musical that is Trails West: Bob Matlock, a migratory native of the city, plays William Craig, the narrator-participant who lends historical and theatrical cohesion to three-quarters of a century of events depicted in the show.
    
Dale Long, familiar to drama aficionados of Whitman's Harper Joy Theater and the Walla Walla Little Theatre will be missionary Henry Spaulding. Presently office supervisor for the sheriff's department, Long is a Whitman graduate who has worked in past productions with Alexander and several members of the Trails West cast. Most recently, he directed Lion in Winter at Whitman last season and a number of Little Theatre plays. He called the sizable local involvement in the play "very healthy, like the Oberammergau [Germany] passion play. “It stimulates interest in the community. We have the ‘best of both worlds.'” Long said, "with local people and professionals from outside, It's not just an amateur production."” "It's really thrilling for me as an actor to play a role like Spaulding.” he added "It's very likely he walked across the ground where the theater site is."
    
Brad Hunt, also familiar from the Harper Joy and Little Theatre stages, has the role of Jeff Clayton, a young guide of early pioneers. "He's big, very relaxed and confident." Hunt, a drama major at Whitman, says of Clayton "He's a 'Follow-me-and-I'll-show-you-the-way' sort of person." Hunt also approved of the large local casting. "I imagine that they're going to get more talent out of the Walla Walla people [in the play]," he said, "because they're performing in Walla Walla." "I know it sounds corny, but I think Walla Walla people are proud of their heritage and want to get the most they can out of the show."
    
Jo Anne Rasmussen holds the role of Mrs. Lucius Wagner, a pioneer woman prominent throughout the play. Mrs. Rasmussen is a speech instructor at Whitman and Walla Walla Community College.  She has been director of WWCCs Traveling Theatre for Children since 1972. She has worked with Alexander, Long and several other Trails West principals in earlier productions and has acting credits in 17 plays.
    
Freda, the Swedish servant of the pioneer Wagners, is played by Joan Stevens, a third-grade teacher at Green Park School.  She has been in five recent Little Theatre productions, including the role of Rose in Gypsy, presented during 1974.
    
John Freimann, chairman of Whitman s drama department, plays Emil Ekert, a trader who provides much of the humorous interest in the play.   Another former Walla Walla resident, Adnenne Alexander — daughter of director Rod Alexander — fills the role of Narcissa Whitman.
    
The play's oldest actor is Walla Walla's Francis Mills, 67, its youngest, Laureen James, 10 of Yakima. One local family has four cast members: Danielle, Mark, Megan and Morgan Murphy, children of Walla Walla artist Jeanette Murphy, 103 Merriam St., and Cullen Murphy of Fresno, Calif.Other cast members from the Walla Walla area include Gene Alexander, Kirn Bennett, Gary Bruton, Mark Chamberlin, Dan Chubb, Michael Clark, Chon Clayton, Joe Correa, Lorna Corngan, Ernie Coufol, Keith Dahlgren Paul Dennis, Michael Ehart, Jo Anne Fleck, Ron Franklin, Penny Gable, Claire and Dino Guglielmelli, Bob Hendrix, Tony Hunt, Dale Hutson, Dick Inglis, Cathy and Heather Jones, Paul Jones, Horace Lazam, Vicki Lloid, Glenn Mitchell, Ken Monson, B E Mortensen, Pam Peterson, Lisa Rasmussen, Jeff Ray, Lloyd Rutherford, Billye Jo Smith, Janet Smith, Roger Spotted Eagle Mark Tucker, Jim Turner, Greg Watson, Jim Webster, Kevin Wickersham and Jack Yantis.