The original musical Bushwhackers is taking the stage this weekend in New Bern. Put on by the North Carolina History Theater, the show tells the story of Keith and Melinda Blalock -- a young couple from the mountains whose nascent marriage is tested by the Civil War.
The show opens happily, with Keith and Melinda falling in love. As children from dueling families, their marriage effectively ends the feud. It's a better outcome than for Romeo and Juliet and for the Hatfields and McCoys, but the plot soon turns sideways as the Civil War descends on their home on Grandfather Mountain.
"Anything I write has a little humor somewhere," Bill Hand, the show's writer and director, said. "But this is largely a very dark story. It's what I call pull-out-the-rug writing."
Bushwhackers is the 3rd project he's tackled as part of the North Carolina History Theater, which aims to share the state's history through original performances. He chose to take on the story of Keith and Melinda after previous projects on the Wright Brothers and the infamous Stanley-Spaight duel.
"It was a natural thing to look into and I remembered these two characters that was just quirky enough it's like Bonnie and Clyde in North Carolina was my initial thought," Hand said.
Played by a distant relative of the real Melinda Blalock, the show's ingenue is quickly pulled out of the honeymoon period as Confederates begin urging young men to enlist. Their families split their allegiances, and the young couple sides with the Union, calling it a rich man's war and poor man's battle. Keith, against better judgement, hatches a plot.
"He figures I'm going to sign up with them, and in the first battle we have, I'm going to cross the line and join the union side," Hand said. "What was going through his mind that he didn't think the Confederates would realize what he was doing once he did it I don't know. Maybe he hoped they just figure he was dead?"
Keith enlists with the 26th North Carolina Infantry Regiment. Melinda, though, is not content to live a passive life on Grandfather Mountain.
"As soon as he was out the door Melinda pulled a Mulan and she cut off all her hair and joined on as his brother," Hand said.
She finds Keith, The two march eastward, and fought in three battles together. Keith became a sergeant and ordered Melinda to stay close to him. But in a battle north of Kinston, She is shot in the shoulder. She recovers, but her identity is revealed.
"Well Keith wanting not to be away from her strips himself naked and rolls and poison oak all night long. So he's got these horrific rashes," Hand said.
The story does not end there, however. Confederates take note of Keith's healthy status and require him to reenlist. The couple this time flee their home to join a troupe of deserters. Ultimately, they rejoin the action, this time for the Union. Jimmy Merritt wrote the score. He says the music aims to amplify the emotion of each scene and the tone of each character.
"I like viewing Melinda as a strong woman, so I hope we bring that out and I hope I brought that out in the music," Merritt said.
Though the show is a based in history, Merritt uses music from his upbringing as inspiration.
"One of the things I wanted to avoid was cliches of Western North Carolina folk mountain music from that time," Merritt said. "I wanted to write a song that I felt would bring out that emotion and I'm going to use music that I was brought up on, which is music from the 70s."
The musical explores their lives together as they're dragged into the tragedies of war, far away from their rural mountain home. Bushwhackers debuts Friday with performances this weekend and next at Orringer Auditorium at Craven Community College.
