The Hinterlands remount their newest original performance, Will You Miss Me? at Philadelphia Community Farm (599 280th ST, Osceola WI, 54020)
Detroit-based experimental theatre company
Dates: October 3rd, 7pm & October 4th, 7pm
Tickets: are $20 - $40, sliding scale and can be purchased online here!
Show Length: approximately 75 minutes.
“It hit me on a body level, a gut level, and it sent me into a kind of reverie that I haven’t felt from a piece in a long time. I was haunted by it, not just on my drive home, but I woke up the next day thinking about it. I kept talking about it... and l couldn’t get back to my life before buying a ticket to go see it again the following week.”
- Zak Rosen, Slate Magazine
About the Show: A haunting song echoes across the holler. A weary traveler is drawn into a funeral service for one of many white workers who moved from Appalachia to Detroit in the last century. But this is no normal funeral and this is no ordinary corpse. As the funeral unfolds this group of rootless mourners are confronted by their pasts, their ancestors, by spirits helpful and malicious. But did any of them really know this man they are mourning? Did he exist at all?
Drawing on the history of labor-driven migration in the United States from coal mining company towns of the mountains to the automobile factories of Detroit, Will You Miss Me? tells a story of the pain of assimilation that has resonated with audiences all over the globe. The piece is also the culmination of The Hinterlands’ multi-year research into the songs of Appalachia, a living tradition which includes five-hundred-year-old ballads rooted in the British Isles; gospel, shape note, and Old Regular Baptist songs unique to the United States; and songs which represent the blend of cultures residing in the Appalachian mountains.
Will You Miss Me? is an original performance by The Hinterlands, performed by Liza Bielby, Jenna Kirk, Richard Newman, and Maddy Rager. Directed by Richard Newman and Liza Bielby. Scenic design by Jenna Kirk and Liza Bielby. Masks and puppets designed by Livia Chesley with build assistance by Monty Eztcorn. Sound design by Richard Newman. Dramaturgy by Antonin Chambon and the ensemble. The original cast featured Livia Chesley, who created the role of Huarwar. Will You Miss Me? premiered in 2022 with outdoor versions of the piece performed at Spread Art (Detroit), Tympanum (Warren, MI), and Double Edge Theatre (Ashfield, MA). In 2023, the piece was presented at Play House in Detroit and at Mint Museum (Charlotte, NC) through Goodyear Arts, with lecture-performance versions of the work shown at the University of Michigan Flint and Teatro Libre in Bogotá, Colombia.
The Hinterlands remount their newest original performance, Will You Miss Me? at Philadelphia Community Farm (599 280th ST, Osceola WI, 54020)
Detroit-based experimental theatre company
Dates: October 3rd, 7pm & October 4th, 7pm
Tickets: are $20 - $40, sliding scale and can be purchased online here!
Show Length: approximately 75 minutes.
“It hit me on a body level, a gut level, and it sent me into a kind of reverie that I haven’t felt from a piece in a long time. I was haunted by it, not just on my drive home, but I woke up the next day thinking about it. I kept talking about it... and l couldn’t get back to my life before buying a ticket to go see it again the following week.”
- Zak Rosen, Slate Magazine
About the Show: A haunting song echoes across the holler. A weary traveler is drawn into a funeral service for one of many white workers who moved from Appalachia to Detroit in the last century. But this is no normal funeral and this is no ordinary corpse. As the funeral unfolds this group of rootless mourners are confronted by their pasts, their ancestors, by spirits helpful and malicious. But did any of them really know this man they are mourning? Did he exist at all?
Drawing on the history of labor-driven migration in the United States from coal mining company towns of the mountains to the automobile factories of Detroit, Will You Miss Me? tells a story of the pain of assimilation that has resonated with audiences all over the globe. The piece is also the culmination of The Hinterlands’ multi-year research into the songs of Appalachia, a living tradition which includes five-hundred-year-old ballads rooted in the British Isles; gospel, shape note, and Old Regular Baptist songs unique to the United States; and songs which represent the blend of cultures residing in the Appalachian mountains.
Will You Miss Me? is an original performance by The Hinterlands, performed by Liza Bielby, Jenna Kirk, Richard Newman, and Maddy Rager. Directed by Richard Newman and Liza Bielby. Scenic design by Jenna Kirk and Liza Bielby. Masks and puppets designed by Livia Chesley with build assistance by Monty Eztcorn. Sound design by Richard Newman. Dramaturgy by Antonin Chambon and the ensemble. The original cast featured Livia Chesley, who created the role of Huarwar. Will You Miss Me? premiered in 2022 with outdoor versions of the piece performed at Spread Art (Detroit), Tympanum (Warren, MI), and Double Edge Theatre (Ashfield, MA). In 2023, the piece was presented at Play House in Detroit and at Mint Museum (Charlotte, NC) through Goodyear Arts, with lecture-performance versions of the work shown at the University of Michigan Flint and Teatro Libre in Bogotá, Colombia.
