Wiley and the Hairy
Man is an African-American folklore which has been passed down by generations
of storytellers. Dan Stone, the director, is an aficionado of the art of puppetry and knew this play could be done in a totally different way, using puppets, live actors and voices, along with songs. Stone stated that this is "the first play of this type and hopes to take the show on the road for future contests."
The play is a collection of scenes projected on a very large
white screen with puppets. “Puppetry is about as old and as universal as
storytelling and the two often co-exist.”
Some live actors in profile with others are paper cutouts with strings
or sticks attached to support them, projected on the big screen. The scenes are of the swampland, with marsh
grass, quicksand, and scary trees, and the inside and outside of mammy’s home.”[1]
Wiley is a young boy, living alone with his mammy (slang for
mommy) in the swamps in the South. He
has lost his pappy to the Hairy Man, an evil, conjurer man. A continuous theme
in the play is “he done got your pappy and he’s gonna get you”.
Being afraid of everything, Wiley must go into the swamp to
cut a tree and build a house for his
Dog. The Hairy Man, who believes he is
the best conjurer “in the whole southwest” (pg. 161), lives in the swamp and
wants Wiley, but the Hairy Man “cain’t stand no dogs, everybody knows that.”
(pg. 147)
Wiley, played as a puppet by Emily Smith, and read by Adrienne Barnes, helps the
audience see the little boy, along with his faithful dog, battling his fears of the Hairy Man and trying
to gain self-confidence to become a conjurer like his mammy.
Mammy, “the best conjurer woman in the whole southwest
county” (pg. 147) is played by Terra Piper and read by Elnora Palmtag. She forces her son to face his fears and the
Hairy Man in the swamp, but she is always telling her son “you can do it, Wiley”
and, along with the chorus, to “be
keerful, Wiley”.
The Hairy Man is portrayed in shadow by Taylor Hagey, a
larger than life monster, and read by Henry Winowiecki, "who truly enjoyed reading the part of the Hairy Man",with the perfect
intonations of a perfect tenor voice which inspires fear in the little children
in the audience, as they booed his voice and the character on screen.
The Chorus, played by Kim Willaman, Kassandra Morris, and
Alyssa Rimer, not only connect the audience with the action but help to move
the action along in a rhythmic style that is catchy and familiar, performing two songs, from words in the play, adapted for
the production by Dan Stone, the director.
In 1932 Franklin Delano Roosevelt decided to invent jobs to
stimulate the economy after the Great Depression. One of
his projects was the Federal Writers' Project, which paid writers to record any
folklore they could find.
“ "Wiley and the Hairy Man" was one of the many
folktales recorded then, as part of the collection from the state of Alabama.
It was written down by Donnell van De Voort, a white man, who had heard it as a
child from the family gardener. I read it in A Treasury of American Folklore, a
book edited by the head of the Federal Writers Project, William Botkin.”[2]
and published in 1972.
This version of Wiley and the Hairy Man, done by playwright
Susan Zeder, has been adapted by Dan Stone, theater director, into this
believable shadow puppet show.
The play wwas performed for students in the Greater
Albany area on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout February at Russell Tripp Theater at LBCC. The general public paid to see
performances on Saturdays, February 18th and 25th at 2 P.
M with a cost of $9 general admission, $7 for students and seniors, and $5 for
children.
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