Zora Neale Hurston: Collected Plays

Appendix Programs from The Great Day (1932), From Sun to Sun (1932), and All de Live Long Day (1934)

Appendix Programs from The Great Day (1932), From Sun to Sun (1932), and All de Live Long Day (1934) SUNDAY EVENING, JANUARY 10, 1932 ZORA HURSTON Presents “THE GREAT DAY” A PROGRAM OF ORIGINAL NEGRO FOLKLORE With a CHORAL AND DRAMATIC CAST Ensembles and Vocal effects under the direction of “Wen” Talbert Musical Arrangements by Porter G[r]ainger FIRST PART 1. LEIGH WHIPPER 2. IN THE QUARTERS. WAKING THE CAMP Shack Rouser ………………………… Percy Punter Joe Brown……………………………. Male Chorus 3. LEIGH WHIPPER 4. WORKING ON THE RAILROAD a. Captain Keep a-Hollerin’. b. Oh, Lulu! c. Can’t You Line It? d. Mule on de Mount. e. East Coast Blues. f. Black Gal. g. John Henry ………………………… lead [sic] by Percy Punter 5. LEIGH WHIPPER 363 110 apx (363-372) 4/9/08 11:11 AM Page 363 6. BACK IN THE QUARTERS. DUSK DARK a. Children’s Games. b. Chick–ma–chick. c. Mistah Frog ………………………… sung by Sadie McGill 7. ITINERANT PREACHER AT THE QUARTERS a. Death Comes a-Creepin’. b. Sermon ……………………………... Leigh Whipper c. All You People Got To Go. d. You Can’t Hide. INTERMISSION SECOND PART 8. LEIGH WHIPPER 9. IN THE “JOOK.” BLACK DARK a. Cold Rainy Day. b. Frankie and Albert. c. Halimuh Fack. d. Palm Beach. e. Let de Deal Go Down. f. Alabama Bound. 10. LEIGH WHIPPER 11. CONJURE CEREMONY Pea-vine Candle Dance. 9 Hairs in the Graveyard. 12. LEIGH WHIPPER 13 IN THE PALM WOODS Fire Dance. a. Bellamina. b. Wasp Bite Noby. c. Evalina. d. 1. Jumping Dance. 2. Ring Play. e. Crow Dance ………………………… by Joseph Neeley 14. LEIGH WHIPPER 15 GROUP FINALE Deep River. Piano Accompaniment ……. “WEN” TALBERT NOTE—From Stephen Foster to contemporary Broadway the folkways and folk-arts of the American Negro have been presented in tinctured and adulter364 • appendix 110 apx (363-372) 4/9/08 11:11 AM Page 364 ated approximations. That they have seemed characteristic and have been so movingly effective is,in view of this fact,all the greater testimony to their power and originality in the pure undiluted folk-forms that for generations have been in the shrewd and disarming custody of the common people. These folk have always had two arts, —one for themselves and one for the amusement and beguilement of their masters. And seldom, if ever, can the white man or even the sophisticated Negro break through to that inner circle so well-guarded by the instinctive make-believe and“possum-play” of the Negro peasant. “Great Day” is a stage arrangement of part of a cycle of Negro folk-song, dance and pantomime collected and recorded by Miss Zora Hurston over three years of intimate living among the common folk in the primitive privacy of their own Negro way of life. It is thus a rare sample of the pure and unvarnished materials from which the stage and concert tradition has been derived; and ought to show how much more unique and powerful and spirit-compelling the genuine Negro folk-things really are. That this legacy has not been irrevocably lost or completely overlaid is good news of the highest spiritual and practical importance for all who wish to know and understand the true elements of the Negro heart and soul. —Alain Locke. ACKNOWLEDGMENT—The complete cycle of which this concert material is a part was collected by Miss Zora Hurston during four years’ travel (1927–31) in the far South. Throughout these years, this work of salvaging some of the supriving [sic] portions of the original primitive life of the Negro has had spiritual and material support from Mrs. R. Osgood Mason of New York. THE CAST appendix • 365 ALFRED STROCHAN LEONARD STURRUP JOHN DAMSON JOSEPH NEELEY EDWARD WILSON JAMES WHITE JAMES BETHEL NEHEMIAH CASH CAROLYNE RICH LUCILLE SMITH MARY SANDS BELLE FERGUSON CLEMENTINE WILLS ANNA WASHINGTON ROSINA LEFROY MURIEL AMBRISTER ZORA HURSTON OLLIE HOPKINS HATTIE KING REAVES MABEL HOWARD DORA THOMPSON HELEN DOWDY RED DAVIES GEORGE SIMMONS JAMES LORING WILLIAM WINTER JAMES PARKER LEIGH WHIPPER JAMES DAVIS JAMES ARNOLD VAN JACKSON HAROLD SMITH JOHN ROBINSON WILLIAM SANDRIDGE PERCY PUNTER DORA BACOTE VIOLA ANDERSON ROSETTA CRAWFORD SADIE MCGILL SARA EVANS JOHN MOBLEY WILLIAM POHLAMUS 110 apx (363-372) 4/9/08 11:11 AM Page 365 THE NEW SCHOOL PRESENTS “FROM SUN TO SUN” A Program of Original Negro Folklore PRODUCED BY ZORA HURSTON WITH A CHORAL AND DRAMATIC CAST ENSEMBLE AND VOCAL EFFECTS...