Bill Kauffman's new SECESSION book.

I just finished reading Bill Kauffman's new secession book, entitled Bye, Bye Miss American
Empire.

Everyone, no matter who,
The shrinks and the wardens and the inmates too,
The cop on the corner and the one in the stew say, "I love you."
What do you think Seth Warner do,
The Green Mountain Boys and Ethan Allen too?
They take Ticonderoga and they toss down a few,
And say, "You little son-of-a-gun, I love you."
There are only six mental patients in this play, you'll find,
But they're as sharp as the doctors and the staff combined.
Everywhere, the whole world through,
They're all just as crazy as the fellas who

Don Padgett, business counselor for Central Vermont Community Action, to SVR -

"Mixed Nuts could increase the support for secession ten times."

A note on the text, or, to be correct - a note on the book.

There are several authors and playwrights who provided material for Mixed Nuts. I will list them, as accurately as I can, off the top of my head, in the order of the magnitude of their contributions.

1) George S. Kaufman ("Animal Crackers" in particular)
2) William Shakespeare ("The Taming of the Shrew" in particular)
3) Ethan Allen ("A Narrative of Colonel Ethan Allen's Captivity" in particular)
4) John Gay ("The Beggars' Opera")
5) Jared Sparks ("The Life of Ethan Allen")

Dear Friends (friend?)
Here's the long-awaited update on "Mixed Nuts". Have a taste of the script that gives some idea of the pith.
(Enter Dr. Darcy, whistling or humming “If I only had a Brain” which the musicians pick up.)

Mixed Nuts - Theme
I tell people who ask that Mixed Nuts is a screw-ball musical comedy about six inmates who escape from the custody of the Vermont State Hospital in order to make Vermont an Independent Republic. That is the kind of answer that one must give because people need to know the genre, the plot and the motivation of the main characters before anything else. In these terms, yes, that is what the play is about, which is like saying that Pygmalion is about a linguist who teaches a girl to speak standard English.

Looks like "Mixed Nuts" has a music director - perhaps the best guitarist in VT - Doug Perkins.
On the banking front - looks like the candidates are getting a bit bolder re a state bank. And Ellen Brown (Web of Debt) is getting a kick out of it.
Abe Collins is having some success. He's out west convincing them what he can't convince anyone in VT - that rapidly building rich, organic soil is a good idea.
I'll be at St Mikes for auditions on Saturday. Call me if you want to help in any department.
Jim

Mixed Nuts, a screw-ball musical comedy by Jim Hogue, will be performed at the Unadilla Theatre from August 24 - 31 (and later at the Vergennes Opera House).
The play is about 6 inmates from the Vermont State Hospital who escape to make Vermont an independent Republic.
Mixed Nuts is music from the 20s and 30s, and a cast of independence-minded eccentrics from the Vermont State Hospital who have prepared a vaudeville review on the History of Vermont directed by Dr. Elizabeth Darcy. The bizarre crew of entertainers is lead by a re-incarnated, unpredictable, and loveable Ethan Allen.

Mixed Nuts, a screw-ball musical comedy by Jim Hogue, will be performed at the Unadilla Theatre from August 24 - 31 (and later at the Vergennes Opera House).

The play is about 6 inmates from the Vermont State Hospital who escape to make Vermont an independent Republic.

Mixed Nuts is music from the 20s and 30s, and a cast of independence-minded eccentrics from the Vermont State Hospital who have prepared a vaudeville review on the History of Vermont directed by Dr. Elizabeth Darcy. The bizarre crew of entertainers is lead by a re-incarnated, unpredictable, and loveable Ethan Allen.