The curtain will go up tonight on the 27th season of Alabama’s Official Folklife Play, “Come Home, It’s Suppertime” at the We Piddle Around Theater in Brundidge.

The original folklife play is one of the Alabama Tourism Department’s Top 10 Events for 2015, which is quite an honor for the community theater, said Ursula Bryant, co-director for the fall production.

“We are excited to be recognized with along with events like the Iron Bowl and the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March,” Bryant said. “We are greatly honored and hope that those who come to supper with us will think the recognition is deserved.”

For the first time in 13 years, the cast and crew took the spring off due to unforeseen circumstances and everyone is excited and ready to get back on stage, Bryant said.

“We have soldout audiences to welcome back a core group of ‘Come Home’ veterans back and some new faces, including new kids,” Bryant said. “We have some changes in the script that we are excited about and think they give the play a new energy.”

‘Come Home, It’s Suppertime’ is set during the Great Depression and, with the exception of a couple of monologues, all of the stories are original to our area. And, we tell the stories just like they were told by those who ‘milled around and strowed them around’ back during Hard Times.

The folklife play is an attempt to recreate a period of time when everybody was in the same boat, so to speak, Bryant said.

“Nobody had anything much and people learned to depend on each other and to care about each other. We hope comes through in the play.”

There is nothing pretentious about the play. There are no actors, just storytellers. You won’t hear any Broadway singing, just singing from the heart. Subjects and verbs may not agree but the talk is comfortable and inviting. Feet may be bare and the clothes soiled and stained.

The play is filled with humor and tinged with sweetness. All in all, it tells the story of Hard Times and those who lived them, Bryant said.

When company’s coming, the supper tables at the We Piddle Around Theater are set with fried chicken, peas, taters and cornbread; there’s gospel music from the stage and the supper bell welcomes everyone home at suppertime.