The Appalachian Regional Theater Company is performing a dramatic reading of Welcome Home
this weekend that offers an alcohol alternative for Halloween weekend.
The author of Welcome Home W.R. Smiddie, playwright and artist of Meigs County and president of the company, said he was inspired to write the play after seeing two homeless children.
(The play) is about two homeless kids ages 15 and 16
who were taken in for one night by a middle-aged professional man whose wife and children have left him
Smiddie said.
Ron Luce, 54, of Athens and treasurer of the company, plays the part of John Hyde, PhD, the main character in the reading.
This play has universal messages about many aspects of life that will appeal to thoughtful people everywhere
Luce said.
Ohio University acting major Lea Leneskie, 19, of Columbus, plays the role of Cindy, a twenty-year-old business administration student. Leneskie said Welcome Home serves as a bridge to a generation gap by showing how people from different backgrounds can and should mesh.
It's a call to an older generation to look back on their past and to revaluate their situation
as well as a call to a younger generation to take into account all that our elders have learned from life
Leneskie said.
Smiddie hopes the audience gains new insight about the problem of homelessness. I hope they will realize there are homeless kids every night. Even tonight. And if they have a big house
take one in
Smiddie said.
