About the Play:

Love Rides the Rails (or Will the Mail Train Run Tonight?) is a full-length melodrama by Morland Cary. Swiftly and hilariously, the plot screeches to the amazing climax when the hero is inescapably bound by the villains to the tracks of an oncoming train. Will good prevail over evil? This is an Old West melodrama, complete with songs, pantomime, great moustaches, and audience-participation. Guaranteed fun for all ages!

Love Rides the Rails centers on the villainous Simon Darkway who seeks to control the Walker Valley, Pine Bush & Pacific R.R. for his own vile purposes. Assisting him are Dirk Sneath, a viper of a man, and Carlotta Cortez, the sultry siren with a heart of gold. Fortunately, the gallant Truman Pendennis, the beauteous Prudence Hopewell, the Widow Hopewell, and staunch Harold Standfast oppose the sinister schemes of this wicked trio. Swiftly and hilariously, the classic melodramatic plot unfolds, leading to a tremendous climax when the hero is inescapably bound by the villains to the tracks of an onrushing train. Thankfully, it is our heroine who arrives just in the nick of time to stop the train and save the day. And now, with virtue at last triumphant, the evildoers get their just deserts.

Love Rides the Rails (or Will the Mail Train Run Tonight?) was first produced in 1940 under the direction of Hugh Nevill at the Barnstormers Theatre in Cragsmoor, New York. Especially designed for high school and community theatres, this is a family friendly show that features the characteristic plot and stock characters that have entertained audiences for decades – a good, old fashioned melodrama!

Cast: 5 female, 5 male, plus extras

About the Playwright:

Morland Cary is a pseudonym of theatre actor, director and playwright Hugh Nevill who captured the art of the melodrama in the 1940s. He is the author of two old-fashoned melodramas Love Rides The Rails and Because Their Hearts Were Pure, which were first presented in a number of summer theatres in 1940 and 1941 respectively.