Boom

Playwright’s Notes

Actual events of the oil boom provide more drama than any fictional account of the era. The town in Boom! represents Kilgore as it was in 1932, just after the oil boom, from history and the stories of those who lived through it.
Fictional characters – Jim, Betty Sue, Bill, Melvin, Oscar, and Rudy interact with actual people in romantic and historic situations. Numerous real characters also appear: Tom Foster, editor of the Kilgore Daily News, Mattie Castleberry of the famous Mattie’s Ballroom, Olga Lapin, a female attorney in Kilgore, and Manuel T. “Lone Wolf” Gonzaullas, the legendary Texas Ranger.
This musical depicting life in the East Texas Oil Fields during the boom era was written by Dr. Lottie Guttry and produced by Elizabeth Hodges. Members of the cast were made up from Kilgore and the surrounding communities, right here in East Texas. Characters depicted were Lone Wolf Gonzaullas, Mattie of Mattie’s Ballroom, boomers like Jim McKeever and too many other parts to mention each.

Photos taken from Kilgore News Herald, Sunday, March 9, 2008.

The cast at the end of the show.
Debbie Dane as Mattie.
Steven Lane, Lana Phillips and Chuck Maxwell as Jim, Betty Sue and Bill.
Tim Jones as Lone Wolf.
Phil Carroll and Tom Brown
The hot oil scene with Tom Brown, Robert Shupe, John Whitehead and in the back as Tom Foster, newspaper man, Jeff Howell.