Nick Piper
“I always thought life was like a train ride. It may take you to places you’ve seen all your life, or it may take you to places you never dreamed you’d visit. But one thing is certain; no matter where the train takes you, sooner or later the trip will end. So, the question is, the man who gets off at the last stop, is he a good man?” — Johnny Cash
One of the highlights of Barter Theatre’s spring season is the Johnny Cash musical, “Ring of Fire, running through May 11. Through his eyes and music, legendary country singer and songwriter Cash teaches us that life is a journey. And wants us to ask ourselves - at the end of that journey, how did you live your life?
Known and revered as “The Man in Black,” Cash became a country legend – with an instinct and knack for musical storytelling. Cash’s inspirational journey led him to the mountains of Appalachia, where he found not only a richer soil to grow his music, but also love and healing.
Barter Theatre’s Associate Director of New Play Development, Nick Piper, specializes in creating theater that is real and relatable – which is one reason he is excited to be directing “Ring of Fire” on the Gilliam Stage this spring.
“What’s exciting about doing something like ‘Ring of Fire’ is that in a few weeks, we will come together as a band and come together with the sound. And playing music together is about as collaborative a thing as you can do,” Piper said. “It takes listening and patience, and singing a song is very personal. It feels like all that fuels the storytelling of a show. Music is such a foundational part of Appalachian culture that it’s another way our audience connects with us.
Particularly when you’re telling the story of Johnny and June Carter Cash – people have their own personal connection with the music.”
The intimacy of the art form of theater becomes somewhat even more intimate with a story so woven into the roots of Appalachia as that of Johnny and June Cash. Piper added that by doing so, you are not only asking an audience to recognize themselves in a story, but to emotionally connect to music that they may have grown up on such as “Folsom Blues” or “Ring of Fire” itself.
Appalachians have been exposed to the music and story of Cash since they were old enough to sing the songs along with him, and Piper explains that it is that music and spirit coming together that strengthens our connectivity to the region and each other.
“When an audience comes to see a show, whatever show that is, they want to be transported, they want to be drawn in and taken on a journey. Nothing transports people like music does,” Piper explains. “When you hear a song you’ve heard a thousand times before, you’re connected to it – you don’t even have to work at it. It automatically connects you to a certain moment of your life. Then, when you see how that song is connected to the story, it provokes emotion. Whether that emotion is laughter or tears, you’re mixing your own story and your own connection with the story that’s being told. And I think that’s something that’s pretty powerful.
“There’s nothing that’s really being asked of the audience so much as just to be open to the journey. For a show like “Ring of Fire,” it has an expectation of, I’m going to hear Johnny Cash’s music – so it delivers on that. But I think that what’s neat about this, is it’s his story told through his music,” Piper said. “We want to capture the essence of Johnny and not the essence of Broadway. One of the things that is important to our audience is the authenticity of the sound of the music.”
Cash used his music to also focus on the idea of moving forward and returning home. Strewn along the tracks of his songs, Cash uses the image of a train as a euphemism and metaphor for life itself. In “Folsom Blues,” Cash sings, “I hear the train a-comin,’ it’s rolling ‘round the bend.” In “Casey Jones” the lyrics state, “Trouble ahead. A lady in red. Take my advice, you’d be better off dead. Switchman sleeping, train hundred and two is on the wrong track and headed for you.” He even has a song called “Waiting for a Train.”
Much like Barter and its ability to share stories such as Cash’s throughout and beyond Appalachia, Cash explains that the nature of a train is to return home to where it started. Though it may be used to take you away to other places, some part of it will always return where it began.
It’s this love for his music, stories and spirit that brings a draw to Appalachians across the nation. Whether they have lived here their entire lives, or if they followed their roots back home like a roadmap, Cash proves we are all connected in our own “Ring of Fire,” a burning desire to connect, not only with each other, but with the mountains and places we all call home.
For tickets to see “Ring of Fire” at the Barter or at The Carter Fold, visit www.bartertheatre.com.
