The Oregon Straw Hat Players Present Damn Yankees and Disney’s Descendants: Bringing Diversity to Oregon through Disney
Emily Richardson (l) and Desere Mayo are part of the creative team bringing musical theater to Oregon this summer and fall.
by Jonathan Gramling
Since 1982, the Oregon Straw Hat Players have been bringing plays and musical theater to the Oregon area. It uses a multitude of venues, depending on what is available, from schools to the public library. “The Oregon Public Library has a monthly pajama story time,” said Emily Richardson, a member of the group’s board of directors. “The Oregon Straw Hat Players participates in that four times per year and provides the actors, costumes and props. And we act out a children’s story. We just had one earlier this week. Kids theoretically come in their pajamas at 6 p.m. on a week night. I can’t remember if any kids came in their pajamas last time.”
The Oregon Straw Hat Players is powered by volunteers who strive to put on two productions, one in the summer and one in the fall.
“We are most well known for doing a big summer musical,” Richardson said. “In recent years, we’ve started adding to that. So sometimes in the off season, we’ll do a children’s show or a play. Last year, we did a musical review where we just had soloists and duets doing famous Broadway songs. We’re doing a little bit of experimenting with doing smaller projects in the off-season. This year, our big summer show is Damn Yankees, which came out in 1955. Even if people don’t know the show, most people know the most famous song, which is ‘You Have to Have Heart.’ And the other one is ‘Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets.’ We’re not alternating on purpose, but it just sort of works out. Last year, we did a show that was a little bit newer, more contemporary called ‘Bright Star.’ So this year, we went back to a classic. Again ‘Damn Yankees’ came out in 1955. It won a Tony for Best Musical in 1956. And they are doing a Broadway revival next year in 2027.”
Damn Yankees has a lot of comedy mixed in with a message about morality binding the whole play together. It is being performed through August 15th.
“A middle-aged baseball fan Joe Boyd is a huge fan of the Washington Senators,” Richardson said.
“And he absolutely hates the Yankees. The show opens up with him sitting in his living room watching the Senators lose once more. And a mysterious figure shows up named Mr. Applegate, who is actually the devil. And he offers Joe an opportunity to go back in time and become a younger man and play for the Washington Senators and save his beloved team. But it comes with a clause. And Joe Boyd says, ‘If I change my mind by a certain date, then I want to be able to change back.’ So Mr. Applegate agrees to that escape clause.”
“The young Joe, now named Joe Hardy comes and meets the manager of the Washington Senators, blows his mind with his hitting and fielding. And of course he is getting magical help from his friend. He ends up saving the team and beating those Damn Yankees. But in the midst of it, the devil tries to tempt him and send him this seductress named Lola. And Joe is able to resist that because he really wants to go back to his wife. It’s good and evil. He meets his deadline and gets to go back to his wife in his former middle-aged self and is no longer the 20-year-old hunky athlete. He saved the team just as the devil was turning him back into his old self and he literally fell out of his uniform and became 50-years-old again and stumbled onto the field and no one knew what was happening.”
Artist Desere Mayo, who frequently exhibits at community events in Madison, has explored her creative side in theater as well and is a member of the Oregon Straw Hat Players board. She has been involved on a number of the group’s projects over the last few years.
“I’ve done props for ‘A Christmas Carol,’” Mayo said. “I actually made a turkey out of some pantyhose. It was very interesting. It was as big as the kid, so she had a hard time carrying it. I’ve done costumes for ‘Finding Nemo JR.’ I was the costume designer and then I got to be a make-up designer as well for ‘The Lion King’ for the middle school.”
Mayo has also performed in a production or two.
“A few years ago, I was Mrs. Potts in the Beauty and the Beast musical that Oregon Straw Hats Players did,” Mayo said. “And I’ve actually been in theater all my life. I write shows. I’ve written speeches for church. And we would do plays. And I just wanted to get back into it. And my son saw Peter Pan and was just like, ‘Mom, if you audition, I’ll audition.’ That’s how I ended up being in Beauty and the Beast with him. After that, I was like, ‘This is fun.’ And I really enjoy it. I was also part of The Detectives murder mystery. My son will be 17-years-old. Now he hasn’t been in anything, but his brother caught the bug. And he was just King Agnarr in ‘Frozen JR.’ And he’s going to audition as well.”
For the fall production of Disney’s Descendants, Mayo has stepped into a new role as the assistant director.
“Lexa Walker is the director,” Mayo saikd. “It’s her brainchild and she brought the idea to the board. I am part of the board as well. And now I am the assistant director. As assistant director, I help her out. When she is doing certain parts that kids are going to be doing or families are doing, I’ll be in a whole another area teaching what she wants. It’s hers. I’m just there to support. As the producer, we have to make sure that contracts are signed, people sign in. We have t-shirts and all of that stuff. We just make sure that everything is organized.”
Disney’s Descendants is a theatrical adaptation of several Disney animated films.
“The parents of the main villains are Maleficent. Cruella De Vil, Jafar and the Evil Queen,” Mayo said about the plot line. “It’s their children. And then on the other side, you have Prince Charming, the Fairy Godmother, her daughter, Aurora, who is Sleeping Beauty. The son of Beauty and the Beast is about to be crowned the king. And he wants to bring the two aisles together. That’s what he wants to do. And now, Maleficent has this plan that she wants to control it through her daughter and the villains’ kids. But the kids want to make their own way and not to have to worry about what their parents say. The parents were the stars in Disney animated movies.”
The play has a message that rings home in today’s political environment that creates division.
“There is a bridge that they cross from the Isle of the Lost,” Mayo said. “It’s a bridge that no one can really cross. It was closed off to them. Now they have been welcomed over to Auradon so that they can make their own way. It’s basically their way to say, ‘We are not our parents. And we want our own thing.’ And they are all different. Diversity is a good thing. Being in a community, we can all do this together. We don’t have to look alike. We don’t have be alike. And that is basically what she wants to do. This is definitely a play for the times we live in.”
Disney’s Descendants is a lively musical oriented towards children.
“It’s a musical with an original score,” Mayo said. “It’s originals from the movies. All of the songs are from the movies because the the Descendant movies are musicals. A lot of the songs that are in it like ‘Chillin’ Like a Villain,’ are in it.”
Richardson and Mayo are reaching out to Dane County communities to form a cast with as much diversity as possible.
“The auditions are coming up soon, August 17th and 18th,” Mayo said. “They are open to people from Madison, Belleville, Evansville, Sun Prairie, from wherever you are. They are open to everyone. And we really want diversity in the cast. There are adult and youth roles. Auditions are August 17-18. Call backs are on August 20th. We’re at Rome Corners Intermediate School, 1111 S. Perry Parkway in Oregon at 6 p.m. People can go to the website to sign up for the auditions. And if you are doing music, the music sheets will be available on the website or you can bring your own.”
Like Mayo’s experience in Beauty and the Beast, Disney’s Descendants could prove to be a unique family bonding experience.
“This is for families,” Mayo said. “It’s not just a junior production. It is for the entire family to audition for and to bring in diversity, bring in connection and all of that.”
Disney’s Descendants is scheduled for October 16-18. There will be four shows that weekend. For more information, visit communications@ohsp.org.
