Assignments and activities
"Edward Foote" by Phillip DePoy Sign up for Auditions and Tech using the link to the right under "Helpful Links"! The Characters (all sing) REECE, a self-styled preacher in his early 30s NIGELLA, a headstrong orphan girl about 15 MRS. NEVINS, a high-strung woman about 30 RAY EARL, a grizzled stranger in his 40s or older MR. NEVINS, married to Mrs. Nevins, more level-headed ANN, a solid, sweet girl about 15 BARLOW, a boy with a limp, about 17, Ann’s boyfriend And other church members as needed who sing and play traditional string band instruments (guitar, banjo, fiddle, or mandolin). The Music The music is a combination of acappella Sacred Harp music and traditional Appalachian ballads. THIS IS NOT BLUEGRASS OR COUNTRY MUSIC. This is vital: the music has to sound rough-hewn, amateurish, and heartfelt. It can’t be slick, polished; it can’t be at all practiced or rehearsed. These are real people making real music, not professional musicians performing for an audience. Songs (Click on song title to listen) "Traveling Creature" "Promised Land" "Holy Manna " "Columbus" "Lonesome Dove" "Traveling On" "Wondrous Love" The Time and Setting The play takes place during the Great Depression in Southern Appalachia—the setting closest to the Greek plague time in Oedipus—within a 24-hour period at the end of October, in a meeting hall or Grange house. This is a public place that serves many functions in the small mountain community. It should be plain, gray or very weathered off-white, with dirty windows that allow moon and sunlight in but also create many shadows. There is a makeshift altar Up Center with a main entrance elsewhere, a wooden floor, exposed beam ceiling. The seating is comprised of simple benches. While the Great Depression devastated most families in America in the 1930s, it destroyed the entire culture of Appalachia. Poverty and privation were already the norm in most Appalachian communities. Some estimates insist that the Depression resulted in the starvation or relocation of nearly half the population of the overall region. Oddly, the community’s reaction was, in many cases, to dig in, to resist help and change, realizing that a certain way of life, folk ways and folk traditions, would be lost. This fear lead to some very peculiar, insular philosophical and religious beliefs. Some of these beliefs have been likened the thinking behind Medieval Doomsday cults, for obvious reasons: their world was coming to an end. This is the emotional environment of the play, a kind of desperation that can be engendered by the panic of the ending of days. Comments are closed.
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