The Legend of Jenny Wiley Hosts 38th National Conference on Outdoor Drama
(from Fall, 2000 U.S. Outdoor Drama, pages 1-2)
by Scott J. Parker
Marketing, New Equity Contract, Audience Profiling Highlighted
They say eastern Kentucky is where bluegrass meets the Appalachian Mountains, but in truth, their most notable commodity is their talent: musical and theatrical. In fact, eastern Kentucky is the birthplace of some of the nations's most celebrated country music performers, including sisters Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle, the mother/daughter team of Naomi and Wynonna Judd, Ricky Skaggs and Tom T. Hall, among others. But its also worth noting that this beautiful region of the Bluegrass State, and Prestonsburg in particular, is the home of the outdoor historical drama The Legend of Jenny Wiley.
From October 18-21st, 2000, the eyes of outdoor drama professionals focused on Prestonsburg and The Legend of Jenny Wiley as it played host to the 38th National Conference on Outdoor Drama.
Since 1963, the Institute of Outdoor Drama at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has sponsored this annual meeting of in-depth discussions, tours and workshops as a forum for individuals interested in the writing, producing and managing of outdoor dramas, and those wishing to start new outdoor theatre companies.
A major focus of the conference this year was the Jenny Wiley Drama Association, a nonprofit corporation which just completed its 36th season, offering a rotating repertory of four major stage productions (a historical drama, two Broadway musicals and a children's theatre piece) playing to an average of 22,000 people each summer.
The Historical drama, The Legend of Jenny Wiley (book freely adapted by Patrick Baldauff, music and lyrics by Scott Bradley and Peyton Dixon), dramatizes how in October, 1789, in what is now eastern Kentucky, a group of Shawnee and Cherokee Indians entered the cabin of a young white settler named Jenny to avenge murders in their tribes which were most likely committed by her neighbors. The Indians killed Jenny's family and abducted her. After remaining in captivity for 11 months, Jenny managed to escape and to find her way home through the rough mountain wilderness.
Conference participants toured the 580-seat amphitheatre where the play is produced, the administrative offices, the box office and backstage facilities, and learned how the physical plant was converted from a facility designed for a single play to a venue for rotating repertory production. The tour included the newly constructed company housing facility, and the Wilkinson/Strumbo Conference Center, which serves as a back-up venue for the company in the event of rain.
Playwright Patrick Baldauff, theatre management staff and Association board members were on hand to discuss the creative process of the production company, and how the organization evolved from one which sponsored one historical drama to a company that produces four plays in rotating repertory each summer.
For the tenth consecutive year, the Paul Green Foundation (Chapel Hill, NC) sponsored a three-hour program at the conference which, this year, focused on the relationship between outdoor historical drama and the heritage tourism movement. A panel of nationally recognized experts discussed the characteristics of the heritage tourism movement, and specifically those of individual heritage tourism attractions across the country, drawing parallels between the successes and failures of those attractions, and those of the outdoor historical drama. The challenges of building attendance numbers in the leisure tourism field, forging relationships with the hospitality industry, and strategies for growth were discussed by each of the four panel members.
A distinguished group of outdoor theatre professionals served on panels which focused on critical issues facing the outdoor drama movement today. Panel topics included: Raising the National Profile of Outdoor Historical Drama (Exploring options for creating and maintaining an ongoing PR campaign); Reinventing a 63-Year Old Play Without Changing the Script (How The Lost Colony in Manteo, NC generated newspaper coverage circulated to more than 10 million people, worth $350,000 in ad space); Profiling Outdoor Drama Patrons (Results of the 2000 national audience survey); The Revised Marketing Campaign at "TEXAS" (Transforming the musical drama's traditional direct-mail approach to electronic marketing, vacation packages and corporate sponsorships) and Establishing a New Outdoor Drama Contract With Equity (Beginning the process of crafting a new contract with the actor's union which would make the employment of Equity actors more affordable to as many companies as possible).
There were a number of side trips, including one to the Mountain Arts Center, a multi-purpose entertainment hub featuring a 1,050-seat state-of-the-art indoor theatre which has a fully digital 24-track recording studio, an art gallery and an Appalachian craft shop.
Complementary brochures for the 2000 conference with programming, conference registration and hotel reservation information are available by calling 919/962-1328, by visiting our web site, or by emailing us at outdoor@unc.edu.