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🎭 Grit & Grace Inc. returns this July with a heartfelt theatrical tribute to Walton County’s history in The Paths We Take.
📜 The original production brings real local figures to life, weaving their legacies into a musical and storytelling experience directed by Broadway alum Nancy Hasty.
❤️ The cast and crew highlight the deep love for their community through traditions like the “Opinion Place” and a passion for honoring those who shaped the region.
Since 1999, Grit & Grace, Inc., a local theatre company and “one of Walton County’s most beloved traditions” has provided a place for everyone – 6th generation families of Walton County, transplants, or ‘newbies’ to the area, to connect with the history of Walton County and feel more at home.
The Grit & Grace Inc. Theatre Company, composed of actors, singers, musicians, and stagehands, uniquely blends the “telling of our (his)story” – not with books, but with theatre arts, storytelling, and singing on a live stage.
Grit & Grace works to bring local history to the stage by looking back at some significant figures who have impacted Walton County – those who have made a difference in the lives of ordinary people.
The Company selected eight biographical sketches that are being presented this year in “The Paths We Take.” The 2025 Grit & Grace production will be performed on July 18, 19, and 20 at the Florida Chautauqua Theatre in DeFuniak Springs. One additional Encore Performance will be held on Tuesday, July 22 at Simple Faith Church in Santa Rosa Beach.
The Director and Writer of this year’s production is Nancy Hasty, who is a native of Okaloosa County and has been a part of Grit & Grace Inc. since 2012. She is not only the writer and director but she is also an actress who is well known for her Broadway and Off-Broadway acting.
Hasty is an actor and writer who went to Manhattan following college in pursuit of a dream. She is best known for her book, “Florida Girls” which takes place in Crestview, Florida, around 1965. Hasty was a 1 woman cast in a 15-character play. She told Mid Bay News, “I wrote this play and played each part that reflected who I was and where I had come from.” This play was just one of the success stories of her career and she expressed that “theatre is my love and passion.” The focus of her work this year with Grit & Grace Inc. is in many ways a reflection of her passion for following the dreams and desires of our hearts. She expressed that this is the most valuable gift in our “human experience.”
This year’s production by the Grit & Grace Inc. is entitled, “The Paths We Take.” The focus of the historical theatre and music performance is the “celebration of people, places, and stories that have shaped our region.” Every character, storyline, and song is original, much like the fingerprint of the people that have molded and shaped our country. All selected characters for “The Paths We Take” have been significant to Walton County, and each made a difference in the lives of so many.
When Latilda Hughes-Neel (producer, musical composer, actor for Grit & Grace) was asked, “What is special about this year’s production?” Latilda replied, “It is the love between each member of the cast and crew; the tenderness toward the history and the devotion to telling the story accurately. But most of all, it is the love that everyone in the Company has for one another.”
In many ways, the Grit & Grace production is in itself a “carrier of tradition.” Both Hasty and Hughes-Neel reflected on one of the popular traditions that appears on stage year after year. The tradition is the John F. Bludworth Sr. “Opinion Place” (as it is known) – a gazebo where citizens of DeFuniak Springs were known to gather near the Old Depot Station in town. Hasty remembers looking for a place to sit with a good book and being drawn to the “Opinion Place”. She remembers heading toward the “Opinion Place,” and as she approached there was a group of men, gathered together under the popular gazebo, quickly quieting their conversation and looking at her as she approached. She quickly realized that she was not going to read there, and made a right turn to read somewhere else. The “Opinion Place” was the place where a certain group of people (all men, typically) gathered to share their stories and – opinions.
As with any small community, some traditions may last a lifetime. Hasty, with her ‘welcoming wit,’ said that she was not welcomed to the gathering that day, but she said, “The pen is mightier than the sword they say.” And so it is. Even the history of the “Opinion Place” (a significant location in the city’s history remains a consistent place for ‘comical opinion’ on the stage of Walton County history. It remains an opinion place still today.
Over the past years, the “Opinion Place” has been a mainstay for Grit & Grace, Inc. productions. Mid Bay News was told that the “Opinion Place” will have another appearance in “The Paths We Take” theatre production which will take place on July 18 – 20 at Florida Chautauqua Theatre located at 840 Baldwin Ave. in DeFuniak Springs. Performances on the 18th and 19th are at 6:00 p.m., and the Sunday Matinee, July 20, is at 2:00 p.m. An Encore Performance of “The Paths We Take” will be held on Tuesday, July 22 at 6:00 p.m. at A Simple Faith Church, 360 WRM Circle, in Santa Rosa Beach. Tickets are available at Sowal.com or on Facebook at ‘Grit and Grace, Inc.’ and click on the sunset photo of DeFuniak Springs. Or also go to Hwy. 331 on Facebook for ticket purchases.
The show is preparing its final weeks of rehearsals and the Company’s performances are guaranteed to provide everyone in attendance a way to step back in time and become connected to important men and women of Walton County and the history each leaves as a gift. Nancy Hasty expressed that some people devoted their lives to ‘pouring into’ the communities of Walton County. Others may have explored other places (parts of the U.S. and abroad) and then returned to make a difference. And in “The Paths We Take,” she offers the following:
“But no matter what we did or how we did it,
We did our best to find our way and find our True North.
Through the ‘ups and downs’ of life, we did our best
To stay the course and run our race.
And perhaps when we’re gone, the path we choose will be a map for someone else.”
The inspirational compilation of local heroes and their stories is a celebration of our local history and a way to celebrate the gift of those who have charted a course that made a difference. Tickets are on sale today. They may be purchased online.
Pro Communi Bono
