Rural Thespians: The Love Of Drama Knows No Boundaries -- Connell Troupe Is Unlike Urban Versions

CONNELL, Franklin County - Two farmers, a witty prison guard and a proficient convenience-store owner and his clerk.

These weren't the fictional characters in a Franklin County play.

They were the actors.

Recently, everyday folks with everyday lives put on the English play "Run For Your Wife." They call themselves the Promise Them Anything Players.

It's a troupe unlike anything performing in New York City.

Craig Klindworth, 36, was the lead. He practiced his lines while driving his tractor and seeding winter wheat on an 8,000-acre farm north of Connell.

His 34-year-old sister, Gaye Pierson, practiced her lines while washing dishes or doing laundry, surrounded by her three daughters, ages 1, 5 and 7.

Officer at prison

Curtis Pate, 37, served in the Army for 14 years and today works as a corrections officer at the Coyote Ridge prison.

On stage, the husky prison guard played a dress designer.

Wayde Hudlow, 35, also practiced his lines for the play while driving a tractor and planting wheat on a 6,000-acre spread not far from the Klindworth farm.

Hudlow has been with the Promise Them Anything Players since 1984, longer than any other performer in the cast.

The Players was organized by Jim and John Harder of Kahlotus, Franklin County, and a few other rural residents as a dinner theater in fall 1983.

Hudlow got involved after hearing about the group's first performance, "Plaza Suite."

Both productions received rave reviews at the Kahlotus Grange Hall. When more Connell residents joined, the Players moved their performances to the Connell Elementary School in 1985.

Easy to join

Hudlow said joining the Players was as easy as driving to Kahlotus and asking to be in the group's second production, "Confusions."

The same tactic works today. All that's needed to be one of the Players is desire. Most members have little or no stage experience, although they share a common love of acting.

Before joining the Players in 1986, 35-year-old Jamie Pavel's acting experience consisted of two high-school-drama classes and a play at Columbia Basin College.

Pavel is more known for her voice than for her stage performances. She sings the National Anthem before some home games of the Western Hockey League's Tri-City Americans.

In real life, Pavel is a clerk at a Connell convenience store owned by Quinton Booker, who also is in the play.

Booker, who played a detective, said he had no interest in acting while in high school or while pursuing a political science degree at Washington State University.

"I had a hard enough time just getting through a speech class," Booker said.

His stage career began by accident, during his final days at college.

"I was two credits shy of graduating, so I took an introduction to drama class, on a pass-fail option, and found out I really liked it," he said.

Booker also directed the play. And he's a scrounger of props. He rounded up the two end tables for the set.

"I picked them up at a secondhand store for $20," Booker said.

Pavel sacrificed her living room sofa for the play. The sofa was back in her home after the two-night production, but for the play it had the important mission of sitting between Booker's two end tables.

"Most of our props come from our living rooms," Pierson explained.

Sybil Marsh, 48, has one of the toughest jobs in this play. The Coyote Ridge secretary played the part of a male detective.

Helps with lights and sets

Marsh's husband, Larry, is a prison guard at Coyote Ridge who helps backstage with the lights and set designs.

Marsh acted in plays during her senior year at Waterville High School. Later, she joined the Music Theatre of Wenatchee and stayed nine years.

"Run for Your Wife" is her fourth production with the group.

Judy Fox, 36, plays a reporter in the play. Her husband, Phillip, farms west of Connell.

She grew up in Wolf Point, Mont., where she performed in musicals at her high school.

"I love to be on stage, but in high school I was always in the back row because I could not sing or dance," Fox said.

She's had bigger roles since joining the Promise Them Anything Players in 1987, including a ghost in "Blithe Spirit," the group's 1993 production.

The star of this year's play, Klindworth, said he never had an interest in acting before joining the group in 1987, when a member of the Players asked him for a favor.

The group needed someone to play a guitar in their production of Bus Stop.

"Not only was Bus Stop my first play, it was the first play I ever saw," said Klindworth.

Run For Your Wife is his sixth performance with the group.

"I'm hooked," Klindworth said.

Proceeds from the play, which costs about $900 to produce, were placed in a scholarship fund.

"It's a lot of work to be in a play, but as soon as there is an audience in front of you, it becomes very exciting," Fox said.

The others agreed.

"Being someone else for a while is a lot of fun," Marsh added.

"It's even more fun when you can be someone else on stage in front of an audience."