Granny's Appalachian Tales

We have retired this show

Appalachian stories come to life through puppets,  live music and actors.  This show highlights the history and different cultures found along this mountain chain.  Our storyteller,  Granny (a life size puppet), sits on the front porch of her mountain cabin and weaves tales that come to life as her home transforms into a stage for hand, rod and shadow puppets.  The stories include a Jack Tale, a Cherokee story,  and the legend of John Henry.   


Granny joins in on the live music played on guitar, and mandolin.

 The Stories:

The Three Feathers     

This "Jack Tale" can be traced back to Scotland.   Jack is the son of a King who is trying to decide on a successor.    Jack and his two clever  brothers compete on  three quests for the throne.  They each throw a feather into the air to determine the direction for their quests. Innocence and Jack’s love of the wetlands puts a new spin on an old story

How the Milky Way Came to Be   This Cherokee story concerns a mysterious night visitor who is stealing cornmeal from a pair of  village elders.   Outraged their  grandson guards the cornmeal only to discovers that  the thief is a strange luminescent spirit dog.  The wise woman of the village is called upon to solve the problem, and recruits the audience’s help. Together  they witness the creation of the Milky Way.

 

The Legend of John Henry  This African American folk tale uses shadow puppetry to portray  John Henry’s feats of strength  and  legendary race with a steam drill.  John Henry wins the day becoming the champion of the Working Man.The traditional folk song is performed live. 

Interwoven with these tales is a historic perspective of the people and  cultural changes unique to Appalachia.