Local first-time author Bill Hunt has added another achievement to the growing list of accolades coming from his novel, “The Last Witness From A Dirt Road,” with a one-act play based on a scene from the book.

Decatur’s historic Princess Theatre Center for the Performing Arts will present “Black Mama and the Saturday Night Ball” as part of its 2006-2007 Lecture Series on November 27 at 7 p.m.

Hunt will introduce the reading of the play with a short lecture on the book about the time his father became the overseer of a large sugar plantation in Louisiana. Hunt grew up in the black community setting of the plantation near the small town of Bunkie, where he attended all segregated schools and all white churches, where segregation of the races was a dominant part of the social structure of the South. The novel became what Hunt calls “a fictionalized memoir.”

“I just can’t believe this has happened,” said Hunt. “Lindy Ashwander from the Princess Theatre asked be to present my book in their lecture series. It’s from such a happy chapter and really sets the stage for the whole book.”

Hunt said once he selected the chapter from the book, he rewrote it in play form to give more voice to the characters of Papa and Mag.

Greg Webb will read the part of the 12-year-old Billy; Frank Travis as his best friend, “Papa” and Sue Flint will read Mag – “Black Mama.”

Webb, a Tennessee native, spent a successful 20 years in Los Angeles as an actor and writer before returning closer to home. His starring credits include Braselton in “Lords of Discipline,” Rome Hawley in NBC’s “Boone,” and a turn opposite John Cash in CBS’s “The Baron and the Kid.” More recently, he has voiced literally hundreds of film and television shows as a member of The Loop Group. Some of these projects include: “Shawshank Redemption,” “The Horse Whisperer,” “Con Air,” “The Green Mile,” “Patch Adams” and the “X-Files” series.

Travis, a licensed unit operator at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, has been a featured performer at the W.C. Handy Festivals in Florence for the past 10 years. He has been nominated twice for the prestigious WINGS Award from the Huntsville theater community for his performances as Hoke Coleburn in “Driving Miss Daisy,” and for his portrayal of Homer Smith in “Lilies of the Field.” He has also directed several plays at Athens State University, including “Beautiful Dreamer.”

Hunt will publish a second book in 2008—a group of four short stories and a novella—again with themes about family and relationships. All of the proceeds from “The Last Witness From a Dirt Road” are being donated to a fund to build a Boys and Girls Club in Bunkie, La.

General admission tickets are $10 and $5 for students and teachers and are available at the door or in advance at the Princess Theatre Box Office weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at (256)340-1778. For more information, visit online at the Princess Theatre Web site at: www.princesstheatre.org