Video: Local Artists Take Original Play To The Big Screen

BALDWYN, MISS. (WCBI) – The movie takes the audience to the fictional town of Water Valley, Texas in the days of the Wild West.

“The Peacemakers” is a full length movie, based on the play of the same name.

It is written by Baldwyn businessman Clark Richey and Rex Harsin, who works in marketing for an Oxford company.

“We’re both movie fans , and western fans so, we decided to write a play because you don’t see any westerns on stage, really so we thought it would be an unique thing to do, we grabbed some old iconic characters, twisted them around a little bit and put a good story on top of it,” Richey said.

The play was performed almost one year ago on the stage of the “Claude Gentry Theatre.” That is one of several projects Richey has spearheaded to help revitalize downtown Baldwyn.

The movie was shot on the theater’s stage.

“We said, we have a great cast, they know their parts, they know their lines, characters, we have a sound stage, essentially right here in the theatre. So why not take three nights, four nights, get together and let’s shoot the play, not like a video of a play, but let’s shoot the play as though you were shooting an old TV show,” Richey said.

Richey says it was a lot of work for the local cast, who all have day jobs.

“All of our actors are unpaid, and volunteers and we had them here till about 2 o clock in the morning, four nights in a row so the challenge was more of a personal , challenge of hey let’s all keep a good attitude,” he said.

“The Peacemakers ” will be entered into several independent film festivals. That could capture the attention of professional theatre groups and it may lead to a publishing agreement for the play.

Richey hopes a public showing of “Peacemakers” will happen soon. In the meantime, the musical group “Rust Bucket Roadies” will appear at the Claude Gentry Theatre February 17th.