MEREDITH — The Winnipesaukee Playhouse regularly draws on American literary classics for its winter community theater productions. This year the production comes from one of the greatest American novels that has been adapted for the musical stage.
"Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," which opens a three-day run tonight at the Inter-Lakes High School Community Auditorium, is based on the Mark Twain classic, and features bluegrass and country music styles characteristic of places along the Mississippi River.
The Winni Playhouse's production of "Big River" is family entertainment, and not just in the sense that a musical setting of Twain's message of diversity, acceptance, respect and freedom appeals to youngsters and adults alike, but also in that its cast features a number of family groups — parents and their children performing on the same stage.
"It's a bonding experience," said Elizabeth Rohdenberg of Meredith who is in the production along with her son, Rudy Beer. For Rudy, a fifth-grader at Inter-Lakes Elementary School, this is his fourth time performing in a Winni Playhouse program. However, it marks his mother's first time on stage. "I said (to Rudy), 'Let's try to get a bit part together."
Ben Kace has the lead role of Huck and Bruce Smith plays the runaway slave, Jim, in the two-act play.
With a 40-member cast, "Big River" is the largest-scale show Winni Playhouse has done since it was founded nine years ago, according to Lesley Pankhurst, the theater's marketing director who is also in the production manager. Pankhurst's husband, Neil, is the show's director. Tara Little is in charge of choreography and Christine Chiasson is the music director for the Walter Hauptman-Roger Miller play, which opened on Broadway in 1985 and ran for 1,005 performances and won seven Tony Awards.
But it's the involvement of various family groups in the ensemble which make this show extra special, Lesley Pankhurst says. "We wanted an activity that people can do with their kids."
Like Sharona Bates and her 9-year-old daughter Kaira from Gilmanton. It was Kaira was the one who coaxed her mother to try out for the show. "I'll audition, but I want you to do it with me," Sharona recalls her daughter saying last fall when the casting call went out. Kaira has been performing most of her life. She began taking dance lessons when she was 3, and she is also takes violin lessons, her mother says.
Another family group is the Mitchell-Morris family of New Hampton. Jeremiah Morris, the father plays five different parts in the play including the very opening scene in which he plays the role of a father reading from "The Adventures of Huckleberry" to his daughter, portrayed by his real-life daughter Jubilee Mitchell-Morris. His son, Shiloh, and daughter, Calista are also in the show.
Tonight's show begins at 7 p.m. On Saturday there will be a matinee at 2 p.m. as well an evening performance at 7. The final show will be Sunday at 2 p.m. For ticket information visit www.winniplayhouse.org.

LACONIA — The Smith Track at Opechee Park will be closed this spring and not reopened until it is resurfaced, most likely in July or August at the earliest.
Kevin Dunleavy, director of Parks and Recreation said yesterday that the deterioration in the surface of the track, which led to the closure of sections of the oval last year, has become sufficiently extensive to require resurfacing.
The six-lane, 400 meter track was installed in 1998 and refurbished in 2001, 2005 and 2011. Dunleavy explained that the running surface consists of rubber granules atop an asphalt base that are bound together by a latex binder. The rubber granules spread over the asphalt and are raked and leveled to create a uniform and even surface then sprayed with the latex binder. He said that the surface is intended to be porous or permeable to enable water to flow into and evaporate out of the track.
As the surface wears, much like the sole of a shoe, granules and latex are added. Dunleavy said that as additional layers were added the permeability of the surface diminished. As a result, instead of evaporating, water remained trapped between running surface and the asphalt base. With warm temperatures, the water turns to vapor and, unable to escape, causes the surface of the track to bubble.
Dunleavy said that the issues with the track are not unique to Laconia, but have appeared with like surfaces installed by the same contractor at other locations.
Dunleavy is awaiting a final report from the engineering consultant, but said that it appears the rubberized surface will have to be removed from the entire oval and the exposed asphalt milled and overlaid to ensure a secure bond with a new surface. He said that the cost of the project will depend on the type of surface, adding that the alternatives, along with estimated costs, will be included in the final report.
Dunleavy said that when the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Committee began setting its priorities for capital projects for fiscal year 2013-2014, the extent of the problems with the track were not fully known. Consequently, the resurfacing of the track was not included among the committee's recommendations. He said that he and City Manager Scott Myers are working to include funding for the work in the 2013-2014 city budget in anticipation of repairing the track sometime after July 1.
In the meantime, Dunleavy said that the track will remain closed, which the leaves the schools unable to host running events this spring. Jim Chase, athletic director of Laconia High School, could not be reached to comment on the kind of arrangements that are being considered to accommodate practices and meets.

TILTON — The N.H. Supreme Court has agreed to review a circuit court decision that granted a woman a restraining order against a former Tilton man who allegedly sexually assaulted her in 2006.
10th Circuit Court, Portsmouth Division Judge Sharon DeVries ordered that Kenneth Lahm, 54, formerly of 85 Philbrook Road have no contact with the woman known in court documents as J.K., however, Lahm's attorney James Moir has challenged the decision.
According to DeVries findings, published on September 17, 2012, J.K. provided specific and credible details about her allegedly 2006 assault but had declined to testify against Lahm for fear of retaliation. Because of her fear, J.K. fled the state and didn't return until 2009.
Responding to a Right-To-Know request, Tilton Police this week released a redacted incident report of the 2006 arrest of Lahm that detailed the alleged assault and indicated former Belknap County Attorney Lauren Nother tried to interview J.K. the day after she reported the crime but she said J.K. declined to be interviewed.
Police attempted repeatedly to contact her but on January 9 — six days after she reported the alleged assault — J.K. left a message on the Tilton Police officer's voice mail that she didn't wish to go forward with the case. The charge of forcible rape against Lahm was placed on file and the case is considered closed by Tilton Police.
Since 2006, police records show Lahm has allegedly assaulted three other women, in 2008, 2010 and November 2012. Affidavits filed in the 6th Circuit Court, Franklin Division supporting a search of his home in November of 2012 detail the report filed by his alleged latest victim of her being drugged and held captive in his home for nearly a month. Tilton Police executed a warrant and found cocaine and ketamine along with 51 bottle of pills of medication legally prescribed to him. He is charged with two felony counts of drug possession.
According to the ruling granting the restraining order on September 17, 2012 obtained from the N.H. Supreme Court regarding J.K., investigators working on behalf of Lahm approached her in Rockingham County Superior Court on August 1, 2012 where she had appeared for a minor traffic matter.
The two, identified as retired N.H. State Police Sgt. Douglas Call and Matthew Tinkham, used the assistance of a court security officer and a former colleague to locate and approach J.K. who "mistaken believed (and was led to believe) the investigators were police officers and agreed to meet with them in a conference room."
When asked about "Kevin Lahm" she told the court she felt they were police officers and she shared details of her alleged assault. She said she felt "'caught off guard' and 'blindsided.'"
J.K. said when the investigators finished she realized the were not police officers. She said they left the court house and immediately got on their cell phones. She contacted various police officials who she knew and trusted to try and learn what had just happened.
She learned the investigators worked for Lahm. They had apparently tracked her and learned they would find her at the courthouse. She also learned they had previously gone to her parent's home in Exeter and asked her neighbors where she was. That was when she filed for a restraining order against Lahm and his representatives.
DeVries also determined that Lahm had, at one point after the 2006 alleged assault, entered "without any authority, permission or knowledge of J.K." her uncle's home where she had been staying and stood in their kitchen "in an effort to intimidate her not to testify against him."
Lahm's civil attorney Michael J. Sheehan argued that Lahm was unaware of the investigators and that he, as his attorney in a civil action against the police who had originally prosecuted him, had hired the investigators. He told the court that J.K.'s name came up at a deposition at which Lahm was present and he felt it was his duty to find her so he could adequately represent him.
The civil case Lahm filed against the Tilton Police and Det. Michael Farrington for a 2008 arrest for sexual assault citing malicious prosecution was filed in 2011 and dismissed by Judge James O'Neill last fall. The victim in that case also declined to testify against Lahm.
"The Court finds the contention that Respondent (Lahm) was unaware to be unpersuasive," wrote DeVries granting the restraining order. DeVries also noted there was no evidence of a contract with the investigators detailing how and how much they were paid.
DeVries wrote, "The Plaintiff (J.K.) 6.5 years later, has a palpable fear of the respondent reignited by the encounter with the investigator on 8/1/2012."
"She believes he has the financial ability and emotional constitution to continue to harass her and her family. She has moved on successfully with her life and wants to be free from any continued contact from him or his representatives," continued DeVries, finding that Lahm is a "credible threat to her."
Lahm's criminal attorney, James Moir, filed a motion on September 26, 2012 to reconsider DeVries ruling and it was denied. Moir filed an appeal with the N.H. Supreme Court and in December of 2012 the court agreed to hear the appear.
The Daily Sun has learned Lahm had a different criminal lawyer representing him last week in the 6th Circuit Court, Franklin Division at the probable cause hearing held on the recent drug charges.
Judge Edward "Ned" Gordon found probable cause for the drug arrests and the case will go forward in Belknap County Superior Court.
Tilton Police Chief Robert Cormier said the investigation into the latest alleged assault continues and that he is working with Belknap County Attorney Melissa Guldbrandsen and federal authorities.