Barbara Bates Smith and Jeff Sebans
Lee Smith met Abingdon writer Lou Crabtree in the 1970s in a writing workshop at the Virginia Highlands Festival. Smith so bonded with Crabtree that she based Ivy Rowe, the main character in her masterwork, “Fair and Tender Ladies,” on her.
When a Florida actress, Barbara Bates Smith, read “Fair and Tender Ladies,” she was so intensely moved by the book that she gained permission from Lee Smith to adapt the novel to a one-woman show, which she entitled “Ivy Rowe.”
“I used to be a scandal; now I’m an institution!” This quote from the novel, says Smith, aptly describes her 30 years (and nearly 1,000 performances) of portraying this feisty mountain woman. Lee Smith has said, ”Barbara IS Ivy Rowe! I am her most avid fan!”
The book and the play are social histories of the vast changes in Southwest Virginia in the 20th century: the booms and busts of the coal mining industry, changing educational oppor-tunities, the out-migration from the area, but primarily the changing roles and opportunities for women.
“Ivy Rowe” is performed on the Gilliam Stage of Barter Theatre as the finale event of this year’s Virginia Highlands Festival, Sunday, July 31, at 8 p.m. Musical accompaniment is by Jeff Sebans.
“Ivy Rowe” had a run off-Broadway in the 1990s at the Provincetown Playhouse. Of the performance, “The Village Voice” reviewer said, “A lifetime’s worth of sass, whoop, hurt and reflection.” A WOR radio commentator said, “We are captivated and enthralled.”
Other stage adaptations of Lee Smith’s works are part of Barbara Smith’s touring repertoire, as well as those of Fred Chappell, Allan Gurganus and Ron Rash. “Go, Granny, D!” from the memoir of Doris “Granny D” Haddock, who at age 90 walked across the U.S. for election reform, has toured nationwide.
Crabtree was born and lived most of her life in Washington County and Abingdon. During her active life she taught school, farmed, directed the Rock of Ages Band, conducted regional auditions for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, co-directed a bicentennial play and lectured on various subjects. Her first book, a collection of short stories entitled “Sweet Hollow,” was published by LSU Press in 1983, when she was 70.
Crabtree won numerous awards for her writing including a PEN/Faulkner award, and poetry awards from Laurel Review and Shenandoah, and from the Poetry Society of Virginia. In 1988 she was declared a “Laureate in Literature” by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Her volume of poetry is called “The River Hills & Beyond.” She died in 2006.
After the show, Smith will informally share Crabtree memories and invites those from the audience to share their memories as well.
Tickets to the performance can be purchased from the Barter Theatre website or at the Barter Box Office. They can also be purchased at the event.
