The cast of Alabama’s Official Folk Life Play, “Come Home, It’s Suppertime” is taking a Sabbatical of sorts this spring.

Lawrence Bowden, president of the sponsoring Brundidge Historical Society, said it is with a feeling of sadness that the spring production will be skipped.

“But, due to unforeseen circumstances, we decided that it would be better to forego the spring production and return with the full cast and crew in the fall,” he said.

Bowden cited surgeries and sicknesses among cast members as the deciding factor in suspending the season.

“We’ll be back in the fall with renewed enthusiasm,” he said. “We’re not promising a lot of changes in ‘Come Home’ but it will be even better than our audiences have said it is over the past 13 years. We have an outstanding and dedicated cast and crew and we are all looking forward to getting back on stage in November.”

Bowden said the continued success of the award-winning folk life play is due to the thousands who have “come home” at suppertime.

People from 14 states and five countries have attended the original folk life play and that is an indication that the stories told have far reaching appeal, he said.

“Most everyone who comes to the play can relate to the stories in some way,” Bowden said. “The mission of the BHS is to preserve and promote the physical and cultural heritage of our community and the rural South. We will continue to work toward achieving those goals.

“Local support is the key to the success of any venture such as our folk life play and we have certainly had that. The City of Brundidge has supported us from the beginning and our cast and crew are all volunteers from the local area. We don’t pay anybody except a mite to the director.”

The local area is represented at every performance and Bowden said the BHS greatly appreciates the many who come back again and again.

“Those who have called for tickets to the spring production have expressed disappointment but we have assured them that this play means too much to all of us involved, to our community and to our audiences not to be back in the fall,” he said. “So, we invite everyone to ‘come back home’ to the We Piddle Around Theater the first two weeks of November. We are preparing now and are looking forward to getting our 27th season underway.”

Tickets will go on sale the first day of October by calling 334-372-1001 or 334-685-5524.

The next production at the We Piddle Around Theater will be June Buggin’ on June 4. June Buggin’ is so billed because the performances are as unpredictable and magical as the flight of a June bug.

“We’ve had master storytellers including Carmen Agra Deedy, Barbara McBride-Smith, and Gary Carden; story performer Dolores Hydock; and one-woman award-winning plays ‘Birdell’ and ‘Ivy Rowe.’ This year’s performance will be announced in April and it will be different from any we’ve done before.”