Stagecoach Inn presents historical play with dinner

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers A LOOK AT HISTORY- Guests at the Conejo Valley Historical Society's Supper Theater enjoy a warm early autumn evening at the Stagecoach Inn Museum. The meal was followed by a play about a fictional family from Los Angeles traveling through the history of the Conejo Valley. The Conejo Valley Historical Society recently premiered "Our Towns on the Conejo," a new play that traces the founding of settlements in the Conejo Valley through the centuries. Written by CVHS president Elaine Williams, the show features more than three dozen local actors and their families in an entertaining performance on the front porch of the venerable Stagecoach Inn.

Williams uses as a framework the Lindseys, a 1927 fictional family from Encino who get lost in a mysterious fog on their way to find Goebel's Lion Farm in Thousand Oaks (a forerunner to Jungleland). When they emerge from the fog, they find themselves journeying along a linear timeline, beginning with an encounter with 16th century Chumash Indians and moving from epoch to epoch back to 1927. Along the way, they meet Conejo Valley pioneers whose names are now reflected in familiar locales, such as Borchard, Newbury and Russell.

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers SUPPER THEATER- Greta Weinstein and Haley Kates of Newbury Park enjoy dinner at the Conejo Valley Historical Society's Supper Theater. Friday's program at the Stagecoach Inn Museum included an early dinner followed by a play about settlers in the Conejo Valley. The presentation reminds one of "The Wizard of Oz," with the Lindseys whisked away by a meteorological event, then spending their time trying to get back home. (Thousand Oaks may be a far cry from the Emerald City, but it does have its charms. The Lindseys would have been well-served, however, if they'd had a yellow brick road to follow.)

As the years fly by, we and the Lindseys discover the Conejo Valley has been a choice area of desirable land for centuries. The region, originally called Rancho El Conejo for the large number of rabbits in the valley, was named by two Spanish soldiers, Jose Rodriguez and Jose Polanco. The 49,000-acre parcel stretched from the Conejo grade to Lindero Canyon.

In the years to come, Santa Barbara land developers John Edwards and Howard Mills bought much of the land and divided it into parcels, selling some of the new acreage to pioneers like Egbert Starr Newbury, who named his land Newbury Park. (Newbury's ranch home was located near the site of the Civic Arts Plaza.)

We also learn the name Thousand Oaks was chosen in a contest in 1922. The area could have been called Triunfo, but nobody could agree on how it should be pronounced.

Time travel proves to be an effective way of learning a brief, entertaining history of the Conejo Valley. Since there are 38 actors playing 55 different roles, character development is next to impossible, but the action moves along quickly.

As Walter Lindsey, Brian Pletcher is mostly dumbfounded at the sights he sees and the people he meets, and he's constantly befuddled that nobody has heard of the lion farm or Thousand Oaks. Daughter Julia (well played by Quinn Martz) is the precocious member of the family, and it is she who gets the best grasp on the quickly moving timeline.

Those who attend performances at the Hillcrest Center for the Arts and the Conejo Players will recognize some familiar faces, including Terry Fishman and his wife, Patricia; Theresa Secor; and the venerable Jim Seerden, who serves as the onstage narrator (much like the stage manager in Thornton Wilder's "Our Town").

Most of the performers are amateurs, and credit should go to director Mary Carrig for her patience in working with the large cast. From my vantage point, nobody missed a cue or a line. Guests were treated to a sumptuous pre-show supper catered by Country Harvest Restaurant, served outdoors at dusk in front of the Stagecoach Inn.

"Our Towns on the Conejo" completes its limited run on Fri. and Sat., Oct. 3 and 4. Visit www.stagecoachmuseum.org for more information.