MARC JACOBS
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — For many Kansas State Fair visitors, J.B. Holdren was Bardo the Clown, a familiar face who helped make a trip to the fair memorable. Others knew his work through the signs he painted or the carousel horses he carved and decorated by hand.
On Saturday, Oct. 24, actor Matt Christian will help bring those memories back during Stage 9’s Talking Tombstones at Eastside Cemetery.
The annual event introduces audiences to people who helped shape Hutchinson’s past through researched monologues performed among the cemetery’s monuments. Despite the October setting and its suggestive title, Christian said the focus is history.
“Sometimes people might look at the title Talking Tombstones and think, ‘Well, it’s October. It’s probably going to be scary,’” Christian said. “It is not, unless you’re scared of a cemetery.”
For Christian, who moved to Hutchinson in 2010 and began participating in 2014, the production has become a way to build a deeper connection with his adopted community.
This year, he will return to his 2019 portrayal of Holdren, a role that offered an unusual opportunity: the chance to learn from people who actually knew the man he would portray.
Christian also watched recorded television interviews with Holdren, giving him a clearer sense of his subject’s personality and mannerisms.
“It was quite a challenge, but it was very rewarding,” Christian said.
Holdren’s contributions extended beyond entertaining fairgoers. Christian said he lived much of his life on the Kansas State Fairgrounds, painted signs and performed general maintenance throughout the year. Some of his artwork remains on display there.
“He did it the old-fashioned way, and it’s amazing what he was able to create,” Christian said.
Talking Tombstones began in 2006 as a fundraiser to help support Stage 9. Early participants wrote their own scripts. Today, writers prepare the monologues using historical material, with help from the Hutchinson Public Library and Reno County Museum.
“It’s truly a community effort that goes into putting it together,” Christian said.
Although performers receive completed scripts, Christian often goes back to the research himself. Understanding what a writer included — and what was left out — helps him develop his portrayal.
“I’m a history geek,” he said.
His past roles have included W.H.S. Benedict, who helped bring the Kansas State Fair to Hutchinson, and firefighter James O’Flynn. Last year, Christian portrayed Nicholas Spanier, a German recluse whose relatively sparse historical record presented a different challenge from playing the well-remembered Holdren.
The featured people change from year to year, giving audiences new stories to discover.
Saturday’s event offers two ways to hear them.
A seated performance begins at 5 p.m. near the mausoleum on the cemetery’s west side, off South Cleveland Street. Audience members should bring lawn chairs.
At 7:30 p.m., guides will lead groups through the cemetery to performers stationed at different locations. When the person being portrayed is buried at Eastside, the presentation takes place at that person’s gravesite. Other historical figures, including Holdren, are represented elsewhere within the cemetery.
Both performances feature the same people and monologues. The difference, Christian said, is the atmosphere.
He remembers a clear, cold evening in 2019, with a nearly full moon above the cemetery — a setting that made the walking tour particularly memorable.
Visitors should consider their comfort walking over uneven ground after dark. Christian recommends the seated performance for anyone concerned about navigating the cemetery.
Tickets for either performance are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors and $10 for students. They may be purchased at the cemetery on the day of the event with cash or a card.
Christian recommends parking on the west side and arriving 20 to 30 minutes early for the evening tour so organizers can assemble groups. Stage 9 also is seeking volunteer tour guides for that performance.
For Christian, the reward comes from looking beyond the names on the stones and discovering the lives behind them — and helping an audience make that same connection.