If you get an actor who can't do that, you've got one who's in trouble, one who doesn't have the vocal strength or the physical presence. "It's a style that works for those theaters. "The technique on those shows, in big amphitheaters, tends to be exaggerated, very stylized," he says. "It's a great training ground for people beginning their careers in professional theater because it requires great discipline to maintain a part for 2 1/2 months." That's a sentiment echoed by Ben Jones, TV and movie actor (and former Georgia congressman) who early in his career performed in two outdoor dramas about the forced removal of Native Americans from their land, "Unto These Hills" in Cherokee, N.C., and "The Trail of Tears" in Tahlequah, Okla. "Outdoor dramas have been called the crossover place where pure professional theater and pure amateur theater merge," says Parker. Each year they also help create another generation of actors. "Some of the larger outdoor dramas can have an economic impact on their communities and on their states of $20 to $25 million per year." The impact of outdoor drama isn't only on the community's coffers. ![]() "Our research indicates that the average outdoor drama audience member spends $70 per day in the communities that they visit," says Parker. outdoor dramas are a $500-million-per-year component of the travel and tourism industry. They may play to more than 100,000 people each summer. The big dramas have budgets approaching $2 million and can employ up to 200 people, often housing them in their own apartment complexes. Says Parker, "People will attend these plays like they're taking a pilgrimage, to watch a story on hallowed ground." While some shows are low-budget productions surviving mostly on community pride, many are professional operations that for three months every year transform the towns they're in, as cast and crew descend to mount that season's show. encountered in Big Stone Gap in far southwestern Virginia. The fictitious love story "Trail of the Lonesome Pine" - mining engineer from the big city meets a free-spirited backwoods girl - is based on people whom early 20th-century writer John Fox Jr. Va., it's the story of a band of Confederate soldiers who harassed Union forces in West Virginia during the Civil War. At "McNeill's Rangers" near Burlington, W. At "Stonewall Country" in Lexington, Va., it's the life and times of Confederate Gen. It's not like producing Hello, Dolly' outdoors." For "The Long Way Home" at Radford, Va., the significant event is the amazing adventure of Mary Draper Ingles, who was captured by Indians in 1755 and escaped to warn settlers of an impending attack. And they're produced right at the site where the events occurred. These plays are about some significant event in the life of a community. ![]() Parker, director of the Institute of Outdoor Drama, calls such creations, "an American phenomenon and a unique form of theater. When the curtain rises, human stars take the stage to fill the summer evening with dancing, singing and drama. Insects begin dancing around the outdoor lights and crickets start their nightly chorus. Each is different, but all fit a pattern: After sunset, a few bright stars appear through the dusk. According to the Institute of Outdoor Drama at the University of North Carolina, more than 160 different outdoor dramas will be staged at 101 amphitheaters across the country this summer, from historical dramas to Shakespeare plays to religious pageants. And they often do it in an unusual way, with interesting outdoor settings, pyrotechnics or live animals. With names like "Stonewall Country," "The Long Walk Home," "Unto These Hills" and "The Hatfields and McCoys," these pageants celebrate the trials and tribulations of Americans both ordinary and extraordinary. It's not the twilight sound of crickets, but the strains of outdoor drama, a form of entertainment that exists at the crossroads of theater and history. ![]() Historic Sheet Music west on a warm summer night and you may discover music flowing from the dark green mountains. Macdonald, Ballard and Carroll, Harry, "Trail of The Lonesome Pine" (1913). I can hear the tinkling waterfall, far among the hills, Where she carved her name and I carved mine In the pale moonshine our hearts entwine, On a mountain in Virginia stand a lonesome pine, The items are part of the historical record, and do not represent the views of the library or the institution. Such materials should be seen in the context of the time period and as a reflection of attitudes of the time. Some of these resources may contain offensive language or negative stereotypes. Source: /sheetmusic/1227Īdditional sheet music at: /sheetmusic
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