Press Releases

Following are various press releases for Roadside Theater. Please copy and modify to suit your needs. If you prefer, the press releases can also be downloaded as a MS Word file for use in your word processor.

• General Press Release
• Music from Home Press Release
• Mountain Tales & Music Press Release
• Zuni Meets Appalachia Press Release
• Promise of a Love Song Press Release and Possible Sidebar

GENERAL PRESS RELEASE
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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT _______________________

PHONE _________________________

EMAIL _________________________

TRAVELING APPALACHIAN THEATER TROUPE TO PERFORM

Roadside Theater from the Appalachian Mountain towns of Whitesburg, Ky. and Norton, Va. will perform its play _____ [NAME OF PLAY] _____ on___ [DATE/TIME] ___ at____ [PERFORMANCE LOCATION] ______. The performance is sponsored by ___ [ORGANIZATION] ____ and tickets are available ____ [TICKET INFORMATION] ____.

Roadside Theater draws the content and style of its original productions from the history and culture of its mountain home where its performers and writers were born, grew up, and remain. While modern-day Appalachian backyards display satellite dishes bringing in all that is available in mainstream media programming, there is also a living tradition of local music, oral history, storytelling, and dramatic church services.

Central Appalachia was originally inhabited by the Cherokee Indians. After the forced march west of southeastern Indians (the Trail of Tears) in l833, the region was resettled by Irish, Scottish, and English immigrants and the Cherokee (many of them children) who had hidden in the mountains.

When Cecil Sharpe, a noted British collector of folk songs, came to America around the turn of the century, he found that this region had maintained a closer contact with the European traditions than the European countries themselves. This was true of ballads and other musical forms as well as the tradition of storytelling. When African American people arrived in the region beginning in the l800's, they added African stories and music (the banjo, for example) to these traditions.

As much a part of Roadside Theater's work as its heritage of music and storytelling is the recent history of central Appalachia. For the past 65 years, the region's economy has relied on a single industry, coal, that has regularly undergone a cycle of boom and bust. This industry is largely controlled by absentee corporations which own much of the land and nearly all of the mineral rights.

Many of these corporations are multi-national, and they are also mining their coal in countries like Columbia, South America, and South Africa. The abundance of third world coal and cheap labor, coupled with the trend of mining mechanization, has resulted in high unemployment in central Appalachia's mines.

Officially the unemployment rate in the region's coal counties is around 11 percent, but the actual level of unemployment is estimated to be closer to 45 percent. As much as 30 percent of family incomes in many counties are below the poverty level, and the region's schools, lacking a strong tax base, are among the poorest in the nation. As a result of the region's unsteady coal economy, there is a history of the most educated and motivated young people moving away. This situation is not unlike that of many industrial cities and rural areas in the United States.

Although presently the economy of the coalfields is depressed, the culture remains resilient. Roadside Theater believes that by affirming and celebrating its Appalachian culture and by documenting its region's history, it can help address the economic and social problems brought on by the inescapable change of modern times. The Los Angeles Times said of the theater, "There was nothing watered down about Roadside Theater. They swept into their unlikely performance space like a blast of fresh mountain air."

Roadside Theater is one part of Appalshop, the nonprofit arts and education organization which also includes Appalshop Film & Video, Appalachian Media Institute, Holler to the Hood, Traditional Music Project, June Appal Recordings, Appalshop Marketing and Sales, the Learning Center, Appalshop Archive, and WMMT-FM Community Radio.

Roadside Theater is funded in part by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Wallace Foundation, Artography: Arts in a Changing America/Leveraging Investments in Creativity/Ford Foundation, Theatre Communications Group, the Multi-Arts Production Fund, the Shubert Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kentucky Arts Council, Altria Group, Inc., the Paul Green Foundation, the Appalshop Production and Education Fund, and Alternate ROOTS

Roadside Theater is a member of Alternate ROOTS, the Global Network for Cultural Rights, Community Arts Network, Network of Ensemble Theaters, and Theatre Communications Group.

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MUSIC FROM HOME PRESS RELEASE
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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT_______________________

TELEPHONE_______________________

ROADSIDE THEATER TO PERFORM MUSIC FROM HOME

On ___ [DATE & TIME] ___ , ____ [SPONSORING ORGANIZATION] ___ will present Roadside Theater’s exciting musical performance, Music from Home, at __ [VENUE] __. For more information and tickets call____ [TELEPHONE] ____.

Music from Home is written and performed by Ron Short, veteran member of Roadside Theater from the mountains of Whitesburg, Ky. For the past 28 years, Roadside has been touring its original plays across the United States and abroad.

Music from Home, the company’s newest production, features powerful vocal renditions of original songs — sometimes sung a cappella; sometimes accompanied by banjo, guitar, fiddle, and accordion; always inspired by the Appalachian Mountain traditions in which the author/composer was born and raised.

Woven through the musical score is a narrative of plain spoken poems and biting commentary about life and love. Short’s generous performance, versatile musicianship, and soaring voice combine with a compelling script to make Music from Home a surprising evening of live performance that is musically fresh, entertaining, and, finally, moving.

Appalachian music isn’t as homogeneous as some would have us believe. Based on Scots-Irish ballads and fiddle tunes, mountain music was changed and molded by generations of eastern and southern European immigrants and African Americans who came to the mountains in the 20^th century looking for work in the coalmines.

And in the second half of the century, radio brought every kind of music imaginable into the mountains.

Short absorbed it all — the slide guitar phrasings of Mississippi blues; the power of a cappella Old Regular Baptist, lined-out hymns; the spirit of the conjunto sounds of Texas; the youthful energy of rock ‘n roll; and the timelessness of the Scots-Irish fiddle tunes and frailed banjo styles of central Appalachia.

Ron Short has recorded four albums of music and story (Wings to Fly, Cities of Gold, Singing, and Mountain Tales and Music), but it is in live performance that his skills and experience shine.

Roadside Theater is an ensemble theater company located in the heart of the Appalachian Mountain coalfields of rural eastern Kentucky. Since 1975 the company has been writing, staging, and touring original plays drawn from the rich history and culture of its mountain home.

Roadside is one part of Appalshop, the arts and education center in Whitesburg, Kentucky. For 34 years, Appalshop has been celebrating Appalachian life in film, radio, audio recordings, and theater.

Roadside has toured in 43 states, has been in residence a number of times off-Broadway, and has represented the United States at more than half-a-dozen international theater festivals, including in Sweden, Denmark, London, and the Czech Republic.

Roadside Theater is funded in part by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Wallace Foundation, Artography: Arts in a Changing America/Leveraging Investments in Creativity/Ford Foundation, Theatre Communications Group, the Multi-Arts Production Fund, the Shubert Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kentucky Arts Council, Altria Group, Inc., the Paul Green Foundation, the Appalshop Production and Education Fund, and Alternate ROOTS

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MOUNTAIN TALES AND MUSIC
PRESS RELEASE
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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT_______________________

TELEPHONE_______________________

ROADSIDE THEATER TO PERFORM MOUNTAIN TALES & MUSIC

Roadside Theater from Whitesburg, Kentucky and Norton, Virginia will be coming to __ [CITY] __ on __ [DATE] __ with Mountain Tales & Music. The performance will be at the___ [PERFORMANCE LOCATION] ___ beginning at __ [TIME] ___ , and is sponsored by___ [ORGANIZATION] ____.

Based on oral folk tales and songs which have been passed down from generation to generation in the central Appalachian Mountains, Mountain Tales & Music is a look at the region through the eyes of those who settled there.

Roadside Theater's performers all grew up in the Appalachian Mountains and learned the tales and the songs they sing directly from older people around their home. The ensemble company attempts to present them with all their vital quality. For everyone who enjoys stories and storytelling, Roadside provides an accessible source to part of America's cultural heritage.

The Louisville Courier-Journal said of Roadside Theater, "The performers sang, spun yarns, and kept up such a quick pace that it was impossible not to stay fascinated."

Roadside Theater is an ensemble company. Since l975 they have been developing plays from the rich history and culture of their home in the central Appalachian Mountains. They have toured their unique style of theater to the coal camps and small communities around their home, and to communities of all sizes throughout the United States.

They have performed at Lincoln Center, been in residence a number of times off-Broadway in New York City, performed at the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife in Washington, D.C., and have had the privilege to represent the United States at international theater festivals in the Czech Republic, Sweden, Denmark, and London.

Roadside Theater is one part of Appalshop, the nonprofit arts and educational organization which also houses Appalshop Film and Video, Appalachian Media Institute, Holler to the Hood, Traditional Music Project, June Appal Recording, Appalshop Marketing and Sales, the Learning Center, Appalshop Archive, and WMMT-FM Community Radio.

Roadside Theater is funded in part by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Wallace Foundation, Artography: Arts in a Changing America/Leveraging Investments in Creativity/Ford Foundation, Theatre Communications Group, the Multi-Arts Production Fund, the Shubert Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kentucky Arts Council, Altria Group, Inc., the Paul Green Foundation, the Appalshop Production and Education Fund, and Alternate ROOTS

For information and tickets call __________________________.

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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT _____________________

PHONE: _______________________

EMAIL: _______________________

ZUNI MEETS APPALACHIA TO BE PERFORMED

On ___[DATE & TIME]____ at ____[PERFORMANCE LOCATION]____ the ___[ORGANIZATION]___ will present Zuni Meets Appalachia, a lively performance of stories and music from two unique traditions - Native American and Appalachian Mountain. The performance features Idiwanan An Chawe, a Zuni language theater from the Pueblo of Zuni in New Mexico, and Roadside Theater from the coalfields of eastern Kentucky.

Offering something for every member of the family, Zuni Meets Appalachia is an authentic and often humorous weave of traditional Zuni drumming, singing, and storytelling with Appalachian tale telling and singing accompanied by fiddle, guitar, and banjo.

Expect to hear tales of the Hairy Woman and Wewaba: Lana (Big Foot) and songs older than America. The performers will not only speak of the time in Zuni and Appalachia when everyday life followed more closely the rhythms of planting and the seasons, but also of the contemporary.

The performance celebrates the publication of Journeys Home: Revealing a Zuni-Appalachia Collaboration, a 112 page bilingual book with accompanying compact disc that probes and documents the unusual sixteen-year collaboration between traditional Zuni and Appalachian artists. Journeys Home is available through the University of New Mexico Press (www.unmpress.com).

The collaboration between Pueblo Zuni and Appalachia began informally in 1984, when Roadside Theater performed its Appalachian music and archetypal tales in the Zuni public school For the next sixteen years Zuni and Roadside artists traveled back and forth, living in each other's communities, conducting workshops, and performing - all by way of exploring differences and similarities. In 1995, Idiwanan An Chawe was created, and the two theater companies began writing plays together.

Idiwanan An Chawe is the first Zuni-language theater company, and its name translates as Children of the Middle Place, which is another name for the A:shiwi (Zuni) people. Idiwanan An Chawe was created to perpetuate Shiwi'ma Bena:we (the Zuni language) and the A:shiwi storytelling tradition. Tribally sponsored, Idiwanan An Chawe relies on the knowledge of community elders and is especially concerned with providing opportunities for Zuni youth to participate. All of the company's plays are about its place, and often confront issues swirling around the health and care of the Zuni reservation.

Roadside Theater's home is in the Appalachian Mountain coalfields of eastern Kentucky and southwest Virginia. Since 1975, Roadside (a part of Appalshop) has been creating plays from its ensemble members' traditions of storytelling, balladry, oral histories, and dramatic church services - all of which live and breathe in a rich mountain dialect. When Cecil Sharpe, a noted British collector of folk songs, came to America at the turn of the twentieth century, he found that Appalachia had maintained a closer contact with the folk traditions of the British Isles than the islands themselves.

In addition to performing at home for its audience of coalminers and farmers, preachers and teachers, the employed and the unemployed, and everyone's extended family, Roadside tours nationally and sometimes internationally. In New York City, the theater company has performed at the Manhattan Theatre Club and Dance Theater Workshop, as well as Lincoln Center.

With a 900-year cultural legacy, the Zuni of New Mexico are one of the most traditional tribes in the U.S., and their artists presently represent a high mark in North American artistic excellence. Today, the A:shiwi people number around 10,000, and their lands adjoin those of the Navajo and Hopi. Within the presence of their sacred mesa, Dowa Yalanne (Corn Mountain), their traditional dances, drumming, singing, stories, paintings, and crafts continue to be made new in a calendar of tribal and religious events that follows the seasons.

For ticket information, contact _______________.

PROMISE OF A LOVE SONG
PRESS RELEASE
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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT _______________________

PHONE _________________________

EMAIL _________________________

THEATERS FROM THREE TRADITIONS BRING PROMISE OF A LOVE SONG TO AREA

Three seemingly diverse cultures have joined forces to bring Promise of a Love Song to

____ [CITY] ___ on ____ [DATE] ____ at ______ [PERFORMANCE LOCATION] _____. The play begins at ___ [TIME] ____, and is sponsored by__ [ORGANIZATION] ___.

Promise of a Love Song is a product of the Exchange Project, a collaborative project of three nationally acclaimed theater companies: Junebug Productions, an African American theater company of New Orleans, La.; Teatro Pregones, a Puerto Rican theater ensemble of the Bronx, N.Y.; and Roadside Theater, an Appalachian theater from Whitesburg, Ky. Promise of a Love Song was developed out of a four-year exchange among the artists of the three companies and their home communities.

Promise of a Love Song is a play about love. Three potent love stories emerge as these accomplished actors create vivid characters to tell stories unique to their own cultural experiences. Taken together, these poignant, funny, and intimate moments, create a weaving with its own tale to tell about diversity.

Musicians from the three traditions also meet on stage to discover how rhythms and music illuminate the strengths, struggles, similarities, and differences of these cultures. Their musical collaboration tells these love stories with harmonies and rhythms that touch our souls.

Promise of a Love Song brings us three strong, diverse, powerful cultural love stories and, in so doing, deepens our understanding of the struggles and joys of the people in there tales. It is a musical play that reaches a magical point of communication, mutual respect and understanding.

The artists and collaborators will also be offering residency activities __ [LOCATION] ___ and a performance for children and families entitled Tales and Music/Mucica Y Fabulas at _________ [LOCATION] _____ on ___ [TIME AND DATE] ______.

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Possible Sidebar for Promise of a Love Song

STORY BEHIND THE CREATIVE PROCESS OF PROMISE OF A LOVE SONG

Promise of a Love Song is born out of ambition. To connect otherwise isolated cultures and bring them face-to-face in the making of art; to encourage artists with very different experiences and aesthetics to compare notes and pool their creative resources; to then stage and tour a play relevant to each community and of vital interest to the nation at large.

Conceived back in 1995, the Exchange Project initially saw Junebug, Roadside, and Pregones theaters traveling in a round-robin fashion to introduce themselves and their works to each other's communities. Artists met with the community in workshops, story circles, and music jam sessions; they were presented at local arts centers and schools; they joined their audiences in informal discussion and celebration. Each time, they were greeted in home-style, enjoying the best home cooking and the stories that are best heard around it. The performance stage was clearly but one of many spaces where the Exchange Project would develop.

Following the excitement of the initial two-year exchange, a joint production was proposed in 1997. At first, the artists entertained disparate ideas of what their play could be — folk music revue, history lesson, multicultural cabaret. . . . But, within the year, one proposal, said to have come to an ensemble member in a dream, won everyone over: love stories, a musical play. Everyone agreed that love and music would best capture their exchange, all about cultures and styles and the ties that bind.

The three companies started playing off each other's ideas, talking about family, about politics, about food, about what's funny and what's not; arguing over right and wrong, on and off the page. The dialogue extended to the stage, with each company playing their music, dancing along, or else, engaged in debate over what's Blue about the Blue's, whether Delta, Bluegrass and Bolero have anything in common. Oh, they fought sometimes, and disagreed, and sometimes agreed to disagree. They quarreled like lovers. Mostly , they worked, each and everyone, overtime and without losing track of that one promise of a promise.

It's a fitting reminder to say that collaborations are trials of the soul. And if that's what it takes to build community, then there's no greater challenge than to keep the promise of a love song.

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