DOCUMENTARIES / PROGRAMS

SOUTHERN COURAGE

Civil War Women of Loudoun County, VA

Written and Directed by Meredith Bean McMath and Produced by Joni Lynn Crane

A rare look inside a County torn by civil war..
from the women who lived at its center

"No one who wants to understand the war should miss seeing it".
- Lewis Marshall Helm, Bigadier General, AUS (Ret.)

Written and directed by McMath, the documentary presents 17 true accounts of Loudoun County women living in the midst of Civil War. The women speak to us in their own words - words taken from diaries, letters and accounts within a deeply divided Virginia county. A majority were pro-Confederate, but Loudoun also had a large, pacifist Quaker population, slaves and freedmen, an active Underground Railroad and one Union troop, The Loudoun Rangers (the only Union troop to ever form in Virginia). As McMath put it, "Loudoun County, Virginia was the Civil War writ small".

"... what I found particularly arresting about this film was the emphasis on how the war progressed from the civilian experience - emphasizing this through the eyes of women, actual LOUDOUN women. I am unaware of anyone doing that to date."
- Richard Gillespie, award-winning Loudoun County, VA Historian

Meet Elizabeth Carter of Oatlands Plantation - the largest slave owner in Loudoun County, Lida and Lizzie Dutton who acted as conductors on the Underground Railroad and published a pro-Union newspaper to boost the morale of Union soldiers, a slave woman whose husband who'd been beaten and taken away to build the Confederate forts encircling Leesburg, a young woman assisting in an Army field hospital, a Confederate spy and many, many more.

Watch the 44-min. YouTube Documentary

History Channel Documentary

HAVING A BALL:
Costume, Etiquette and Dance in the Midst of the Rebellion

This documentary was written, produced and directed as the final presentation of Meredith McMath's Elizabeth Carter Lecture Series presented at The National Trust's Oatlands Plantation in Leesburg, Virginia. The Filming of Having a Ball then became the basis of the documentary submitted and accepted by The History Channel and aired several times in 1997.

For information on Royalty Rights or to arrange production in the Washington, D.C. / Metropolitan Area, contact Meredith Bean McMath via Run Rabbit Run Productions at RRRtheatre@gmail.com or 571-510-0037.

HISTORY PROGRAMS
commissioned by Museums and Preservation Organizations

THE ABOLITIONIST FUNDRAISER: An Afternoon with the Caldwells

Commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History this interactive play recreates an 1855 abolitionist fundraiser as it tells the story of the Underground Railroad. The show includes 19th century dance, parlor games, song, and an auction aimed to raise monies and conscience for the abolitionist cause. The audience be encouraged to participate in all aspects of the festivities. The Abolitionist Fundraiser includes period dance and dance music, Spirituals, and the the “auctioning” of a quilt provided by “industrious members of the Ipswich Female Anti-Slavery Society".

The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History commissioned McMath to write the work, and it was presented as “An Afternoon with the Caldwells, 1855: the Abollitionist Fundraiser” in the Hall of Musical Instruments as part of a day-long celebration of the “Within These Walls” exhibit (2002).

The USO Show

Presented as a WW II "Hangar Dance", the show features 30 minutes of 1940s jokes and tight harmonies. First produced to benefit the Commemorative Air Force, National Capitol Squadron in Leesburg VA, it was next produced at the Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum (Centreville, Virginia location).

The 1942 Tally Ho Radio Show

A live radio show performance narrated by a comic show host, with entertainment that includes 1940s a cappella music by "The Swingin' Smithley Sisters," a Vox Pox-style interview with a WW II soldier about to ship out, and a live radio theatre performance of the 1936 radio comedy Nickelodeon. The 45-minute performance was first produced in conjunction with a local Loudoun County, Virginia radio show,

Still in post production: Written and directed by Meredith Bean McMath
Filmed by Peter Buck of Wateford Productions, Inc.

L to R: Elizabeth and Lida Dutton and Sarah Steer

Filmed to benefit the Lincoln Preservation Foundation, WATERFORD'S WAR is based on the extraordinary true story of Virginia's first female journalists, Lida and Lizzie Dutton and Sarah Steer of Waterford, Virginia.

They lived in deeply divided Loudoun County, Virginia County, and the film is surrounded by that County's important history: of the Loudoun Rangers - Virginia's only Union troop - and their skirmishes with Confederate cavalry; of slave owners, their slaves and the work of the Underground Railroad; and of the Quaker and German villages who appeared neutral but secretly helped the Union Army.

To guarantee these stories would be brought to vivid life, Waterford's War was performed by veteran actors and filmed at historic sites in Berryville and Middleburg, Virginia.

Union Lieut. Hutchinson meets Lida Dutton on the road. Hutchinson was posing as a Confederate cavalry soldier to scout for the Union Army. He asked Lida directions, and she gave him directions only a local could understand.

So why make a film?

Because these unique women wrote a newspaper to boost the morale of Union Soldiers which was published and distributed by The Baltimore Sun), harbored wounded soldiers from both sides of the conflict, assisted with Loudoun's Underground Railroad, and survived the Union Burning Raid of 1864.

The film also tells the unique true story of Lida Dutton and Lieut. William H. Hutchinson, and, post-war, Sarah Steer (seen below, left) was the first in Virginia to teach the children of freed slaves (The "Second Street School" is now an historic site in Waterford, Virginia).

McMath based the film script on her play All for the Union, and the facts vs fiction are told HERE.

And why isn't the film complete? At the end of filming, resources for editing grew short - still a work in progress. We hope to have good news soon in 2021.

"Oh, Lord, I'm gone". The last words of the infamous John Mobberly, ambushed by two Loudoun civilians and Sgt. Stewart - the Union officer he'd tried so hard to kill.

ARTICLES

"Playwright's Civil War Tale Retold on Film" by Arianne Aryanpur - Washington Post Loudoun Extra, September 3, 2006

"D is for the Dutton Sisters" by Gale Waldron - Elan Magazine, Jul/Aug, 2005

A TALE OF A TAVERN

A 30-minute living history presentation on 19th century American tavern life and the crucial role it served in America's steady growth. This living history play was commissioned by and produced for the Fairfax County Park Authority for a presentation at Dranesville Tavern , at Dranesville Tavern Historic Site.

American Scenery—the Inn on the Roadside (1872)