Lewings stage "Meagher of the Sword" before Australian debut

The Port Polson Players are gearing up for their 50th season of presenting live community theatre to Mission Valley audiences with a two-person production of “Meagher of the Sword.” The original show, written by Neal Lewing and performed with his wife, Karen, tells the story of Irish rebel Thomas Meagher, who served twice as Montana’s acting territorial governor. His statue stands before the Montana Capitol in Helena. 

The duo stages the show Oct. 25-27 at the John Dowdall Theatre on the Lake in Polson, before taking it to Tasmania, Australia – once called Van Diemen's Land – where Meagher was sent by the British in the 1800s after his arrest for inciting a rebellion among the Irish. He met his first wife, Catherine, there before escaping to the United States and eventually winding up in Montana.

Lewing says his fascination with Meagher and his exploits began when his quartet, the Montana ShamRockers, was invited to Fort Benton in 2009 for the dedication of a bust of Meagher, who met his mysterious demise there in 1867.

“Man, the floodgates opened, and I still can't get enough of it,” Lewing said. He wrote the musical lecture “Meagher of the Sword” in 2011 and has toured it ever since, including a version he presented with the ShamRockers in Meagher’s hometown of Waterford, Ireland.

He also crafted a full-length musical, “No Coward’s Epitaph,” during the COVID pandemic. The show premiered in 2021 in Polson with a cast of 16, plus a pianist.

Lewings have been invited to bring “Meagher of the Sword” to the 43rd annual Cygnet Folk Festival in Tasmania in January. This marks their fifth invitation to the festival, but other attempts to head Down Under were preempted by the pandemic and a vicious wildfire season in Tasmania.

They describe their free-will performance in October as a way of giving back to the community that’s supported live theatre for half a century. Show times are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 25-26, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 27.

Next up is the Lewings’ adaptation of “A Christmas Carol,” which was the first community theatre show produced by the Players. Auditions for the musical are scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 29, with the show playing two weekends at the Theatre on the Lake, Dec. 6-15. The perennially popular tale of Scrooge and Tiny Tim marks the Port Polson Players’ 404th production.

For more information, visit portpolsonplayers.com or call 406-883-883-9212.