Welcome to Season 3 of the Alliance Theatre Podcast: An exploration of theater and the people who make it happen.
Tomi Martin has worked with musicians including Madonna, Justin Bieber, T-Pain, and more. With Martin set to man the guitar for DARLIN’ CORY – the time seemed more than opportune to discuss his love of music and art, how that love can influence what matters, and what it means to be the cool guy.
TOMI MARTIN is a native of Louisville, KY, and grew up as a preacher’s kid listening to the radio and developing a love for the music as well as the artists. His exposure to gospel, rock, soul, and jazz made a lasting impression and made him certain that he wanted to be a professional musician. Tomi transitions easily from studio to stage, which helped develop his reputation as both a session guitarist and musical director for concert tours, television specials, and feature film projects. As a music director, Tomi blends rock, pop, R&B, and hard funk into solid tracks with musical hooks that help make hit records. His unique guitar work and creative support have been a huge part of successful records and world tours for such artists as: John Legend, OutKast, Justin Bieber, Madonna, TLC, Stevie Nicks, Miley Cyrus, and The Indigo Girls.
ANISKA TONGE is the social media manager and content producer at the Alliance Theatre, where she offers audiences an inside look at the who, how and why of the stories we tell. An artist at heart, her writing and photography highlights her endless love of the arts. And as she continues to fall in love with the culture created by the city of Atlanta she hopes that theatre is a way to highlight the inspiring people behind it.
DARLIN’ CORY
Set against the backdrop of 1920s Appalachia, DARLIN’ CORY is a haunting new musical by playwright & novelist Phillip DePoy (EDWARD FOOTE) and Sugarland’s Grammy-Award winning front man, Kristian Bush (TROUBADOUR). In a tiny mountain town with no road in – and no road out – a community carries secrets of all sizes. But when a young woman with ambition and intelligence collides with a pastor deeply committed to preserving the status quo, cracks begin to appear in the town’s well-constructed façade. And when a stranger appears with a mysterious backstory and the best moonshine anyone’s ever tasted – some of those secrets threaten to spill. With an original folk-country score, this modern-day myth inspired by local lore promises to leave audiences on the edge of their seats.
For tickets and to learn more about DARLIN’ CORY.
For more information about the Alliance Theatre Podcast please click here.
Pre-pandemic, we got to know our Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab Round 6 Lead Artists. After much time of being put on pause, their final presentations are soon to be shared. We thought we’d revisit the conversation, and share details on the event for you to see for yourself.
Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab Round 6 Showcase: A MOST AMERICAN TOWN
Friday, October 15 at 6pm in the Rich Theatre at the Woodruff Arts Center
Searching for his next story, The Writer gets called back to his hometown of Lumpkin, Georgia. And then the haunting begins. As he explores what the town is, what it has been, and what it might become, he’s forced to reckon with his own past, present, and future and how it has been shaped by this most American town.
Funding for the Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab is provided by Margaret and Bob Reiser. Support is also provided by the Mark & Evelyn Trammell Foundation.
Team
Actor/Writer……………………….Lee Osorio
Dramaturg………………………….Angela Farr Schiller
Director…………………………….Rachel Parish
Stage Manager……………………Cameryn Richardson
In 2013, the Alliance Theatre launched the Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab to support and provide opportunities to artists of multiple theatre disciplines looking for a producing home for undeveloped work. Each year, the Alliance extends an open call for Atlanta artists to submit their projects for consideration. Three projects are chosen by a panel of judges representing local and national artists of varying disciplines. Each project receives $10,000 to use toward further exploration and development, as well as access to the Alliance’s artistic, educational and production staffs, and rehearsal spaces. In its inaugural year the Alliance received 68 applications, representing 204 individual artists.
It is the goal of the Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab to celebrate the breadth and vision of Atlanta-based artists, to encourage collaboration among Atlanta’s artistic community, and to seed projects that will be produced here in Atlanta. The outpouring of applications for inclusion in the inaugural year of the program shows the vibrancy of the artistic community living in Atlanta and the need for further support of local art.
WHY THIS PIECE? WHY NOW?
Lee Osorio: I spent the first years of my life in Lumpkin. Long after I left, Stewart Immigration Detention Center was built right outside of town. Stewart is one of the largest immigration detention centers in the country, and has one of the worst reputations. But it’s also one of the best jobs in a town that has long been dying. When my brother, an immigration attorney, returned to town to work with clients detained there, I started to wonder about what life in the town would have been like if I’d stayed in Lumpkin. The play was born out of that thought experiment. It also explores my continued fascination with our ability as a country to value profit over people- like how we create for-profit, high traumatizing institutions that we champion as job creators for rural America without thinking about the effects on the people that are imprisoned and work in them.
WHAT IS YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS LIKE?
LO: Generally speaking, it’s ugly. Truly. It’s messy, stressful, and angry. Nothing about it is cute. I can’t make a deadline to save my life. I’m bad at it.
Luckily, I have try to surround myself with a great group of collaborators that keep me on track.
WHY ARE NEW WORKS IMPORTANT?
LO: The world is changing. We need scripts that speak to the moment that we’re living in and create space for conversations that we need to have.
WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE WORKING WITH THE ALLIANCE ON THIS PROJECT?
LO: The biggest benefit of working with the Alliance is the vote of confidence from theater makers that I respect that this project is worth pursuing. Plus, the chance to share my work with an audience.
WHAT IS YOUR ARTISTIC MISSION? WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES FOR THE ATLANTA ARTS SCENE? WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES FOR BEYOND THAT?
LO: My mission is to interrogate thresholds. How much injustice do we have to see before we stop turning a blind eye to it? How many times must we bear witness before we speak up? How many times can we say something without being heard before we are compelled to take action? And how many times must we witness, speak out, and take action against someone else before we acknowledge our own complicity in systems of oppression?
WHAT, OR WHO, ARE SOME OF YOUR ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS?
LO: I don’t know how to answer this question without sounding ignorant or pretentious. So I guess I’ll say life. I’m inspired by the world.
WHERE IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO GET WORK DONE?
LO: Coffee shops with lots of windows.
IN 7 WORDS OR LESS: WHY ART?
LO: Only you know why for you today.
Pre-pandemic, we got to know our Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab Round 6 Lead Artists. After much time of being put on pause, their final presentations are soon to be shared. We thought we’d revisit the conversation, and share details on the event for you to see for yourself.
Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab Round 6 Showcase: THE YELLOW WALLPAPER
Monday, October 11 at 4pm in the Rich Theatre at the Woodruff Arts Center
Energized for a new generation, The Yellow Wallpaper is a musical adaptation of a rising writer and new mother afflicted with postpartum depression at the turn of the 19th century. She’s forced to give up writing, and isolated to a chilling room papered floor-to-ceiling in a ghastly shade of yellow. The young woman’s descent into madness unspools before our eyes as she’s enchanted by a mysterious, frightening realm behind the yellow wallpaper.
“Haven’t you ever become someone you don’t recognize?”
Funding for the Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab is provided by Margaret and Bob Reiser. Support is also provided by the Mark & Evelyn Trammell Foundation.
Creative Team
Playwright/Producer………………Hannah Church
Music & Lyrics/Producer………….Julia Appleton
Director…………………………….Amber McGinnis
Assistant Director/SM…………….Autumn Stephens
Music Director……………………..Alli Lingenfelter
Choreographer…………………….Miche’ Smith
Cast
Charlotte……………………………India Tyree
The Shadow/Delle………………..Shelli Delgado
Jennie……………………………….Lilliangina Quinones
Silas Weir Mitchell………………….Greg Hunter
John…………………………………Thomas McFerran
The Woman………………………..Hannah Church
In 2013, the Alliance Theatre launched the Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab to support and provide opportunities to artists of multiple theatre disciplines looking for a producing home for undeveloped work. Each year, the Alliance extends an open call for Atlanta artists to submit their projects for consideration. Three projects are chosen by a panel of judges representing local and national artists of varying disciplines. Each project receives $10,000 to use toward further exploration and development, as well as access to the Alliance’s artistic, educational and production staffs, and rehearsal spaces. In its inaugural year the Alliance received 68 applications, representing 204 individual artists.
It is the goal of the Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab to celebrate the breadth and vision of Atlanta-based artists, to encourage collaboration among Atlanta’s artistic community, and to seed projects that will be produced here in Atlanta. The outpouring of applications for inclusion in the inaugural year of the program shows the vibrancy of the artistic community living in Atlanta and the need for further support of local art.
WHY THIS PIECE? WHY NOW?
Hannah Church: I read The Yellow Wallpaper in college for the first time and immediately thought, “this could make a really great one woman show!” It has madness, haunting themes, and a feminist feeling that is timeless. As we get older we feel like society is always telling us who we should be and what our limitations are – especially as women, and we felt this real-life short story still echoes that hard truth 130 years later.
We started writing this show in 2010, and since then we have gone through the “Me Too” movement and a place where Mental Health is more freely accepted. In just ten years audiences are more interested in believing what a woman says is true AND a discussion about depression, particularly post-partum for all the mothers out there. This has been so encouraging for this show. An undeniable fact is that by age 40, 50% of the population will have or will have had a mental illness. In the creative world, we know that every artist struggles with some kind of depression at some point in life. We hope The Yellow Wallpaper shows how friendship, just one person caring, can be the difference between a happy or sad ending.
WHAT IS YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS LIKE?
HC: My friend, Julia Appleton, signed on to write the music in 2015 and since then we have learned how important readings are for this work. First, we story board everything we would like to tell, and then just start writing. It was an epic long script just 6 months ago but we were able to see the story in its entirety from every character’s point of view. Then from there we just started cutting and tightening and trying to find the moments we still needed. That’s where readings come in handy. We can hear the repeated beats, or feel a transition that isn’t flowing, or where our readers are zoning out or nodding their heads in agreement. It gets us out of our heads and really see what the audience is connecting to because at the end of the day that’s what we want. For the audience to leave the theatre and start a conversation about everything they just saw and how it reflects the world they live in today.
WHY ARE NEW WORKS IMPORTANT?
HC: Fun Home was the first all female writing team to win a Tony Award and that was in 2015! I have a BFA in Musical Theatre so I’m in LOVE with this craft, and have made it my entire life. We have finally reached a world where all audiences get to hear every point of view! From gender, race, culture, age-there are no more limits. And that diversity makes the world of story-telling so rich. Everyone’s voice can be heard and we are so humbled and proud at the same time.
WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE WORKING WITH THE ALLIANCE ON THIS PROJECT?
HC: This is a dream come true for The Yellow Wallpaper. When I got the phone call that our project was chosen I started crying in disbelief. It was an institution that I absolutely adore saying “we believe in your work and what this story can do”. In Atlanta I’m mostly known as an actor and teaching artist so to be able to flex this playwriting muscle so freely has been liberating in a stressful, creative, dream-like way. I can’t believe Susan Booth took the time to watch our show in process and send us the MOST thought provoking notes. We have felt such support from the Alliance and we will be forever grateful.
WHAT IS YOUR ARTISTIC MISSION? WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES FOR THE ATLANTA ARTS SCENE? WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES FOR BEYOND THAT?
HC: What a great question. I think back to my college days and my Professor shouting “Be Bold, Make Brave Decisions” and that’s echoing in my head. I think as storytellers we get to decide what our art is for. Is it thought provoking? Are we trying to provide our audience a happy escape for a few hours? Are we trying to be political? Our options are endless. As long as Atlanta continues to work as an ensemble, sharing ideas together and to keep pushing to be the best diverse community we can-it will always be exceptional and new. Atlanta has been so supportive in my adult life, I can’t see myself leaving. I hope to keep working with my mentors and peers as I start my 30’s and to give back to my community of young artists to help them in the same way I was nurtured at 23 when I moved here.
WHAT, OR WHO, ARE SOME OF YOUR ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS?
HC: Susan Booth, Rosemary Newcott, Lisa Adler, Marguerite Hannah, Jody Feldman, Emily Kleypas, Ann-Carol Pence, Tony Rodriguez, Rachel May, Clifton Guterman, Jaclyn Hoffman, Nichole Palmietto, Hershey Millner, Addae Moon, Justin Anderson, David Crowe, Tom Jones, John Ammerman, Richard Garner, Ricardo Aponte- the list goes on and on! Each one of these Atlanta icons gave me a seat at their table. I tried to soak in their genius like a sponge and it has turned me into the writer and actor I am today!
WHERE IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO GET WORK DONE?
HC: Haha at home. In my office thumping my head against the desk, and then suddenly-an idea! I used to go to coffee shops or Panera but it’s so loud I can’t hear the voices in my head. If my house isn’t available, I’ll just sit on my laptop in my car too. Anywhere that’s completely quiet with no distractions. That’s the only way I get good ideas!
WHY ART?
HC: Art is the process of seeing yourself in things that are not you.
An interview with Barbara Gibson from the Women’s Resource Center to End Domestic Violence.
Barbara Gibson is the Safehouse Director at the Women’s Resource Center to End Domestic Violence in Atlanta, Georgia. We talked with her about her impression of Darlin’ Cory, her work with survivors, and the importance of speaking out against a culture of secrecy surrounding domestic violence.
What stood out for you in Darlin’ Cory?
What stood out for me most was the complicity of the community in the play. It was the sense of powerlessness they all seemed to share in the face of violence from the antagonist character. His will was absolute and nothing else mattered, not even the hopes or needs of his wife and daughter. They did not, could not, challenge him. When Clara does challenge him in the story, she pays a high price. This is exactly the experience of individual survivors. They remain in their relationship for various reasons. If or when they decide to flee, they risk greater harm or death.
Why is it difficult to speak about and confront domestic abuse in our communities? How are women, in particular, affected by a culture of secrecy?
We like to think domestic violence is a personal problem. We tell ourselves it only happens to certain people or in certain circumstances. We believe if we are not those people and don’t encounter those circumstances, we will be safe. But, no one is safe. Domestic violence can happen to anyone because as a culture we have decided that violence is an acceptable response to anger, disappointment, etc. The causes of domestic violence are baked into our systems: oppression, inequality, and “othering” are all at the foundation. Moreover, we have not done the important work of learning how to care for ourselves when painful feelings come up (for example, we scream and hit when we are overwhelmed and angry). We don’t understand that it is a shared right and desire to be happy and free from suffering. We fail to recognize that we are all connected and interdependent.
The harm a culture of secrecy causes to women, in particular, cannot be overstated. Secrets keep shame in place. They block us from the feeling of belonging that we need in order to heal. Secrets disempower us. However, when we speak up, we are heard, and we can hear from others who share our experiences.
In Darlin’ Cory, we see how domestic violence is cyclical—one victim can in turn become an abuser. How does the Women’s Resource Center, and Safehouse in particular, work to end this cycle of abuse?
We want survivors to understand that their experiences are unique but that they are not alone. Domestic violence is a cultural problem, and ending it requires a community-wide shift in thinking and values. Experiencing domestic or intimate partner violence is not a personal flaw. The Women’s Resource Center provides prevention and intervention services planned with survivors in support of their safety goals. Core program services include legal advocacy, safehouse services, a 24-hour helpline, support groups, supervised visitation and exchange, and resettlement assistance and financial planning. We are also committed to offering services that remind survivors they are not limited by their experience of domestic violence. These services include supportive conversations, yoga, mindfulness/meditation, and fitness groups. We do this with our SISTERs (Survivors in Service to Extend Resiliency) Group, where the focus is on service, self-care, leadership, and learning.
In addition, we have children’s programs, such as Camp PEACE. Camp PEACE is an important opportunity for children impacted by domestic violence to heal in a supportive setting, develop the capacity to manage the range of human feelings, and build healthy relationships with themselves and others.
How has your work to end domestic violence changed during COVID-19?
In the beginning, we received more calls from police and hospitals on behalf of the survivors they were helping. Then, during the lockdown, survivors had less direct access to supportive services. Now there are different challenges – childcare, affordable housing, employment. All of these impact survivors’ ability to get away and stay away from an abusive partner. We’ve had to be creative to balance the safety of those we serve with those who need services. We continue to help with temporary lodging, rent, utilities, childcare, and transportation with community support and with temporary protective orders, but virtually. All our weekly support groups are offered virtually as well.
How can people support the work of the Women’s Resource Center?
There are big and small actions everyone can do to end domestic violence. Believe survivors. Recognize that batterers can be anyone – even people who present as charming and accomplished. See the value and equality in all people. Learn how to be with your tender and painful feelings. Too often, we use pain as an excuse to wound. Reject violence as a response. Volunteer. Offer “Lunch and Learn” sessions in your communities about domestic violence. Advocate for workplace and housing policies that don’t penalize survivors and for affordable housing and enough income for everyone. Donate—your dollars make a difference, and they are especially needed now!
Is there anything else that is important for us to know about your work or the work of Women’s Resource Center to End Domestic Violence?
Please join us for our annual Candlelight Vigil Honoring Domestic Violence Awareness Month on October 21. This is an important time to honor the courage of survivors and celebrate the lives of those lost.
Listen, subscribe, and share our podcast SISTERs Stories. Each episode tells a survivor’s story. Their courage offers encouragement to others and creates general awareness of how prevalent the problem is.
Learn more and support our work: https://www.wrcdv.org/support
Follow the Women’s Resource Center on FaceBook.
Barbara Gibson
|
Barbara Gibson is the Safehouse Director at Women’s Resource Center (WRC) and has been providing advocacy to survivors of abuse and trauma since she joined WRC in 1990. Gibson is strongly committed to partnering with women to create safe and stable lives that honor their highest vision of themselves. She encourages women to challenge limiting assumptions, shift perspectives, and combine cherished values with actionable goals to create a new normal. She has appeared on a variety of radio and television programs to explain the importance of providing safe places for victims of domestic violence, including children. |
“When feminism does not explicitly oppose racism, and when antiracism does not incorporate opposition to patriarchy, race and gender politics often end up being antagonistic to each other and both interests lose.”
–Kimberlé Crenshaw, “Whose Story Is It Anyway? Feminist and Antiracist Appropriations of Anita Hill,” 1992
Throughout the hardships and obstacles the world throws at Black communities and especially Black women, where do we find the joy? Upon writing this article, this was a question I pondered daily. Hands Up is comprised of seven monologues that detail Black Americans’ experiences with police in America. The monologue – “Dead of Night,” written by Nambi E. Kelley – details the specific experience of being Black and a woman while dealing with police brutality. In reading this monologue, I started to think about the in(visibility) of Black Women in the movement against the racial discrimination of Black people. Black Women are constantly caught between the space of having to choose if they are Black or Woman first, which can ultimately put them in second-class positions for both experiences.
This experience is not unfamiliar to playwright Nambi E. Kelley. In a conversation with her about Hands Up, she discussed that during her time as an undergraduate, she didn’t experience a place of freedom. Kelley’s work is influenced by the likes of Ntozake Shange, and many of her professors were puzzled by how to critique her work. As this can be frustrating for many students, Kelley decided to use this as motivation to know that she was creating work that highlights a specific lived experience, the Black experience. She didn’t let this destroy her love for writing or her confidence. Kelley demanded the visibility of work in a world that insists on Black Women’s in(visibility). We see the power of her voice continue throughout her work on Hands Up.
Initially, Hands Up consisted of six monologues by six different playwrights. Later, Keith Josef Adkins contacted Kelley, wanting to add a woman’s voice to the narrative. She recalls, “Sandra Bland happened. … Adkins, the curator of the series, emailed me and said he wanted to add a lady’s voice to the piece and asked if I had something to say.” This moment was the birth of “Dead of Night.”
Though the weight of this play is palpable, in conversation, Kelley and I pondered the question again: Where do we find the joy? It’s a question I’m sure many Black Americans ask themselves after constantly dealing with racial trauma every day. The one way we can experience joy is in knowing that we are continuing the legacy of strong Black men and women who grace this earth. When asking Kelley who inspires her, she quickly responded that it was her mother. Her mother knew that the joy in life was in living. “She didn’t waste her time in what was taken from her. She focused on living. My mother was a brilliant woman because she lived.” She goes on to say, “I’m glad to turn my pain to champagne. It’s my liberation. If you get something out of it, cool, but I freed myself.”
The greatest act of rebellion Black Americans can participate in is to live life to the fullest every day, regardless of whether or not someone tries to strip us of those moments. Hands Up, while highlighting Black struggles with police brutality, demands contemplative action from the reader and the watcher. Perhaps we all, through this piece, can find moments to turn our pain into champagne.
Please note: “pain to champagne” is a phrase borrowed from Nambi’s partner, Daniel Carlton.
Take a sneak peek on the first day of rehearsals for Alliance’s upcoming production of THE NEW BLACK FEST’S HANDS UP: 7 PLAYWRIGHTS, 7 TESTAMENTS.
Co-Directors, Keith Arthur Bolden, and Alexis Woodard. –Photo by Kathleen Covington.
Research materials hung in the rehearsal hall. –Photo by Aniska Tonge.
Cast and crew on day one. –Photo by Aniska Tonge.
Co-Directors, Keith Arthur Bolden, and Alexis Woodard. –Photo by Aniska Tonge.
Script materials in the rehearsal hall. –Photo by Aniska Tonge.
Research materials hung in the rehearsal hall. –Photo by Aniska Tonge.
HANDS UP stage model in the rehearsal hall. –Photo by Aniska Tonge.
Actors Marlon Andrew Burney and Josh Turner. –Photo by Aniska Tonge.
Actors Marlon Andrew Burney and Josh Turner. –Photo by Aniska Tonge.
Actor Marlon Andrew Burney during rehearsal. –Photo by Aniska Tonge.
Co-Directors, Keith Arthur Bolden and Alexis Woodard. –Photo by Aniska Tonge.
Cast and crew during first rehearsal. –Photo by Aniska Tonge.
Actor Jessenia Ingram during rehearsal. –Photo by Aniska Tonge.
Artistic Director, Susan V. Booth on the first day of rehearsals for HANDS UP. –Photo by Kathleen Covington.
Actor Marcus Hopkins-Turner. –Photo by Kathleen Covington.
Actor Charence Higgins. –Photo by Kathleen Covington.
Actor Myles Wright. –Photo by Kathleen Covington.
Actors Jessenia Ingram and Brandon L. Smith. –Photo by Kathleen Covington.
Co-Director Alexis Woodard, and Movement Consultant, Morgan Hawkins. –Photo by Kathleen Covington.
Cast and crew share a treat on the first day of rehearsals for Alliance Theatre’s HANDS UP. –Photo by Aniska Tonge.
THE NEW BLACK FEST’S HANDS UP: 7 PLAYWRIGHTS, 7 TESTAMENTS
Directed by Keith Arthur Bolden and Alexis Woodard
Hertz Stage
October 8 – 31, 2021
Across seven monologues written by seven Black playwrights, HANDS UP depicts the realities of Black America from the perspective of varying genders, sexual orientations, skin tones, and socioeconomic backgrounds. The play was originally commissioned in 2015 by the New Black Fest in response to a police officer fatally shooting an unarmed Black teenager, Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO. The themes and stories it tells still ring true today. HANDS UP is produced in association with Spelman College.
This collection includes:
Superiority Fantasy by Nathan James; Holes in My Identity by Nathan Yungerberg; They Shootin! Or I Ain’t Neva Scared… by Idris Goodwin; Dead of Night… The Execution of… by Nambi E. Kelley; Abortion by Nsangou Njikam; Walking Next to Michael Brown by Eric Holmes; and How I Feel by Dennis Allen II
For tickets & more info: alliancetheatre.org/handsup
So here we are again, seated in the Coca-Cola Theatre, about to watch a show. What a surreal experience– and what a story to greet us on our return. DARLIN’ CORY shares the story of a town that experiences the world collectively, where (for better or for worse) everyone knows just about everything about everybody else. The Appalachian tradition of storytelling comes to life in the most authentic way for a tiny town tucked away in the North Georgia mountains– through music.
Appalachian folk music is an artificial category, defined not by a specific sound but by the region in which it was created. In reality, Appalachian music, just like the region, is diverse and has many roots. Over time, Appalachian music has borrowed and adapted elements from jazz, blues, bluegrass, honky tonk, country, gospel, and pop. It might be more accurate to say that Appalachian music is a scrapbook of the styles and genres of the many ethnic and cultural traditions of the Appalachian region.
An Appalachian culture was molded from various Indigenous, African, and European traditions, all carrying different musical sounds and instruments. The banjo, one of the oldest instruments used in traditional Appalachian music, was derived from African instruments as a result of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The instrument was initially made of gourd bodies or pots and covered in animal hide with four strings (a fifth string was added later.) Anglo-celtic colonialists are credited for bringing the fiddle to Appalachian music, and German immigrants brought instruments like the harmonica, Appalachian dulcimer, and autoharp. String bands rose in popularity, usually consisting of fiddle players, a banjo, a standing bass, and a guitar. These bands played ballads, dance tunes, old-time popular music, and parlour and vaudeville music picked up from travelling shows, with players riffing and shifting the music they learned.
Musicians and families would gather on the front porch of their homes, transforming it into a stage, just as our stage has transformed for music on the front porches of a cabin and public stoops outside of the general store. Through these makeshift performances, communities shared music, techniques, and stories. Appalachian music is a product of the constant collaboration and change from these gatherings, each musician mining whatever styles and forms were suitable for new adaptations of raw material.
The collaborative nature of Appalachian music may seem surprising when the community culture was also deeply influenced by a long history of isolation and endurance due to the geography, socio-economic opportunities, and differing needs of mountain communities. The culture of Appalachian people is most aptly described as “cooperative independence:” there was pride in self-sufficiency, but people had strong ties and responsibilities to their family and neighbors. Appalachian culture is one that is independent together and communities tend to follow their own rules, easily seen in the new music rules made up on the front porches of the Appalachian home. Nowadays, there are many efforts to preserve the folk stories and music of the Appalachians, gathered from the collaboration between the different cultural backgrounds of those who originated there or made their way up the mountain. It’s only fitting that we are finally back in the theatre again to join in the act of gathering before a cabin’s front porch for a story and a song.
Photo: Frank Proffitt sings and plays for Anne Warner in 1941. Pick Britches Valley, North Carolina. Anne and Frank Warner Collection. Photo by Frank Warner.
When you consider cultural traditions you’ve been exposed to growing up, such as jumping the broom, building Ofrendas, crafting paper cranes, or even making and then drinking mulled wine around a decorated Christmas tree, do you think about the trailblazers who started them? We all have frequent and seasonal practices and customs that are directly or indirectly passed down to us by our ancestors.
Set in 1930s Appalachia, our protagonist Clara inherited the tradition of making strong Moonshine from her Mama. In Appalachian culture, Moonshine making is one of the many traditions still practiced today. In the early 1900s, following prohibition, the sale of Moonshine soared due to alcohol being outlawed. Surprisingly, the majority of Moonshiners during this time were women as they had significant advantages over Moonshining men due to laws that prevented police officers from searching women. Some men even hired women to ride in cars with them as they delivered the goods because officers wouldn’t stop a car with a woman in it. Additionally, most juries did not convict Moonshining women because they believed women to be incapable of committing such a crime. Because these women were underestimated, they could conveniently make up the majority of Moonshine operations, at one point even outnumbering men Moonshiners five to one.
For centuries, women have had to come up with innovative and creative ways to provide for their families. The same ideals that created laws prohibiting women from working allowed women such as Maggie Bailey, Josephine Doody, Mary Wazeniak, and Mary Ann Moriarity to use their societal positioning to inconspicuously run their Moonshine operations out of their own homes, therefore making money for their families and others. Maggie Bailey, also known as “Queen of the Mountain Bootleggers,” started selling moonshine as a young teen and used the money made to help out people in her community. She put many kids through college and bought groceries for families who had fallen on hard times. Maggie was a hometown hero in Clover town of Harlan County, Kentucky, and a household name. Hiding Moonshine in laundry baskets and chicken coops, these trailblazing women created a new tradition to be passed down, and a means for their survival. When we stop and consider the way women had to fight for their right to earn money and respect, we realize the irony in so many of our cultural norms sitting on the shoulders of these change-making women. Moonshining women are now engrained in Appalachian culture, and in the world of Darlin’ Cory, Clara stands on the shoulders of the many Moonshining women who came before her.
Photo Credit: Josephine Doody from the National Park Collection