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VIDEO: The Great Train Robbery at Strasburg Rail Road
Ann Musser, whose title is corporate secretary at the railroad, but like her co-workers wears many hats on different occasions, thought it would be cool to host a train robbery — a "Great Train Robbery" for visitors to actually be a part of.
The suggestions were great. Moedinger was pleased. And then came the clincher.
Now, make them happen.
"I wracked my brain trying to figure how to do this," Musser says. "I'm not a writer. I'm not an actor."
Just at the point where panic was beginning to set in, she took a cue from a co-worker who had hired Act 1 Productions for a special event.
The acting company, led by actor, singer and director Debi Wahl, is based in Shoemakersville. Composed of a revolving cast of 25 to 30 actors from teenage to 80-something, the group specializes in improvisation and is game for just about anything.
"Once we got started with this, they all (all her actors) wanted to get involved," she says with a laugh. "I said, 'What the heck, I'll blow the budget."'
At least 20 of the troops will be arriving at the Strasburg Rail Road on Sunday sometime around 2 p.m.
Regular riders will recognize them by their early 20th century attire, a time period more closely tied to the age of the railroad itself, rather than 1800s Western.
Actors will be milling around the shops, walking around the station and generally mingling with us 21st century customers.
Among the group will be a missionary couple, some dapper-Dan types, a pair of saloon gals, a hobo and various and sundry other appropriately dressed characters.
They will board the train along with everybody else.
Regular customers will be presented with fake money, jewels and trinkets, which they will subsequently have to give up to the robbers.
However, visitors who'd like to keep their trinkets as a souvenir may choose to offer the robber real, cold hard cash, instead. All cash collected will benefit the Central American Relief Effort (CARE).
After everyone boards the train, what happens next is something of a secret, since Wahl doesn't want to ruin the event for anyone who has booked passage from Strasburg to Paradise. "There are surprises," she says. "I don't want to say too much."
Suffice it to say that the cast, while working without a script, does know when and how the robbery will occur and how they will make, or try to make, their getaway.
"Each actor has created their own character. They all have names, personalities and families," she says. As that character, the actor improvises through a pre-set storyline.
"There are too many variables to leave them undone," she says. "And with so many people you have to have guidelines."
The group will be remaining at the station until about 5 p.m., where the aforementioned 80-something member of the troupe will play some fiddle and actors will continue to interact with visitors.
"It should be a really good time," Wahl says.
Although doing a train robbery is a first for them, Act 1 Productions is no stranger to the inside of a train.
"We do murder mysteries on trains all the time," Wahl says, including one at Strasburg, along with Gettysburg and Black River and Western Railroad.
"You never know what your audiences are going to do (in improv)," says Wahl. "Sometimes they are extremely shy. Other times they're right in your face."
The not knowing makes every job exciting, she says.
The Great Train Robbery
Sun. 2 p.m. (board at 2:45 p.m.)
$16-$23 adults, $10-$17 children 3-11
$3-10 children under 3
Strasburg Rail Road
Route 741, Strasburg, 687-7522
www.strasburgrailroad.com
