BETSY! - The Appalachian-Puerto Rican Musical
BETSY! tells the story of a Bronx jazz singer forced to confront her twin Spanish Caribbean and Scotch-Irish roots. Her dilemma stirs up the ghosts of six generations of American women, and musical currents spanning four continents.
BETSY! premiered April 9-26, 2015, at the Pregones Theater/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in Manhattan (304 W. 47th Street).
- intercultural dialogue
- music
- original play
About: BETSY!
The Musical
BETSY! tells the story of a Bronx jazz singer forced to confront her twin Spanish Caribbean and Scotch-Irish roots. Her dilemma stirs up the ghosts of six generations of American women, and musical currents spanning four continents. Soulful and funny, BETSY! grapples with a surprising, many-layered narrative that links an orphaned teenager tricked into leaving Ireland in the 18th century, her seducer, and their descendants, all the way down to Betsy, our sassy protagonist, finding her bearings in the rhythmic pulse of 21st century New York. This fresh new musical is alive with the fire of Jazz, Bluegrass, and Latin music compositions delivered by three powerful vocalists and a 5-piece Appalachian-Puerto Rican band on piano, violin, guitar, banjo, mandolin, bass, drums, and percussion.
The Collaboration
Dreamed up by Roadside Theater ensemble artists Ron Short and Dudley Cocke, together with legendary Nashville pianist Beegie Adair, and Pregones Theater ensemble artists Rosalba Rolón and Desmar Guevara, BETSY! exemplifies a collaborative creative practice that grows over time, engages an audience during the formative process, involves multigenerational artists of a high caliber, and results in a musical theater experience that is out of the ordinary. The team’s prior musical co-creation, Promise of A Love Song, toured nationally in 1999-2002 and is published in Ferdinand Lewis’ Ensemble Works: An Anthology (Theatre Communications Group, NY).
The Companies
Pregones Theater
With its own arts facility in the South Bronx, Pregones Theater is home to a multigenerational network of Latino artists known for mining connections between theater and popular culture, creating plays of dynamic visual and rhythmic character, and growing strong and diverse local audiences. Building on a rich tradition of popular and experimental theater, the ensemble has 80 original premieres and more than 500 national and international touring credits since 1979. This year, Pregones is finalizing merger with the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in Manhattan. www.pregonesprtt.org
Roadside Theater
Based in the mountains of Kentucky and boasting deep roots in the local culture, Roadside Theater has created the single largest existing body of drama about Appalachia. With 60 new plays to its credit, the ensemble has toured throughout the U.S. and Europe, performing in small towns and big cities alike since 1975. Mastery of the Appalachian storytelling craft and musical traditions, involvement with audiences of diverse cultural background, and a distinct call for social justice distinguish Roadside's art and ensures its popularity. www.roadside.org
The first phase of script and music development for Betsy took place in Nashville, TN. The following songs were recorded live during a workshop rehearsal at the Nashville Jazz Workshop. Musicians and vocalists include: Beegie Adair, piano & vocals; Ron Short, mandolin, banjo, fiddle, flute & vocals; Connye Florance, vocals; Caroline Peyton, vocals; Roger Spencer, string bass; Jim White, percussion; and Andre Reiss, guitar. All music is copyright Beegie Adair or Ron Short.
BETSY! (New York, NY) April 11, 2015
“How can we produce works of art that probe beyond clichés into the frayed ends of American pluralism? What kind of love-making work does it take to engender an artistic product that aspires to tell the story of us today – skeletons out of the closet and all?”
The Imagining America Institute will take up these questions articulated by folklorist and anthropologist Dr. Maribel Álvarez. Participants probed these questions in the context of the 21-year artistic collaboration between Pregones Theater and Appalshop’s Roadside Theater and their latest co-creation, BETSY!. The two ensembles are building bridges between two vast geographies and cultures, Puerto Rican and Appalachian, and between two distinct aesthetics. (Read more about themes in the HowlRound Blog Series, “Beyond Cliché: Dramatizing Our American Identity.”)
The institute is organized by Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life, the only national coalition working at the intersection of publicly engaged scholarship and the arts, humanities, and design. Sixty faculty and staff, high school and college students, and community artists will be attending from institutions and communities including: Ohio State, thanks to support from the Barnett Center for Integrated Arts and Enterprise; Cornell University, thanks to support from the Engaged Learning + Research Center; Oregon State; University of Wisconsin; and Loisaida Center.
The Scholars' Circle met in May to discuss all BETSY!-related events that occured in April and plan future collaborations.
Jonathan Bradshaw from the BETSY! Scholars' Circle interviews the play's composers - Ron Short (Roadside Theater) and Desmar Guevara (Pregones Theater). Click here to view the whole interview.
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