Students tell Murder Ballads, criminal tales from Appalachia
0Written by Christen Mackenzie Fraley
UPIKE’s Murder Ballad class performed an all student-driven show called “No Mortal Can You Trust.” The show opened Nov. 10 and performed on the lawn of the Garfield House at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
“No Mortal Can You Trust” is adapted from the stories in Richard Underwood’s CrimeSong. The ballads are true crime stories that happened in Appalachia.
Lula Viers is one of the ballads in the play about a girl from Auxier, Ky., who was murdered by her lover’s hand. Another ballad is the Ashland Tragedy which happened in Ashland, Ky., where three men broke into the Gibbons’ household and killed the children while the parents were away. These ballads are in the playbills so people can sing along with the students.
Kim Willard, assistant professor of theatre, one of the instructors of this class directed and helped with the acting portion of the class while Amanda Slone, assistant professor of English, took care of the writing portion of the class as the students were writing the play and putting it together.
“I am so proud of the hard work and dedication from the students in this class. It’s been a completely student-led project from the beginning, and it’s wonderful to see the way our students have jumped in and taken charge of the research and writing. I was a bundle of emotion during opening because it was so wonderful to see everything the students have worked on come to life in the play,” Slone said.
Even though it was 30 degrees outside, the students still performed in the cold in their costumes as people came at random times through the show and sat down in a chair or on blankets bundled up watching their performance. There was also a small campfire on the walkway in front of the Garfield House for people to stand around and stay warm before the show.
“Our students are such a mix of majors…some understand theatre very well, and some are just experiencing it for the first time. I was a little nervous about them pulling together and embracing the collaboration necessary to create a production like this, but they have become a wonderful team, really like a family, and work wonderfully together,” Willard said.
The students will also perform again on Thursday, Nov. 16, and Friday, Nov. 17, for anyone who had missed it. It’s free admissions, and you’ll need to bring your own blanket or chair.