Join Me At The Mountain Makins Festival

This weekend marks the 36th Annual Mountain Makins Festival at Rose Center in Morristown, a celebration of Appalachian folk life, history, art, handmade crafts and displays of skill, music, dancing, food and much more. And I will again be the emcee for one of the stages of live music.

I'll be the host for the Gazebo Stage, sponsored by ORNL Federal Credit Union. Here's a lineup of the music - and this year will mark a first: Russian Bluegrass music.

A full write-up on this most entertaining festival is here.

The music line-up includes

FIRST TENNESSEE STAGE
10AM:          Tracy Wilson- Scottish Highland Bagpipes
10-11:          The Red Wellies- Celtic 
11-12:          The Grassabillies- Rockabilly
12-1:            Steve Brown and Hurricane Ridge – Bluegrass
1-2:              Rough Edges- Bluegrass
2-3:              Hot Mountain Caravan
3-4:              Roan Mountain Hilltoppers – Old Time
4-5:              The Grass Pistols- Russian Bluegrass

ORNL  GAZEBO STAGE
10:15:            Tracy Wilson- Scottish Highland Bagpipes
10:30-11:30:   Steve Brown and Hurricane Ridge- Bluegrass
11:30-12:30:   The Red Wellies – Celtic
12:30- 1:30     The Grassabillies – Rockabilly
1:30-2:30:       Roan Mountain Hilltoppers- Old Time
2:30- 3:30:      Grass Pistols – Russian Bluegrass
3:30-4:30:       Rough Edges- Bluegrass
4:30-5:00:       Hot Mountain Caravan- Americana/Folk/Roots

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30
FIRST TENNESSEE STAGE
11-12:           The Dulcimer Guys- Hammer and Mountain Dulcimers
12-1:             Earl and Pearl- Old-Time
1-2:               Harmony Strings- Traditional Country and Gospel
2-3:               Hall Family and Friends- Traditional ‘Shape-note’ Singing
3-4:               The Dulcimer Guys- Hammer and Mountain Dulcimers
4-5:               Clinch Valley Bluegrass- Bluegrass

ORNL GAZEBO STAGE
11:30-12:30    The Katts - Americana
12:30-1:30      The Dulcimer Guys- Hammer and Mountain Dulcimers
1:30-2:30        Earl and Pearl- Old Time
2:30-3:30        Clinch Valley Bluegrass- Bluegrass
3:30-4:30        Harmony Strings- Country and Gospel
4:30-5:00        The Dulcimer Guys- Hammer and Mountain Dulcimers

Rose Center Summer Players 20th Annual Show - One Weekend Only!

Them that takes cakes
Which the Parsee-man bakes
Makes dreadful mistakes
(And there is a great deal more in that than you would think.)

One week away and for one weekend only! The Rose Center Summer Players 20th Annual production offers a collection of the best of the "Just So Stories" by Rudyard Kipling ("The Jungle Book") next weekend, and the cast, and their parents, are working non-stop to put all the elements together for an excellent show.

(Translation: "all the elements" means: sets, costumes, original live music, lights, sound, rehearsals, and more rehearsals!)

Tickets are only $5, all performances are in the Perk Prater Hall at Rose Center starting Friday July 29th at 7 pm, Saturday July 30th at 2 pm and 7 pm and Sunday July 31 at 2 pm. If you'd like more information, or wish to help support the program, call Rose Center at 423-581-4330.

The cast includes:

Emma Harris - Judith
Carli Rick - Amanda
Graham Christophel - The Parsee, The Python, The First Man
Marissa Horton - Dog, Kangaroo, Giraffe, Wild Horse
Madison Lamb - Horse, Dingo, Baboon, The Cat
Georgi Lamb - Ostrich, The Baby
Madi Phillips - Camel, Little Nqa, Kolokolo Bird, Wild Dog
Skyler Plasencia - The Man, The Elephant's Child, The Bat
Page Winstead - The Djinn, Nqong, The Crocodile, The First Woman
Elizabeth Young - The Ox, The Rhinoceros, Nquing, The Hippo, The Cow

Musicians -
Freya Cartwright
Anna Helms
Matisse Rick
Sarah Roper

'Just So Stories' Opens As Rose Center's 20th Summer Players Show

I have the best summers, thanks to Rose Center in Morristown and their annual theatrical education program, the Summer Players. Next weekend the program marks it's 20th year with the production of Rudyard Kipling's classic collection of children's stories, the "Just So Stories."

This year marks my 4th as director of the Summer Players, and the talent of the young students - from 6th through 12th grade - has been an astonishing thing to witness and help cultivate. They are fearless, curious, adventurous creators, as they not only play the roles of characters, but create the costumes, help build the set, sell advertising - and this year, a group of four young ladies have created and arranged several songs just for this production.

Most of the cast play four to five roles as they act out all the wild and exotic animals from the imaginary and sometimes real wilderness world's of Kipling's tales - like "How The Elephant Got His Trunk" and "How The Rhinoceros Got His Skin".

As with other shows I have directed for the Summer Players, one of the reasons I picked these stories are because they are also classic works of literature, which can be mind-boggling to read and speak no matter what your age. 2012 will mark the 100th anniversary of the publication of the stories, which you can read online here.

I likewise marvel at the constant work of the parents involved too, as they fit in rehearsals, ad sales and costume-making along with all the other dozens of summer activities they already have planned. And as always, the entire staff of Rose Center works so hard to make sure the show has all it needs and the community can see what young students in the arts can accomplish (and they run programs almost all year long dedicated to that for young and old alike).

And still, for all the work that is done, the cast and myself have a most entertaining summer of laughter and worry and hope and silliness and, too, we all learn from each other and I do my best to make sure this creation is also a celebration of childhood and youth, possibility and courage.

Tickets are only $5, all performances are in the Perk Prater Hall at Rose Center starting Friday July 29th at 7 pm, Saturday July 30th at 2 pm and 7 pm and Sunday July 31 at 2 pm. If you'd like more information, or wish to help support the program by purchasing an ad in the program, call Rose Center at 423-581-4330.

The cast includes:

Emma Harris - Judith
Carli Rick - Amanda
Graham Christophel - The Parsee, The Python, The First Man
Marissa Horton - Dog, Kangaroo, Giraffe, Wild Horse
Madison Lamb - Horse, Dingo, Baboon, The Cat
Georgi Lamb - Ostrich, The Baby
Madi Phillips - Camel, Little Nqa, Kolokolo Bird, Wild Dog
Skyler Plasencia - The Man, The Elephant's Child, The Bat
Page Winstead - The Djinn, Nqong, The Crocodile, The First Woman
Elizabeth Young - The Ox, The Rhinoceros, Nquing, The Hippo, The Cow

Musicians -
Freya Cartwright
Anna Helms
Matisse Rick
Sarah Roper

'Why Is There Cheese Coming Out of Your Pants?'

(image via)

Let me slide the curtain back a wee bit on the Real Daily Life of Your Humble Narrator (that's me). For the last few weeks, I've been tackling several theatrical projects, as I do most every summer.

For many years now, I have most fortunate to work as an acting teacher for children, usually 3rd to 9th graders, for classes offered via Walters State Community College and for the local arts center in Morristown, the Rose Center. Also, I am working again as director for the annual Rose Center Summer Players production - this year, my fourth in the program, we are working on a production of Rudyard Kipling's "Just So Stories." That show opens the last weekend of July and will be held at Rose Center, and I'll be posting/promoting about this show more in the days and weeks ahead.

The downside for any readers here, however, is that such tasks often mean much less time to post here. My apologies for my absences - it takes a quality and quantity of time to create posts and such time has been difficult to obtain, as my mind has been consumed with so many lesson plans, students, scripts and much more. Still I wanted to share a few things from the last few weeks which I found hilarious fun.

In my classes we explore lots of acting styles and techniques and the kids do lots and lots of improv exercises to draw out ideas and I say with no reservations whatsoever that the kids create some truly funny (and sometimes serious) moments on the stage.As I am always nerdishly committed to acting, I've known for some time that I surely must appear to the kids as one strange and eccentric adult. So be it. Hopefully, all the goofiness I help create also includes educational aspects, but also, it's just fun for all of us.

One improv scene we work on is the Interrogation. Two students take the stage, one is a detective and the other a suspect (and there are other variations too) . The aim is to only speak in questions, and it gets insanely hard and funny. At one point this past week, a student had been told he was a "pie thief" who is accused of stealing cakes, pies, donuts, etc. As the student was being questioned about where he was, and his alibi's and such, the detective suddenly turned and pointedly asked "Why is there cheese coming out of your pants?!??!"

That line pretty much stopped the class as we all just laughed like a room of, well, kids. I have no idea where the idea for the question came from, but it surely brought us all to tears laughing.

There were several other funny scenes in the last few weeks too, in which students worked to perform as some kind of character - either one from a book, script, tv show, movie, real life, or one they invent themselves - and do a short monologue as that character. That always brings out memorable moments.

For example, one young boy performed as a CIA agent who was working undercover at a Bass Pro shop as salesman, another young girl acted as if she were a totally confused host on the Today show who had lost her script, was late to the set, and keep asking if was time for a commercial. "It's time to take a break for a commercial .... isn't it?" she asked looking at imaginary cameras and putting her finger to her ear as if she had a earphone connected to the control booth. "can we ... is it ... it's not? .... Ha- ha, just a moment folks ...we.... NOW we have ... we don't have? Ha-ha .... ummmm.... are we still on?"

Another young girl, skin all pale white, with fiery red hair, takes the stage, whips as scarf around her like a shawl and does a spot-on impersonation of actor Tyler Perry as "Madea". A few years back, a boy did a stunning 8 minute routine imitating Bill Cosby from his stand-up movie "Bill Cosby:Himself". It was a flawless impersonation. He did the scene where Cosby was talking about the chaos surround bath-time at his home, and his performance was just amazing - especially when you think that there is no script he could have memorized - he had just seen that video so many times he knew every line, every pause, every inflection - and when he was done, he calmly walked back to his seat as if nothing at all had happened.

And for this year's Rose Center show, most of cast are taking on multiple roles as they create all the wild animals from Kipling's stories - camels, elephants, snakes, horses, monkeys, and many more. In these shows, the actors also (with much parental help) create the costumes too. So many days are ahead of puzzling out how a horse walks, how an elephant uses his trunk, how to make costumes that might need to convert from a giraffe into a kangaroo. They work very hard and while I will always make time to write (either here or working to create other new stage shows) the gifts that these kids are willing to share I truly appreciate and learn from as well.

Working in the performing arts does not resolve world problems, won't reduce the national debt or stop global warming or any such 'real world' issues. Still, the growing imaginations and creativity I have been lucky enough to witness always reminds me to never underestimate what we are all capable of, if we just allow for a time and a space for creativity to flourish. It's a wonderful way to spend the summer.