L --vv - li pf t i; i it (v. A'f it ' t ijii'i ti '(. i j .! i ' 7 M -"ivfcS - far J , . y Nella Allen, Adrian Allen and Ron Atencio are at the Hearthside in Eden. A play that runs through the month of March. Locals star in production Butterflies' at the Hearthside By CHERIE HUBER LAYTON "I think the happiest hap-piest days of my life were spent in Layton during the years my father worked at Hill Air Force Base," reminisces Ron Atnecio. "I was already interested in acting and my sister and I spent many happy hours putting on backyard productions produc-tions with some of our friends." Ron has been starring in "Butterflies "But-terflies Are Free" up Ogden Canyon Ca-nyon at the Hearthside in Eden. The play runs through the month of March. Co-starring with Ron is Nella Allen who works with the state Environmental En-vironmental Protection Agency in North Salt Lake. Ron, who plays the young blind man, did a lot of study and research into the typical movements and gestures of the blind. He visited the Utah School for the Blind in Ogden to add to his concept of being blind. In addition, the daughter of blind parents helped at rehearsals to correct his movements. "This is one of the more heartfelt roles I've played," Ron says. "There is depth to his character and I'd like to think I could live with Don Baker's value systems." Ron has been performing with the Ogden Area Community Theatre for the past two and a half years. Recently he has performed in such roles as Leon in "Fools" and Norman in "Star Spangled Girl," both Neil Simon plays and both performed at the Hearthside theatre. He also played Spats Palazzo in "Sugar" at Heritage Theatre in Perry. Ron is president of SPARC Productions, Pro-ductions, Inc. He is currently on the board of the Ogden Area Community Com-munity Theatre and is involved with marketing of the Historic 25th Street Business Association. Nella Allen was born in Alaska, raised in Texas and now makes Utah her home. She is an environmental environ-mental health scientist for the state. Acting is her favorite hobby. Just a little more than a half hour's worth of beautiful drive from anywhere in Davis County, the charming and historic Hearthside Hear-thside Theatre in Eden is functioning function-ing as a dinner theatre with a very nice dinner followed by the production pro-duction of "Butterflies Are Free." The Hearthside is an old Mormon Mor-mon chapel which has been converted con-verted to also serve as a Wedding and reception center. Antiques and carefully chosen decorations retain re-tain the old-fashioned spirit of the place and add to the historic charm. The dinner theatre concept is in its second year under the watchful eye of entrepreneur extraordinaire ex-traordinaire Brad Skinner who also manages Wolf Creek Lodge. Dinner Din-ner is at 7 p.m. and the theatre be- r gins at 8. Reservations are strongly suggested and can be made by calling call-ing 745-2621. Every Saturday evening during the month of March, the Hearthside Hear-thside is presenting "Butterflies Are Free" in conjunction with the Ogden Area Community Theatre. "Butterflies Are Free" was first presented by Arthur Whitelaw, Max J. Brown and Byron Goldman at the Booth Theatre in New York City on Oct. 21, 1969. It was under the direction, of Milton Katselas. The movie version came out in 1972. The movie cast was made up of Goldie Hawn as Jill Tanner, Edward Ed-ward Albert as Don Baker, Eileen Heckart as Mrs. Baker and Mike Warren as Ralph Austin. The movie was again directed by Milton Mil-ton Katselas. It was this role that helped to launch Goldie Hawn's movie career. At the Hearthside production, Ron Atencio plays Don Baker, Nella Allen plays Jill Tanner and Marge Hilton plays the mother, Mrs. Baker. Adrian Allen plays Ralph Austin. The fun thing about this production produc-tion is that the actors are really good and under the strength of their director, David Vaughn, they present a very entertaining show. On the surface "Butterflies Are Free" is a lighthearted story of a love affair between a young man and the girl next door. In this case however the young man, Don Baker, Bak-er, is blind and the girl next door, Jill Tanner, is an already divorced 19-year-old actress who doesn't like to make even short term commitments. com-mitments. Don has moved to New York on a two month trial basis to escape his mother who he feels is protecting protect-ing him with "smother love" and preventing him from having a life of his own. "Butterflies Are Free" is more than the story of Don's struggle for independence. It's more than the story of the more difficult process of growing up blind. Also hidden in the plot is the struggle we all must face. As we move into adulthood and gain our independence from the protective family nest we also win the right to face our own problems prob-lems and suffer our own losses. This message is pleasantly su-ger-coated by Jill's amusing prattle as she sets out to seduce Don and by Don's long standing and witty verbal battle with his overprotec-tive overprotec-tive mother. A visit to the Hearthside is enjoyable en-joyable and a good way to support and encourage local talent. At the same time county residents might well ask themselves whether Davis County couldn't support a dinner theatre in one of the wonderful old buildings still standing in the county. 1