Onionskin Players ready to raise curtain on ‘The Shame of Weiser’ at Star Theater

Audiences will revel in the story of “The Shame of Weiser” next week when the Illustrious Onionskin Players raise the curtain on their annual melodrama at the historic Star Theater in downtown Weiser.
 As always, the show will feature over-the-top acting with the requisite villain (actually two villains) and hero and damsel in distress.
 The production will run for two weeks.The show dates are March 6-7, March 13-14, March 17 and March 20-21. The Sunday matinees are March 15, 22. Doors open at 7 p.m. for evening shows and 2 p.m. for Sunday matinees. Tickets are $12 each or $10 for matinee in advance and $14 and $12 at the door.
 The Onionskin Players celebrate 35 entertaining years with this year’s production. Counting all the cast members and stage and lighting helpers, there are about 30 people involved in “The Shame of Weiser or Dirty Work in the Lucky Cuss.”
 Onionskins founder Ruth Creek and Pam Lakey are directing the melodrama, which features a talented cast with members from Parma, Meridian, Ontario, Weiser and elsewhere.
 Some of the Onionskin Players are veterans and have been doing melodramas for many years since the troupe’s first melodrama was staged in January of 1985.
 Audiences will enjoy the larger seats with cupholders that have been installed in the Star Theater. They are wider with more legroom and a big upgrade from the century old seats that were removed. The new seats were acquired through a generous donation from Reel Theatre.
 “That was a good deal for us,” said Linda Shaw, a member of the nonprofit Onionskin Players.
 During the two-hour melodrama, the audience is treated to olios. Olios are short musical acts or vignettes between the main acts of the play. The costume changes are done downstairs in the theater.
 The Onionskin Players stay authentic to the period of the melodrama with the costumes and makeup, paying close attention to detail in everything from the feathers in the ladies headpieces to the shine of the hero’s boots.
 Lots of sequins and jewels are a must. The sparkles of the jewelry and the “swoosh” of the villain’s cape all help draw the audience into the performance.
 The plot of “The Shame of Weiser” includes lots of humor as it twists and turns. A synopsis submitted by the Onionskin Players goes like this.
 “Amanda Goodsort, once a Boston society belle, has journeyed to Idaho to find employment so that she might support her infant daughter. Alas, she must perform on the stage of Weiser City’s famous Birdcage Theatre, where soldier lads and silver miners come to gawk and applaud! 
 “In order that her true identity never be revealed, Amanda sings in disguise and is known far and wide as The Masked Canary; but to civic leaders like the tenacious Flora Courtland, who is determined to drive her out of town, she is...  ‘the shame of Weiser City!’ 
 “Alas, the wily villain, Judge Mortimer Harshly, and a pretty cohort, Peachy Jamm, discover Amanda’s secret and decide to blackmail her. 
 “The side-splitting action begins on the day Amanda’s grown daughter arrives in town with her two companions, Lonely Wolf, a Harvard-educated scout, and Lt.  Pete Bogg, a manly chap who has everything...  including PX privileges and a future pension. 
 “An outrageous company of funny characters add to the confusion:  Cantankerous Ol’ Timer; Wing Tip, the Oriental philosopher who is available for witty sayings and tea-brewing; Fifi, the French maid from Parma.  But above everything is the sheer nastiness (and comic genius) of the Judge.  All ends suitably with the meanie’s defeat, Amanda’s vindication and a sing-a-long to keep the audience smiling.”
 The Onionskin Players perform in the “grand manner” of melodrama, a fun and sometimes rowdy style of live theater that dates to the late 19th century. Melodramas were popular from about 1870 through 1915 or so.
 The players use exaggerated motions and expressions and engage with the audience members both before and during the show. The audiences are encouraged to boo and hiss the villain and cheer on the hero.