Altavista looks at town roots
By Casey Gillis on Oct. 24, 2007
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A lot can happen in 100 years.
Just ask Dawn Doss, who penned a play for Altavista Little Theater as part of Altavista’s centennial year celebration.
“Lane Siding,” which was what Altavista was originally called by a railroad company in 1907, premieres at 2 p.m. Saturday at Altavista High School.
Doss, a transplant whose husband grew up in town, penned the script after spending about a year and a half doing research and interviewing locals.
The play is made up of a series of vignettes of memorable moments in Altavista’s history, framed by a group of modern-day teens gathered at the Dairy Freeze, a popular hangout in town.
It even features a cameo by the town’s mayor, Rudy Burgess.
“I was born and raised in Altavista, and I think it’s great,” he says. “I know a lot of things about Altavista, and I think (Doss) did a very good job.”
It wasn’t always an easy one.
Doss says she looked for historical moments that were stageable, like when the town’s first female resident, Mrs. Elsom, arrived, or when a group of men renamed the town by putting a bunch of names into a bowler hat and pulling one out: Altavista.
“What I like is when I see … (the cast) carrying off some of the dialogue with the reactions I envisioned,” Doss says, singling out the play’s main narrator, David Hudson.
“He understands the jokes,” she says, “and delivers it the way I hoped.”
As she delved into Altavista’s history, Doss says she was struck by how many people were integral in the town’s founding.
“It wasn’t like one company or one person or one family established the town,” she says. “It has developed, it has grown through the efforts of many individuals, many families and many companies.” J
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