Theatre Bristol debuts “The Mockingbird Sings” on its ARTspace Stage Sept. 7 and 11, bookending the 2023 Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion Festival with a special presentation of this Bristol recording sessions story with a Bristol-area cast. Tickets are on sale for this limited engagement staged reading and live music presentation at www.theatrebristol.org/tickets.
“The Mockingbird Sings” weaves a story of love and the history of country music leading up to the recordings and discoveries of Jimmie Rodgers, Pops Stoneman, The Carter Family and many others. “The Mockingbird Sings” was written by Dr. Nancy Hamblen Acuff, Terry Harkleroad and Sharon Cort.
Our Eddie Snow, played by Kendall Johnson, is at a crossroads, influenced by generations of music through his grandmother Eula Mae Broome, played by Kim Lundin. The wishes of his mother, Lucy Snow played by Sarah Maxfield, come up against the time he’d rather spend playing music with friends Royal Campbell played by Zaiah Gray, and Royal’s friends played by Reece Hilt and Lily James Wright, and Arlee McKerr played by John Snyder.
King University college student Mary Martha, played by Mary Ellis Rice, tires of Ray English, played by David Maloney, and falls for “our Eddie,” as narrator Martha Hawk calls him. With Mary Martha, Eddie finds his courage and ventures out to WOPI radio with announcer Troy, played by Steve Baskett, on to the Bristol recording sessions and all the way to the Grand Ole Opry. Along the journey, Eddie gets schooled in the blues by the train porter Toney played by Freddy Heath and inspired by an Old Codger played by Richard Albright.
Ralph Peer, played by Dan Gray, and Monique Peer, played by Baleigh McKeehan, travel to Bristol to record the music of Pops Stoneman played by Mitch Wright with Stoneman children Amalia Hubbard and Ella Harper, Jimmie Rodgers played by Richard Albright, the Carter family with Mary Munsey as Maybelle, Martha Hawk as Sara, and Tony DeVault as A.P., and one Eddie Snow. In a featured role, CanJoe John is played by CanJoe John.
“The Mockingbird Sings” band includes music director Mary Munsey on guitar and mandolin, Barbara Walton on upright bass, Gert King and Bill Dayton on clawhammer banjo, Chloe Campbell and Jim King on fiddle, Martha Hawk on autoharp, and John Snyder, Kendall Johnson and Richard Albright on guitar.
Directing “The Mockingbird Sings” is Steve Baskett, with recent directing credits for “She Loves Me” and “The Adventures of Robin Hood.” Theatre Bristol executive director Samantha Gray is the producer, and Munsey is the music director and musician. They are supported by stage managers Bethaney Hilt and Reece Hilt, musician and casting advisor Kim Lundin, tech director Albert Tester and technician Cooper Knapp.
“The Mockingbird Sings” is on the ARTspace stage Thursday, Sept. 7 at 7:30 p.m. and Monday, Sept. 11 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for seniors and students, and are available at www.theatrebristol.org/tickets.
Founded in 1965 by Cathy DeCaterina, Theatre Bristol is a community theater serving all ages that also has the distinction as the oldest continually running children’s theater in Northeast Tennessee. Located on historic State Street in Bristol, it also serves Southwest Virginia. Its Main Stage season consists of drama, comedy and musical productions that take place in the 100-seat blackbox ARTspace and at the Paramount Center for the Arts. Theatre Bristol is a volunteer-operated community organization.
For more information, visit www.theatrebristol.org, follow TheatreBristolTN on Facebook, call 423-212-3625, or email info@theatrebristol.org.
