The Big Read Launch- free performance featuring Bone Hill – The Concert by Martha Redbone

The Big Read will kick off with a free performance featuring Bone Hill – The Concert by Martha Redbone at the Alhambra Theatre on Friday, September 9, at 7:00 p.m.
Presented as a dramatic musical work with a cast of eight actors and musicians, Bone Hill – The Concert is an interdisciplinary theatre work inspired by Martha Redbone’s family lineage in the Appalachian Mountains. The production is an epic story of one woman’s return to her homeland on Black Mountain and the coal mines of Harlan County, KY.
Commissioned by Joe’s Pub/Public Theatre, NY, Bone Hill – The Concert is touring extensively nationwide and is a recipient of the NEFA National Theater Project Creation and Touring Grant and National Performance Network Creation Fund.
“Martha Redbone gives voice to issues of social justice,” says Margaret Prim, Executive Director of the Pennyroyal Arts Council. “With songs and storytelling that share her life experience as an Afro-Indigenous woman, she is prolific at connecting cultures and bridging traditions and we’re thrilled to have her new work on stage at the Alhambra Theatre.”
Known for her unique gumbo of folk, blues, and gospel, Martha Redbone has performed and recorded with many great artists including Bonnie Raitt, George Clinton, Judy Collins, Joan Osborne, and many others. Her original music was recently featured in the Public Theater revival of “for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuff” by Ntozake Shange.
Bone Hill – The Concert by Martha Redbone is one of nearly 30+ activities as part of the community reading program focusing on There There by Tommy Orange. The Pennyroyal Arts Council is one of 62 organizations nationwide selected to receive a 2022-2023 NEA Big Read grant that broadens our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the power of a shared reading experience.
School day performances at Christian County high schools will take place on September 9 with the public performance at 7:00 p.m. The first 200 attendees to register for the event will receive a free copy of There There. Register to reserve your book at www.pennyroyalarts.org.
Partners for the Big Read include Hopkinsville Christian County Public Library, Museums of Historic Hopkinsville-Christian County, Christian County Public Schools, Hopkinsville Community College, Human Rights Commission, Trail of Tears Heritage Center, Trail of Tears Association, Christian County Literacy Council, City of Hopkinsville, Christian County Visitors Center, Hoptown Chronicle, Martin Farms, and our corporate sponsor, Planters Bank.
 
A full calendar of events for the programming running from September through November will be available online at pennyroyalarts.org and on Facebook @thebigreadhopkinsville.