ENCORE PRESENTATIONS SCHEDULED FOR “EIGHT DAYS IN PARADISE”
The premier presentation of the historical play “Eight Days in Paradise” performed to a packed house at the G.C. Rann Auditorium, Wise County Heritage Museum on Saturday, November 4, 2017. Due to overwhelming requests by many members of the public, four encore performances are scheduled for the months of December and January.
The play, written and directed by Paradise Historical Society President, Donna Weeden was performed by local volunteer actors. The performance is a one-act play about the eight dreadful day’s kidnapped victim Charles Urschel spent in a rundown farmhouse, owned by Boss Shannon, near Paradise, Texas in 1933. Mr. Urschel was removed from his home in Oklahoma City at gunpoint by Machine Gun Kelley and partner, Albert Bates on Saturday evening, July 22, 1933. Many members of the Shannon family were present at the premier performance.
The play was written with the compilation of the most factual information available from FBI records, news media, interviews, books and other historic material. The event made national news for many months during and after the kidnapping, the trial and sentencing. It was the first federal case tried under the so-called “Lindbergh Law” and also called the Federal Kidnapping Act of 1932. It was “an act forbidding the transportation of any person in interstate or foreign commerce, kidnapped, or otherwise unlawfully detained and making such act a felony”. This new law, which is still a legal statue, came at the heels of the dreadful kidnapping of the son of famous aviator, Charles Lindbergh.
Four encore performances include two matinee and two evening dates and scheduled as follows:
One evening performance on Saturday, December 2, 2017 at 7:00 PM;
One matinee performance on Sunday, December 3, 2017, 2:00 PM;
Two performances on Saturday, January 13, 2018 – a 3:00 PM matinee; and at 6:00 PM evening performance.
Tickets are $10 per person and may be purchased at the at the door or in advance at Wise County Heritage Museum Monday through Saturday from 10:00 AM until 3:00 PM; at the Paradise Museum on Tuesdays and Saturday from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM; at Hometown Tees in Paradise Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM until 5:00 PM. Purchase Tickets Online. All proceeds benefit the Paradise Museum and Wise County Heritage Museum.
Actors include: Jim Taylor, Adrienne Faulhaber, Jan Pierce, Slade Shannon, Chris Hodges, Wayne Smith, Bryson Clark and Rob Little. Stage Manager is Shanna Smith; sound and lighting Kerry Clower and Kyah Shannon. Announcer is Deborah Mann.