Bear Country

By Michael Vigilant

What if you had the opportunity to get up close and personal with University of Alabama football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant? In the Southern Writers’ Project reading of Bear Country--you can. Absorb the wisdom and wit of a man who rose from the child of dirt poor sharecroppers to become the standard by which college football coaches are judged. Bryant was famous for turning individuals into teams and teams into champions. When he retired, Bryant had won more college football games than any other coach in history. In Bear Country Bryant’s unique voice lives on to motivate others to become winners in their “fields” of life.

My Last Days as Roy Rogers

by Pat Cunningham Devoto with Joanne Cunningham Walker

In an Alabama Town in the early 1950s during the last polio summer before the Salk vaccine, ten-year-old Tabitha “Tab” Rutland is about to have the time of her life. Although movie theatres and pools have been closed to stem the epidemic, Tab, a tomboy with a passion for Roy Rogers, still seeks adventure with her best friend Maudie May. Tab sets out to be a hero…and comes of age in an unforgettable confrontation with human frailty, injustice and the healing power of love.

Preparations

By Jeffry L. Chastang

Several years into the Great Depression, five sisters return to their Southern home for their church’s annual lawn party. Tensions resurface with the revelation of old sins as each of the women make decisions for the future while finding a way to forgive the past. Playwright, Jeffry Chastang, winner of the Kennedy Center New American Play Award, shapes a tale of African-American familial and generational conflict with a delightful blend of humor and gravity.

Furniture of Home

By Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder

In the aftermath of the storm, citizens of the coastal community of Bayou LaBatre, Alabama struggle to rebuild their homes and lives. But even feisty Dottie might not be able to prevail when outside forces threaten their fragile community. Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder, author of Gee's Bend (2007 SWP World Premiere), takes an intimate look at the toll of Hurricane Katrina, two years later.

Nobody

By Richard Aellen

At the turn of the century, down-on-their-luck vaudevillian performers Bert & George can't seem to catch a break--until they do the unthinkable and don blackface as part of their act.  Richard Aellen offers a provocative story based on the lives of George Walker and Bert Williams,  popular African-American comedians who contrarily broke racial barriers by portraying racial stereotypes.  Resistant to the idea of playing a caricature of his own race, Bert is nonetheless pulled along in the wake of George's ambition--but what begins as a way to earn money quickly becomes a prison for Bert, whose finest artistic expression is achieved through the cover of blackface.  Nobody asks deep questions about identity and begs the question--what price do we pay for the masks we don to survive?

*Titles subject to change.

SWP is endowed by an anonymous donor and sponsored by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

and the Alabama Bureau of Tourism and Travel.

Used by permission of Paul W. Bryant Museum

Waterbreak by Adrian Overstreet