LA PLATA — Port Tobacco Players will bring back its documentary on the two tornadoes that devastated La Plata, adding encore screenings of “Unseen Hooks: The La Plata Tornadoes of 1926 & 2002” on Nov. 13 and Dec. 19.
Both showings start at 7:30 p.m. at the company’s theater at 508 Charles St. in downtown La Plata. General admission tickets are $15 and are sold at ptplayers.com, according to a Nov. 3 announcement from the theater group.
The first of the two dates falls four days after the 100th anniversary of the 1926 storm, which struck La Plata on Nov. 9, 1926.
Two storms, one town
The film tells the story of a town hit by two devastating tornadoes in less than a century: the 1926 storm and the one that tore through La Plata on April 28, 2002. Port Tobacco Players says the documentary covers the chaos and horror of both, along with stories of heroism, resilience, stoicism and even humor among the people who lived through them.
It also traces what the town built afterward. According to the theater group, the disaster became the catalyst for a consolidated school, a full-service hospital and the county’s first volunteer fire department, and the film follows how the community came together, overcame trauma and destruction and rebuilt.
Interest in the 1926 storm has grown as its centennial approaches. Charles County’s historic preservation magazine devoted part of its 2026 edition to the 1926 tornado. In September, the town lost one of the central figures of its 2002 recovery when former Mayor Bill Eckman, who led La Plata’s rebuilding after the 2002 tornado, died at 96.
Who made it
Stanley Preston wrote and directed the film. Steuart Bowling and Craig Hower produced it, and Anthony Puzzilla served as executive producer. The theater group says the documentary won Best Documentary at the 2026 Utopia Film Festival.
Port Tobacco Players stages six main-stage shows each season in downtown La Plata and takes productions on the road through its Encore and Encore Kids touring companies. The group describes its mission as continuing a tradition of quality theater for Southern Maryland residents.
