‘The Ballad of Old Manatee’ Presented By Hat Theater In Bradenton

BRADENTON, FL — The Hat Theater Collective’s inaugural production, “The Ballad of Old Manatee,” debuted in April at Manatee Village Historical Park in Bradenton.

Those who missed the historical drama last month still have several opportunities to catch it live with shows scheduled on Friday and Saturday at 4:15 and 6 p.m. each day. There will also be a Saturday matinee at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased here.

The theater company will also host “Hats Off! Creative Conversation Series: ‘The Ballad of Old Manatee’” to discuss the show and local history on Wednesday, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at Oscura, 816 Manatee Ave. E. The panel will include members of the theater, as well as historian Cathy Slusser. Learn more and purchase tickets here.

“The Ballad of Old Manatee,” set in the 1870s, is inspired by real-life Manatee County history and shares the love story of James C. Vanderipe and his wife, Sarah Lee.

The show grew out of theatrical cemetery tours that the Manatee Village Historical Park hosted years earlier, Danae DeShazer, founder of the Hat Theater Collective, told Patch.

Based on the success of these tours, she and her partner, Derek Brookens, were commissioned to create a full theater production inspired by local history, she said.

Through their research, reading about local history and searching county records, they discovered the story of Vanderipe and Lee, known as “The Story of the Lonesome Grave.”

“It had just enough mystery and intrigue to allow us to take some creative liberties to tell the story in a theatrical way,” DeShazer said.

The love story isn’t a happy one, she added. “Think ‘Romeo and Juliet’; instead, you have James and Sarah.”

The couple fell in love despite Vanderipe and her father, Rev. Edmund Lee, “never seeing eye to eye,” DeShazer said.

Despite the conflict between them, Vanderipe and the reverend make a business deal. This deal eventually falls apart, though, worsening their relationship.

Sarah died young and was buried in her family’s cemetery. When Vanderipe died not long after this, the reverend disliked him so much that he was buried alone in a grave across the street.

“That’s where ‘The Lonesome Grave’ comes from,” DeShazer said. “I found that pretty fascinating. That’s not how people were buried in those days. What caused these two men to fight so drastically that (the reverend) would bury (Vanderipe) by himself and wanted him to spend all his days alone in the afterlife?”

When they got married, the couple made a promise to each other “not only in this life, but in the next,” she said. “The overarching theme is legacy. For Sarah and James, it was a different kind of legacy.”

She helped create the show’s story with Brookens, who wrote the play, as well as an original folk music score for it.

“The Ballad of Old Manatee” takes place among the historical buildings and grounds at Manatee Village Historical Park. This includes a Florida pioneer farmhouse built in a “Cracker Gothic style,” the county’s first courthouse built in 1860, a one-room schoolhouse built in 1905 and a church built in 1887.

The church figures prominently in the story as the setting of not only a wedding, but also a funeral.

As the play works its way through the historical park, the audience follows the action.

“Sometimes the actors will run after one another through the audience, and you really feel like you’re part of it,” DeShazer said. “It’s really quite cool.”

All funds raised by this unique theatrical experience will benefit the Manatee Village Historical Park.