The Carpetbag Theatre, Inc.
Dark Cowgirls and Prairie Queens Sampler - The Carpetbag Theatre, Inc.
Thank you for watching this production sampler of Dark Cowgirls and Prairie Queens, an original work of Carpetbag Theatre, Inc.. This 2018 production at the University of Tennessee Carousel Theatre was made possible by the Roy Cockrum Foundation.
ABOUT DARK COWGIRLS AND PRAIRIE QUEENS
Dark Cowgirls and Prairie Queens is the story of a little known facet of American History. Filled with vivid images, captivating stories and harmonious song, “Cowgirls brings to life seven of the most colorful Black women to emerge from the American West. The play is an imaginative dramatization of the lives of Mary Fields (Black Mary), Biddy Mason (Grandma Mason), sculptress Edmonia Lewis (Little Wildfire), Mary Ellen Pleasant (Mammy Pleasant) of underground railroad fame, and Julia Boulette (fondly remembered as the Queen of Virginia City).
This production is part of an original series that has been funded by the Roy Cockrum Foundation in celebration of our 50th Anniversary in 2019; a foundation which enables theaters to reach beyond their normal scope of activities and undertake ambitious and creative productions.
This play has been presented in many venues throughout its 35 year history, including the New Victory Theater, a Broadway theater. It was featured at the closing of the Free Southern Theatre (1963 - 1985) in New Orleans, Louisiana and the beginning of the first National Black Theater Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Dark Cowgirls has roots at the Alternate ROOTS Festival in Atlanta, Georgia and its story still lives in communities from Mississippi to California, and from Massachusetts to Florida. It has been performed for women (at the Women in Theater Festival in Boston and the Foot of the Mountain in Minneapolis) and men (the Black Cowboys of Northern Alabama and Northern California). Dark Cowgirls owes its longevity to the many small stubborn sponsors who believed that it was important to tell stories of empowerment and to celebrate the forgotten lives of Black women.
“The production is well written in conversational down-home language, and well acted in storytelling style...It’s as if a touring history pageant had come to the local school and the players turned out to be amazingly talented...The stomping dance to ‘Did You Feed My Cow?’ brings to mind the best aprts of ‘Bring In da Noise, Bring In da Funk.”
- Anita Gaines, The New York Times
ABOUT THE CARPETBAG THEATRE, INC.
The Carpetbag Theatre, Inc. was founded in 1969 and chartered in 1970. We are a Knoxville-based professional, multi-generational ensemble company dedicated to the production of new works. We work in partnership with community artists, activists, cultural workers, storytellers, and leaders to create original, theatrical works. Our mission is to give artistic voice to the issues and dreams of people who have been silenced by racism, classism, sexism, ageism, homophobia and other forms of oppression.
Our artistic vision is rooted in the practice of revealing, reframing, and reclaiming the hidden stories of our communities. We begin by listening deeply to the each other's narrative. We believe that this process is what reveals the beauty of our collective experiences. Listening to each other deeply creates space for us each to embrace the hardest parts of our stories while leaning into the freedom of healing in spite of them. We believe that this process also has the power to reframe our experiences and provide the kinds of healing it takes to release us from strongholds that have held us hostage over time.
