VIENNA – Time will be turned back to earlier days when for the 23rd consecutive year the Vienna Historical Society presents three plays.

“The Doolittles Come Calling,” “A Restful Afternoon” and “Show Time!” will be staged at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, July 28 and 29, and at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 30, in Union Hall.

“The Doolittles Come Calling” is set in the 1880s at a Vienna farmhouse where Miss Waite (Courtney Gilman) is in charge of some lively children while their parents are away. Despite her instructions for them to be well-behaved while the dignified deacon (Zackary St. Jean) and his outspoken sister (Ashley Emery) make a call, a hectic afternoon takes place. A snake, a whistle and an outhouse are involved.

The Doolittles each mention a true story concerning a snake, a bird and a boy, one incident taking place in Chesterville in 1855 and the other in Farmington the following year.

The cast also includes Levi and Lindsey Smith, Lydia and Elizabeth Rice, and Ben and Allie Emery, and is directed by Pam Bean.

“A Restful Afternoon” takes place in the 1920s at Jasper Boody’s Vienna farmhouse. Jasper (Burton Gilman) receives a letter informing him that his Aunt Maria (Beverly Shaw), his Aunt Sophia (Beverly Smith) and their friend Eunice (Leona Carpentier) will all be coming when his niece, Paulina (Lisa Goucher), arrives for a visit.

Jasper doesn’t want to let on to his gossipy aunts that he’s been alone in the house with an attractive young housekeeper (Andrea Brann), and Paulina has no desire for the aunts to learn that her two boarders (Jim Gararski and Quimby Robinson) are men. So a merry mix-up ensues, and several neighbors drop in who add to the excitement.

Judy Dunn, who directs this play, has the role of Mercy Parsons. Other actors are Val Dunn, Pam Bean, Carole O’Connell and Roger Reville. “The Doolittles Come Calling” and “A Restful Afternoon'” were written by Beverly Wight Smith.

“Show Time” takes audiences back to the Vienna Union Hall in the 1940s when the local community is about to entertained by a variety of musical performances with a cowboy theme. Just as everybody is settling into their seats, Donald, the town’s eligible bachelor, returns from three weeks on business and enters the hall with Sally, his new bride “from away.” How will she find her place in a new community? How will Darcy, who expected to become engaged to Donald, and her prideful mother accept Sally?

Where in Belgrade did singer “Sagebrush Sam” come from? There are surprises aplenty in this script by Cheryl Herr-Rains, presented in a venue that hasn’t changed that much from the musical performances of the ’40s or, for that matter, from the oyster suppers and dances begun when Vienna’s Union Hall was built in 1888.

This play is directed by Beverly Shaw, and the performers are Allan and Libby Harville, Dick Waddell, Mark and Cheryl Rains, John and Alice Olson, Betsy Bransky, Dodi Thompson, Muffy Floyd, Bob and Carol Bassett, Quimby Robinson, Don Peterson, Wayne Reynolds and Jay Naliboff.

The Mill Stream Grange will sell refreshments. Admission is $5 for adults, and $2 for children under 12.