I sent the director, for his notes to the audience tomorrow these memories of my gradmother's home in the winter in a "holler" of the Cumberland Mountains not far from Louisa, KY:
The setting for most of the piece is in the common room of the farmhouse, which is probably a log cabin of some sort with "improvements" over the years. The illumination is from the bright sunlight, until it gets darker, and kerosene lamps. The farm probably has three rooms, maybe four at most: bedroom, kitchen, the bedroom where the children slept, and that may be it. There might be a "parlor," which would be the common room for socializing with a dinner table and a fireplace. There might be a small harmonium or parlor organ; my father's aunt had one, and my grandmother had a player piano that no longer worked. During the day, with all the cooking, the house would be relatively warm, but once the dinner was finished, it would become very chilly unless you were close to the fire or stove.
There might also be a shabby rather tacky pine Christmas tree set up and decorated with popcorn strings, ribbons etc. and possibly a few stockings for the children, which would be filled with walnuts, an orange or two, peppermint sticks, maybe a small doll or car. When the characters enter, they'd be dressed warmly, so there would be some carting of winter garments, probably to the bed they have to clear for Joy later, and Curleen would offer hot cider, maybe, or cups of herbal teas, maybe a little festive peach or cherry wine or brandy for her adult children. I remember my Uncle Jay drank beer and used to give it to his baby granddaughter, which really pissed off my mother.
My grandmother always made huge 7-layer cakes of various flavors: a layer of white cake, then a layer of chocolate, then a layer of white, then a layer of coconut, then chocolate. etc. and this was always on display on a cake server on the table. At some point, I suppose they've got to have some food or something to fill them up for the trip home. The ladies, when arriving at Curleen's would bring pies, hot dishes, like beans, or fried chicken, or other foul, possibly rabbit or deer, and Curleen would probably cook up a ham, cornbread, biscuits, maybe a fruit salad, and from her canning, pickled beans, pickled corn, tomatoes, etc. My grandmother also canned eggs which terrified me. She'd also have fresh-churned butter, various jellies and jams, apple butter, and sorghum molasses, which I hated.
Curleen is the name of the family matriarch in our show, played by the fabulous Deb Lyons. David Lutken is playing her husband Ulysses "Lessy Boy," Jarrod's playing her son who works as a coal miner.Julie Foldesi, who was in SOUTH PACIFIC, plays his wife Della. Mimi Bessette is playing Curleen's sister, who lost her husband in a mining disaster. The cast is really fantastic.
My earliest memories of my grandmother's house are how cold it was, especally upstairs where we slept under enormous piles of quilts and blankets because there was no heat. There was a stove in the dining room and a fireplace in the living room, but if you went more than 6 feet away from it, you froze. I don't believe there was electricity in the house until around 1956. She had no indoor plumbing until my dad installed it around 1966.
