Kiesa Kay, author
A chance remark by a friend set playwright Kiesa Kay’s creative mind to imagining Rebecca, wife of Daniel Boone, and what her life must have been like. After traveling to Boone haunts and reading voraciously, Kay wrote Love Makes a Home: The Life of Rebecca Boone, a one-woman play with traditional music. Performances of the play will be held on Thursday, September 21, at 6 p.m. at Orchard at Altapass, and on Friday, October 27, and Saturday, October 28, at 7:30 p.m. at White Horse Black Mountain.
Two actresses will play the part: Patti Louise Smith in September and Barb McEwen in October. They will be joined onstage by fiddler Bruce Greene, himself a descendant of Daniel Boone’s sister, Hannah. “It’s a one-woman, one-fiddler play,” Kay says, “structured almost like a duet between the actress and the fiddler.”
Greene has collected traditional fiddle tunes from all over Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina. “Bruce chose historically authentic tunes to match the moods and the moments in the play,” Kay says. “All the tunes are traditional tunes from the time and places traveled by the Boones. Since Bruce plays in the distinctive style of a true old time musician, hearing him provides the most authentic possible experience.”
Researching and writing about Rebecca Boone led Kay to gain admiration for her resilience and the love she displayed for her family, consisting of ten children of her own and six others she helped raise, all while dealing with the more than 20 moves the family made.
“Women’s experiences on the frontier often get overshadowed or written out of history,” Kay says, “and this play puts a woman’s life at center stage.”
Tickets for the Orchard at Altapass performance are $10 and may be reserved by calling 828.765.9531. Tickets for the White Horse Black Mountain performances are available at whitehorseblackmountain.com, $12 in advance or $15 at the door.
