Tons of dumped trees, logs and debris dwarfed the sturdy Bunyan trucks. 

At the site of the old Valdosta High School on Barack Obama Boulevard, the Bunyans dumped truckload after truckload onto a mountain chain of gathered trees felled by Hurricane Helene. Massive wood chippers created deep dunes of sawdust amidst the trucks and logs.

Next door, the one-story Performing Arts Center seemed small in comparison to the debris-gathering operation.

But something mighty was also happening within the walls of the Performing Arts Center.

About three dozen children and youths were rehearsing for the musical “Something Rotten!” 

The adults running South Georgia Drama Kidz considered scrapping the scheduled Oct. 19, 20 performances. Given the loss of rehearsal time due to widespread power outages, damage to houses, school closings, difficulties traveling and more in the wake of Hurricane Helene, canceling “Something Rotten!” would have been understandable. Some may even think it would be a given.

The kids in the cast thought otherwise. They wanted the show to go on as scheduled. 

And it did.

Gingerbread Players of Theatre Guild Valdosta did have to postpone its first weekend of performances of a stage adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland.” The downtown community theatre’s Dosta Playhouse suffered some damages from the hurricane. Rehearsals had to be canceled in the wake of the storm. Theatre Guild was unable to stage its first scheduled weekend.

But it double-downed on what had been its second scheduled weekend of shows. Guild leaders reconfigured the schedule adding dates and performances, power-packing five performances into four days.

The community responded. Most of the “Alice in Wonderland” performances played before sold-out audiences in The Dosta.

Valdosta State University Theatre & Dance’s production of “Tiny Beautiful Things” was scheduled to open the evening of Sept. 26.

That didn’t happen. Sept. 26 was the same evening that Hurricane Helene swept through Valdosta. 

VSU Theatre had hoped to reschedule the show to run the following week.

That didn’t happen. Electricity was still out in large portions of the Valdosta-area. Trees were down, especially at VSU. Especially around the Fine Arts Building where “Tiny Beautiful Things” was scheduled to play.

VSU Theatre was able extend the rights to perform the play. “Tiny Beautiful Things” is set to run this week – a month later than originally scheduled but finally the show goes on.

Valdosta Symphony Orchestra will keep its scheduled performance of its “Frightful Favorites” concert this weekend in the same building.

With trees still on some houses, with logs and debris still enclosing some neighborhoods like frontier fortresses, with blue tarps stretched across numerous damaged roofs, with the buzz of chain saws still chorusing from sun-up to sun-down, with Bunyan trucks rumbling along the streets, with people still waiting for insurance adjusters, internet hook-up, repairs to begin … with so many things still because of Helene, these creative endeavors and others continue throughout South Georgia.

It would be easy to have canceled these shows. It’s not as if the people involved were spared the consequences of Helene. It’s not like putting on a show was their only responsibility or priority.

The people and families in these shows endured the same power outages, water outages, internet and cable outages as everyone else. They scrambled for generators and insurance adjusters just like the rest of us. They cleared brush and debris from roofs and homes and yards. They balanced work with home care and rehearsals. 

They adapted/are adapting to the new Valdosta skyline of fewer tree tops. They hunkered down during the storm. They deal with the crushing hurricane fatigue, just like the rest of us.

But they also committed themselves to something that both transcends the devastating impact of Helene while providing a touch of normal life to South Georgia.

Beethoven composed “The Emperor” piano concerto while Napoleon bombarded Vienna. Londoners defied Hitler’s night-time bombings by attending dance halls and concerts. John Steinbeck penned “The Grapes of Wrath” based on his travels during the Great Depression.

South Georgians regularly attend shows, plays, concerts, football games on weekend afternoons and evenings. 

Creativity is not frivolous. A lot of work goes into a thing called a play. Art can transcend disaster and tragedy. It can help us cope by providing something normal in the face of abnormal adversity.

The show must go on, because life must go on. 

Dean Poling is the former editor of The Valdosta Daily Times and The Tifton Gazette.