The Gallery513 Players - Reenactors Who Also Act
From Dixiepedia: The PC-Free Encyclopedia
There are a group of reenactors who are also Thespian performers. These Confederate Pictures films strive to show the natural abilities of both real-life amateur and professional actors who donate their time and efforts to these films, as well as their cross-over counterparts, the reenactors who can also act in a given dramatic sequence.
CONFEDERATE PICTURES has created a group of recurring actors and actresses, known as the GALLERY513 PLAYERS; a group of period civilian (and military) reenactors who appear in many different films and sequences in scripted roles. The originating members of this group include Pete and Rhonda Whitehair, (Pete is a writer for the Civil War Courier, and the author of a pair of Civil War novels, SABERS AND ROSES and NORTHERN FIRE, see http://www.whitehairbooks.com). Kirk and Maria Callison, Wayne and Deborah Loudermilk, and Shirley Owen, Lonnie and Donna Prosser, as well as Gene Bryant and his boys from the 11th Va. Co. G, out of Lynchburg, Virginia, and Glenn Lindley, Wayne McDorman, and the 5th Va. Co. E. Augusta Grays out of Staunton, Virginia. Actors and actresses from the acting community in recurring roles have been played by Lisa Kuhnley, and her father, Dr. John Kuhnley, Chip Addison, Jim Chidester and his multi-talented daughter, Elisabeth Ashleigh Chidester, who wrote, performed, and sang in the soundtrack of THE GREAT SACRIFICE OF PRESIDENT JEFFERSON DAVIS, contributing her wonderful album, 03:00 HOURS (pronounced Oh-Three Hundred Hours) , to the project. Ron Hawkins portrays a magnificent General James Longstreet, and appears in both fictional and non-fictional sequences in these various films, as well as Bill Frueh, of Colorado, who literally brings General James Ewell Brown Stuart to life. Dave Palmer is most unmistakable as General Robert E. Lee, and when mounted on Traveller, the likeness is exact). Tony Daniels owns the role of General Ulysses S. Grant. These and many other fine performers have all crafted their art to such an extent that it would have been a travesty not to have preserved some of their work for posterity. Other notables include Ron and Dennis Cole, brothers who portray Generals Gordon and Armistead, and Jim Choate, who was General Bernard Elliot Bee in GODS AND GENERALS and portrays Captain Jimmie Breckinridge of the 2nd Va. Cavalry Company C - (Botetourt Dragoons). in the CONFEDERATE PICTURES 2005 release, AVENEL THE MOTION PICTURE. And, of course, President Jefferson Davis as wonderfully portrayed by Jim Bazo and Mike Mehaffey as General Jubal Anderson Early, and General John B. Floyd (William 'Pappy' Traylor) and his wife, Pansy Traylor, from West Virginia. And of course, the fine boys from the Peninsula Artillery, who host the Walkerton Event each year, and Camp 1475, Bedford Rifle Grays under Mr. Boyd Hubbard, as well as the 1st Stuart Horse Artillery and the 28th Virginia. Whether motion picture work, or actual historical accounts, these fine artisans are well worth remembering on video.
The Original Gallery513 Players; first, at New Market in 2007; Rhonda Whitehair, Shirley Owen, Pete Whitehair, Wayne Loudermilk, Deborah Loudermilk. Then, two scenes from THE GREAT SACRIFICE OF PRESIDENT JEFFERSON DAVIS, featuring Kirk Callison, and Maria Callison. Finally, a scene featuring Gene Bryant and Jimmy Boykin from AVENEL THE MOTION PICTURE, in the real life account of Avenel House, in which a Confederate doctor saves a Union soldier from retribution, and is later rewarded by this man, who becomes a Union general and stops Black Dave Hunter from destroying Avenel House, the home of Doctor Bowyer's wife, Kate Burwell Bowyer, during Hunter's Raid on Liberty. The film was made on location in the Avenel House, and on the original 200 acre Burwell plantation, which is still haunted by the White Lady Ghost of Avenel House, who has since been "seen and identified" as Letitia M. Burwell, the eldest unmarried daughter of William M. Burwell and the last Burwell owner of the home. She and her servant (and confidant), Lucinda Burwell, are buried side by side a mile down the road in Longwood cemetery, in the family plot.
Glenn Lindley and Wayne McDorman, of the original 5th Virginia Company E Augusta Grays, commanded by Captain Bruce Houle. Wayne is portraying a soldier at First Manassas and Glenn is Samuel R. Cook, of the 'Staunton Vindicator', out to get an exclusive feature story on the Union threat to invade Virginia at Manassas Junction. This was filmed at the 145th Battle of First Manassas, held some miles away at the Cedar Creek battlefield...
Brothers Ron and Dennis Cole at the 145th First Manassas at Cedar Creek - Ron in that magnificent green, (an actually period-correct uniform shade for Confederates!) and firing at the approaching enemy... and Dennis on horseback. The last photo shows them in their usual incarnations, as Generals Armistead and Gordon, at Gettysburg...
