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SPOTLIGHT
ON THE ARTS - March 2003 by Deanna Mascle Telling Appalachia's Story
The answer to that question resulted in the creation of the Roadside Theater. Today, Roadside Theater’s central purpose is creating a body of drama based on the history and lives of Appalachian people. Since its creation, Roadside has toured in 43 states, performed at Lincoln Center in New York City and the Smithsonian Institution in New York and Washington, DC, been in residence a number of times off-Broadway, and represented the United States at international theater festivals, including events in Sweden, Denmark, London, and the Czech Republic. However, it is Roadside’s work at home in Appalachia that has had the most dramatic impact. It has developed a unique, experimental dramatic form drawn from the musical and storytelling traditions of its mountain home. Even more important, Roadide has created a body of Appalachian dramatic literature where none existed before. In addition, it has evolved and documented a cultural residency methodology that helps communities present their stories publicly, diversify their theater audiences, and, in some cases, establish new local theaters creating original plays. Roadside is an integral part of Appalshop, a multi-disciplinary, rural arts and education center which, for the past 32 years, has been producing and distributing (nationally and internationally) film, video, audio recordings, radio, and theater that celebrates the culture and voices the concerns of the 20 million people living in the 13-state Appalachian region. Roadside Theater consists of four full-time administrative and artistic staff and 10 contract staff. All of Roadside’s performers are native to Central Appalachia and grew up hearing the region’s traditional stories and music from their families and neighbors. Roadside has also conducted cultural exchanges with other ensemble theaters that resulted in the co-creation of musical plays that explore issues of culture, race, class, and place. It has taught its methodology at colleges and universities, including Cornell University, the College of William and Mary, Arizona State University, and the University of Akron. In addition, Roadside has documented its work in publications and audio/video recordings which are available for purchase. In the coming year Roadside will premiere a new play, “Two Sweethearts,” a dramatic history of American culture and identity told through the personal letters, journals, and stories of the women of one family. It will feature new, original music including Celtic-influenced Appalachian ballads, pop, and jazz. The Theater will also mount a new collaborative play, “Zuni Meets Appalachia,” with Idiwanan An Chawe, the Zuni language theater from New Mexico, for the Smithsonian. Another upcoming event is the release of Ensemble Works, a book of scripts by American ensemble theaters, including Promise of a Love Song, a musical play created collaboratively over five years by Roadside, Teatro Pregones, a Puerto Rican theater based in South Bronx, NY and Junebug Productions, an African American theater based in New Orleans. After 28 years, the Roadside Theater
is still alive and thriving, carrying out its mission to document the
traditions and creativity of Appalachia and tell stories the commercial
cultural industries don’t tell, challenging stereotypes with Appalachian
voices and visions. Deanna Mascle is a
staff writer for The Lane Report. |
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Copyright 1996-2003, by Kentucky Business Online. All rights reserved. Editorial content is copyright 2003,
Lane Communications Group The Lane Report is a trademark of Lane Communications Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
In
1975 a group of theater-afficionados asked, “What would it be like
for rural, central Appalachia to have a professional theater company
and a body of original Appalachian drama?”