A lot of work, by a lot of people, is underway to make possible a very entertaining show for the benefit of the Restoration of the Princess Theatre. The show, which will be emceed by “The Heartland Series’” Bill Landry, and presented at the Roane State Theater, will be called “Appalachian Dreams” and will showcase regional culture, traditions, history, and musical and acting talent.

The Princess Productions’ stage show is to be patterned after PBS’s "A Prairie Home Companion", made popular by the entertaining Garrison Keillor.

Monday evening found production planners Gary Baker, Bill Landry, Michael Golebiewski, Brooks Benjamin, Jon Chemay, and Bill Farnham gathered around a table of ideas on the stage at Roane State. Ideas always flow freely when creative people are involved, and you can be assured that these talented people will pull together a great show.

There is still a lot of "behind the scenes" planning, filming, and talent gathering to be done, but everything should be in place for the stage show planned for mid-May.

Please follow this blog, or the Princess Theater blog, as well as your local news, for more specifics coming soon.

Following this planning meeting, Gary Baker briefed the South Harriman High School Alumni Association, who are planning a joint class reunion which will probably coincide with the planned stage show weekend, about the efforts many in Roane and surrounding counties are making to restore the Princess.

I should have mentioned that the Alumni thanked Gary Baker for his hard work in restoring the Princess Theater, and gave him a hardy round of applause!