Millstone Community Theatre Guild put on a fun, unique show

While seemingly everyone else from Corbin was either watching or listening to the Corbin vs. Boyle County football game on Friday night, which had a disappointing outcome, my wonderful wife, Cecelia, and I did something a little different.

Mark White is Editor of The News Journal.

We checked out the Millstone Community Theatre Guild’s performance of “Dinner at Eight, Dead by Nine,” which was held over at Grace on the Hill. A second performance was held Saturday in London.

It was a dinner theater performance of a play set during a dinner theater performance. There was a lot of talking directly to the audience and interaction with the audience. It was an entertaining way to spend the evening.

I had seen a dress rehearsal of the play when Whitley County High School’s Colonel Players performed it in 2019, and it was pretty good then too, but I didn’t remember the ending.

Both Friday night’s performance and the 2019 performance were directed by my friend, David Sweet, who was the longtime drama teacher at Whitley County High School before he retired in 2022.

I had the chance to speak to David Friday night before dinner started. From the sounds of it, this will probably be the last play that he directs as he and his wife, Lisa, will be making a long planned move to Tennessee next year.

I wish them both luck.

He is going out on a high note.

David said that he plans to focus more on writing during his retirement, and I suspect we will see some from first rate plays from him in the years to come.

Many people may not realize this, but many years ago David had my job here at the News Journal before he went to work over at the Whitley County school district first doing public relations and then teaching.

He is a talented guy, who will be missed by those of us locally.

Before Friday night, I had heard of the Millstone Community Theatre Guild, which is a new community theater group that began performing this year, but I hadn’t seen any performances by the group until now.

If the rest of their performances on par with “Dinner by Eight, Dead by Nine,” then I would have to give them high marks.

Millstone will wrap up its season with performances on Dec. 8 and Dec. 9 of “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” which will be directed by Liz Michael and Lydia Hughes.

The play will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 8, and 1 p.m. on Dec. 9 at the Laurel County Public Library.

This is another play that I caught part of when the Whitley County Colonel Players performed it back in 2017, and it was pretty entertaining.

I hope the Millstone Community Theatre Guild sticks with it and has more performances next year.

Millstone was recently announced as one of 14 finalists for the Invest 606 Accelerator and Pitch Contest, and Millstone has a chance to win a $15,000 grand prize.

Invest 606 is founded and led by Dr. Geoff Marietta with the mission to catalyze business growth in Eastern Kentucky by connecting entrepreneurs with the resources they need to succeed today and grow tomorrow. Marietta is the Chief Impact Officer at the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky, which counts Invest 606 as one of its impact investment initiatives.

Good luck to the Millstone in the Invest 606 contest as well as to my friends Jennifer Baker and Amy Gray, who are also finalists with their business, Jennielyn Boutique in Williamsburg.