Dreaming of a Red House

The story is simple -- boy meets girl, boy and girl giggle and shuffle about uncomfortably in the classic teen courting ritual, boy and girl start to like each other, boy and girl go their separate ways.

All told, it's over in less than 15 minutes.

But the future holds something bigger than just a chance encounter for young Louis Lorimier and Shawnee princess Charlotte Pemanpiah Bougainville. They'll one day become Cape Girardeau's First Couple.

For this year's Libertyfest, Dr. Roseanna Whitlow has imagined what might have happened if the two met as teenagers, alone in the Southeast Missouri wilderness. Under the umbrella of the River City Players, Whitlow has produced the first play written for Libertyfest, "Young Louis Lorimier," to provide a celebration of the city's bicentennial by theatrical means.

A different version of the quick history lesson/theatrical entertainment debuted 13 years ago, but "Young Louis Lorimier" was then stashed away. With this bicentennial year Libertyfest, Whitlow saw the perfect opportunity to bring the old play out again.

"I just really enjoyed the play so much I wanted to get it out again," Whitlow said. "And with this being the bicentennial, the River City Players wanted to include something historical in the season."

Whitlow tapped 15-year-old Sami Gross and 13-year-old Kiefer Mecham, both from Cape Girardeau, to play the Indian princess and a teenage Lorimier.

Both children already have acting experience under their belt, so they won't be nervous in the spotlight during Libertyfest. During the performance, Gross and Mecham will be the only players -- Mecham with his brown coat, puffy shirt and knee-length pants, and Gross in a dress made of pelts. The only sound other than their voices will be that of a hand drum.

For Mecham, playing a teenage Lorimier was natural.

"I really like theater; I really like history, and Roseanna presented this play to me, so I decided to do it," Mecham said.

Mecham also participated in the Mississippi River Tales mural dedication, playing a man from 1803 and delighting audiences in the process.

Gross gravitated to "Young Louis Lorimier" for a different reason.

"I really like acting ... I didn't know anything about the history part of it," Gross said sheepishly.

But through her involvement with the play, she's gotten a crash course in the history of pre-Cape Girardeau. "Young Louis Lorimier" is packed with facts and names about both the French in America and the Shawnee.

The play can't really delve into the history of the city's founding, but it does foreshadow a scenario with which most Cape Girardeau residents have become familiar.

Lorimier shares his dream with his future wife of building a "city of peace and harmony," centered on his home/trading post on a hill. Charlotte tells him to paint the house red, and the idea for the city's bedrock settlement is born.

"Young Louis Lorimier" hopes to transplant today's audience back to that time of dreams. Using the perspective provided by 200 years, they can decide if that vision of a "city of peace and harmony" came true.

By doing so, Whitlow hopes the play will provide another way to feed on and grow the city's interest in its founding while being entertained.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182