Barter Theatre (Cont.)
From English Butler
to Irish Burglar to Italian Seaman,
and on to Kentucky Mountain Boy and Old Man Dill in "East Lynne"
Screen 1 of 1

After presenting this murder mystery ("Caught Wet" by Rachel Crothers) in Abingdon for two successive nights, we took it "on tour" for the remainder of the week. Our circuit usually included one-night stands at several towns in the immediate area: Damascus and Wytheville in Virginia. Johnson City and Bristol in Tennessee; Blowing Rock, North Carolina; and Big Stone Gap in Kentucky. Since all these places were within a hundred miles of Abingdon, we could drive to anyone of them during the afternoon, put on the play early in the evening, and return to our headquarters that same night after the show.

Our regular routine during week days was to rehearse for several hours each morning. These rehearsals were always for the play to be given the following week. Then after lunch we would load our makeshift truck with scenery made in the company's carpentry shop, electrical equipment, stage props, and costumes to be used in the play being presented that week. Sometime between one and three o'clock --depending upon the distance to our destination --the truck, driven by a member of the company, would leave for the town we were to play that evening. And soon afterward, one or two additional members and an electrician would follow in a passenger car to help prepare the stage.

Even though the Barter company employed two technicians, all of us were expected to help from time to time with whatever needed to be done -- building and painting scenery, driving the truck, loading and unloading it, and setting up the stage before the play, as well as dismantling everything after the show, and getting the scenery and equipment onto the truck again and back to Abingdon later in the night. There were no union contracts and no stipulations about what we could and could not do. The Barter Theatre was a cooperative enterprise, and very few of us ever complained about what had to be done. Everyone there -- including the experienced actors and actresses -- was so glad to have a job which at least guaranteed room and board in an attractive setting that they were willing to help with almost anything. By and large, we were a happy theatrical family, in spite of the many demanding responsibilities we had.

Later in the afternoon of each week day, the actors and actresses having parts in that night's play, as well as Mr. Abbot and Mr. Porterfield, would eat an early supper in our college dining room before leaving in two or three additional automobiles. On one trip we rented a van to transport this group, but that arrangement was not very successful, and so we did not try it again.

At the end of my first week as the English butler in "Caught Wet," Mr. Abbot informed me -- with much pleasure, he said -- that Mr. Porterfield had approved his recommendation that I become a regular member of the Barter Theatre Company for the remainder of the season. I was delighted and very appreciative of what they had done and said as much to both of them. Mr. Abbot made it clear, however, that my acting assignments would be limited to minor character roles. Saying that to me was just like Brer Fox telling Brer Rabbit he was going to throw him into the briar patch as recounted in Joel Chandler Harris' Uncle Remus Stories. The briar patch was where Brer Rabbit most wanted to be.

Playing character roles was exactly what I wanted to do. It was also what I could do best. Since early boyhood, I had entertained and sometimes aggravated my family and friends by mimicking others and by telling stories in all sorts of dialects: Negro, Italian, Irish, German, and country-bumpkin. So, to be asked -- or even to be told -- to do "minor" character roles in the Barter plays yet to be staged was good news for me. I could not have been happier with any other assignment. A chance to continue on the stage alongside the highly talented members of this great Barter Theatre Company was all I wanted at that time, and I was determined to make the best of the opportunity.

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