Sacramento Valley Museum patrons gathered on Saturday for one of the museum’s biggest and most entertaining fundraisers of the year.
The comedy “Breakdown Point” was performed for an audience of about 60 people, a smaller than usual crowd for the annual dinner and play.
Museum supporters hope to strengthen the philanthropic supply chain, now that the COVID-19 pandemic has diminished, or the community could lose its link to local history.
“A phrase we hear a lot is ‘make America great again,’” said Sajit Singh, City Council liaison to the Museum board of directors. “I sit back and say, ‘what does that mean?’ To me, it means, it starts in our home and then it comes into our community, and that means our schools; that means our civic groups. A lot of them are gone and we need them back again. The museum is a place too. How are we supposed to learn history if we are not preserving it?”
Singh said money is important – as is people’s time – and that he hoped the community would step up to preserve the museum and its history by volunteering with the museum, and by bringing their kids and families to the museum.
“The more we get involved with the museum, the more we can preserve our history,” Singh said. “The more we get involved in the community, the more we can preserve our history, and the more we can make our community great again, our schools great again, and our country great again.”
Amanda Brown directed Saturday’s comedy, a one-act play written by Troy Baryon.
Brown also played “Ruth,” a conduit for spirits and psychic energies, who is joined at the top of the “Leesville Grade” by a bickering couple, played by Robert Tomayo and Dena Lausten, after a broken chain disables one of their bicycles.
While blaming each other for their predicament, a woman, played by Rachael LaGrande, who is escorting her two charges, played by Cindy Freed and Gary Cranford (who happen to have a collection of syndromes and disorders), also finds herself broken down on the pass.
The museum has a number of other events planned in 2022, including McAvoy Lane, as Mark Twain, on March 12; the Historical Quit Show, March 16-19, March 23-25, and March 30-April 2; and the annual Bridal Show on March 26.
The Colusa County Arts Council will host a black tie gala at the Sacramento Valley Museum on Dec. 4, 2021. ■