Mountain Monologues

              Figure

Irene Bewley in Mountain Monologues
REDPATH
KIMBALL BUILDING
CHICAGO



FOREWORD
In the deep coves and on the rugged hillsides of the Southern Appalachians lives a people of the purest Anglo-Saxon blood found in America — a people whose

IRENE BEWLEY
 pioneer ancestors came from England and Scotland generations ago.  Phrases used by Chaucer and Shakespeare are heard in the conversation among the older of these natives.

Irene Bewley, herself a native of the foothills of these mountains, brings, in her mountain character portrayals, a picture of life in the Southern Appalachians.  Although many of these monologues are written from authentic folk-material from Miss Bewley's own background or from that of people she has known personally, it is not her wish to portray literally any particular character, but rather the spirit of her people as a whole.  Recognizing the rapid changes taking place in the Southern Mountains, Miss Bewley has purposely chosen to present, for the most part, the more primitive types which, because they are fast disappearing, are of great value in folk-history.




REPERTOIRE
Programs of Original Monologues Include:

TALES OF TENNESSEE HILLS
SMOKY MOUNTAINS CHARACTER SKETCHES
SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS CHARACTER PORTRAYALS





Irene Bewley as Granny

A LITERARY PIONEER
Although Miss Bewley's entire repertoire is rich in colorful folk-material, the numbers in which mountain versions of stories from the classics appear, are particularly unique.  Miss Bewley's pioneer work in such numbers as Larnin' in which an unlettered woman tells, in dialect, a story handed down by word of mouth—the story of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice—is a lasting contribution to the annals of folk-drama.


Irene Bewley as Kitty Campbell





Mr. Charles D. Atkins
Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences
Brooklyn, N. Y.

Dear Mr. Atkins:

Miss Bewley has been on the Institute program for the past three years and has drawn increasingly large audiences for her appearances.  She is very well liked, and does commendable and original work.  Please accept my sincere recommendation of her.

Sincerely yours,
George V. Denny, Columbia University, New York, N. Y.



Comments from a Mountaineer
Dear Miss Bewley:

It has been my pleasure to observe from time to time that you present your monologues to the people whence they came—your homefolks.  Having lived in the mountains all my life and having known as a citizen and as Superintendent of Schools, the people who live here I desire to thank you for your true portrayals of mountain life.  They are genuine, and I hope you come again and again.

Sincerely yours,
Kyle T. Cox, Division Superintendent of Schools, Grayson County, Virginia.



PRESS COMMENTS

The New York Times
Miss Bewley portrayed the characters artistically … with an ease and finish that stirred her audience to applause after each act and at the close of the program … Both offerings won enthusiastic applause.


Asheville (N. C.) Citizen
Irene Bewley scored a distinct triumph … So realistic are Miss Bewley's gifts that when she ceases to speak one wonders what has become of the folk that a moment before peopled the stage, and it is a shock to realize that one has been skillfully played upon by one personality.


The Age Herald (Birmingham, Ala.)
She portrayed the nine characters in such a manner that one felt they were living personalities.


Daily News, St. John's (Newfoundland)
One seemed to be listening to a stage full of actors and the platform itself became the gay Parisian ballroom or the lonely farm house in North Carolina.


The Dallas (Texas) News
For two hours Irene Bewley held her audience in a spell of enchantment.  With only a chair as props, she created the atmosphere of a cabin room with its wooden shutter for a window, the crude household furnishings and the gun resting on its pegs.


The Christian Science Monitor (Boston)
One listener was so struck with Miss Bewley's skill in differentiating characters mentally, vocally and physically, keeping every detail in its due place as servant, that he welcomed an opportunity to talk with her about her work.


Albuquerque (New Mexico) Journal
Irene Bewley in her presentation of Tales of Tennessee Hills at the University, delighted an audience of a thousand people … She brings before her audience the mountaineer who is just like other folk—just as good—just as bad, and just as progressive and yet with the picturesque quality given him by his years of an environment peculiarly his own.


The Tennessean (Nashville, Tenn.)
She proceeded to reproduce characters on the stage with such fidelity and such genuine humanness that she led her listeners with her into the hearts and minds of the people from which she came.


Portland (Maine) Herald-Press
Miss Bewley gave to her portrayals characteristics that made them real people.