Name: Opening Hank
Start: 2022-11-18T19:30:00-05:00
End: 2022-11-20T16:30:00-05:00
Location: The Cat

Opening Hank

The Cat

Hillbilly singer Hank Williams was found dead in the back seat of his Cadillac on the morning of Jan. 1, 1953, in Oak Hill, W. Va.

Garret Mathews, retired columnist for the Evansville Courier &amp; Press, has written a play about hillbilly crooner Hank Williams that will be presented this month at the Cat Theater in Carmel.Williams was found dead in the back seat of his Cadillac on the morning of Jan. 1, 1953, in Oak Hill, W. Va. In “Opening Hank” a scheming undertaker on his way back to Alabama for the star’s funeral tries to talk two service station attendants into displaying the corpse and charging admission (for which he will receive a kickback).While a work of fiction, the comedy/drama is based somewhat on a column Mathews wrote back in the ‘80s on a man who was a teenager when Williams died. He was hanging around a gas station in Bluefield (about an hour from Oak Hill) when the funeral home director bearing the legend’s body stopped in for fuel. When the locals learned who was in the back of the hearse, they badgered the undertaker until he reluctantly opened the casket.The production is directed by David Mosedale (who plays the mortician) and also features Taylor Cox and Zachariah Stonerock (who play the service station attendants). Aaron Henze is the stage manager.In a 39-year career that started in 1972 at the Bluefield, W. Va., Daily Telegraph, Mathews penned more than 6,500 columns on every subject from murderers and moonshiners to an exotic dancer who wanted to be a herpetologist. His 12 books include “Swing, Batta” about coaching 9-year-old baseball players that was published by the Michigan State University Press and received a nice review in The New York Times. His legacy website is www.pluggerpublishing.com.Mathews, who lives in Carmel, has had several plays in the IndyFringe Festival to include “Jubilee in the Rear View Mirror” about Freedom Summer (1964) in deeply segregated Greenwood, Miss.Ticket prices for the G-rated show are $18 for adults and $15 for students and senior citizens. ABOUT THE PLAYHillbilly singer Hank Williams was found dead in the back seat of his Cadillac on the morning of Jan. 1, 1953, in Oak Hill, W. Va. In “Opening Hank” a scheming undertaker on his way back to Alabama for the star’s funeral tries to talk two service station attendants into displaying the corpse and charging admission (for which he will receive a kickback).ABOUT WRITING THE PLAYWhile a work of fiction, the comedy/drama is based somewhat on a column I wrote back in the ‘80s on a man who was a teenager when Hank died. He was hanging around a gas station in Bluefield (about an hour from Oak Hill) when the funeral home director bearing the legend’s body stopped in for fuel. He told me about the uproar caused by the hearse that didn’t subside until the reluctant mortician opened the casket for the curious locals.

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Opening Hank

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Opening Hank

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