Lisa Mount: Victor, zip up your fly!

That’s my favorite – when we were at the New Victory and Burt had to be “Victor” because he was Equity and the rest of us weren’t, and he went onstage at the top of the second act with his fly down and he was preachin’ and preachin’ and the little white tails of his shirt were showin’ and showin’ through the gap in his pants and I’m whispering as loud as I can but he doesn’t remember his name is Victor now and so finally I stage whisper “Burt!  Your fly!” and he gets it, zips it, and the show goes on.

Xoxoxo
*****

D. Patton White
One of my most treasured memories of members of Carpetbag happened on the last day of the ROOTS Annual Meeting in 2000.  This was the first year that we were at Camp Mishemokwa.  We were wrapping everything up and the company members began singing "This may be the last time...."

Joyous, passionate, heartfelt

The room was full of song

And love
*****

Adelle Gautier
oooo Biddy Mason, Stagecoach Mary, Deadwood Dick Nat Love
and all those other Black folks of the wild west that Carpetbag introduced to the school children of Orleans Parish schools thru the Cultural Resource Series. Thank you.
 ***

Mondo Bizarro
Wish we could have been there for your Anniversary. Always in spirit!
***

Paula Larke
I remember coming back from Michigan in the freezing blizzard blanketed airport, waiting at the gate for a delayed plane and Linda Hill sitting on the floor in the corner surrounded by every toddler and primary school age child within six gates distance sitting around her listening to her stories ans soaking in her joy. They just came. She didn't have to call 'em. They just came to her and stayed til their parents came to drag them away. I'll never tire of working with Carpetbag until the harmonies stop. Once the harmonies get to draggin', I'm steppin' back.
***

Rafeal Clements
Hmmm...a Carpetbag Theater story. My first professional theater gig was touring with Carpetbag in 1985-1986 right after graduating from UT-Knoxville. I was very familiar with the group's work, having seen both Linda Parris-Bailey and Linda Upton performing in "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow in Enuf" at UTK and from seeing "Dark Cowgirls and Prairie Queens" at Knoxville College. Newly graduated with a useless degree (broadcasting), a love of acting and few credits, I was looking for a theater home where I could further learn the craft and get some professional experience. Carpetbag provided all that I was looking for as a young actor.

During the year I toured with the company, we traveled to Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and I believe Virginia....lugging the minimal set, props and costumes in LP-B's beat-up blue van (it was a blue van, wasn't it Linda?), while the rest of the company followed in a rental car. We played on college campuses, in high school gymnasiums and theater festivals. For me, the highlights during that year were the weeklong stay in New Orleans and performing in the small town in Mississippi.

Carpetbag participated in a conference celebrating the Free Southern Theater (FST) at Tulane University. There were seminars about the work done by Free Southern during the 60's and about the state of socially-relevant theater being done in the South back then up till the present. Of course, there was lots of theater, with performances by companies from all over the Southeastern U.S. The conference officially ended with a New Orleans-style funeral "burying" the FST. I had a blast that entire week: being in the Crescent City for the first time, seeing great theater, sitting in on thought provoking panel discussions, eating great food, of course (including my first bowl of turtle soup) and getting to perform "Dark Cowgirls" as one of the featured performances during the conference.

The visit to Mississippi was eye opening in a different sense in that we were in a lovely town that had not changed much racially since the 1950's. Schools were still segregated for the most part, with the white children from the more affluent families attending a private school in town and the black and poorer white children attending the high school where Carpetbag would be performing. I remember the company having dinner at the home of a white professor and his wife. The professor taught at the nearby university and he looked like Shelby Foote, the historian. Besides the lovely dinner and wonderful hospitality of the couple, I remember the framed photographs lining the walls and the open windows without curtains looking out into the dark woods. We performed the show in the school auditorium to a mostly black audience...there were a lot of people there and they seemed to enjoy themselves. I don't know if we were able to change anything in this town by putting on a play, but I like to think that Carpetbag provided an evening that was entertaining, informative and maybe inspiring.

There were lots of stories that came out of that year of touring...too many to detail in this one long remembrance. The main thing I got out of being with Carpetbag was getting to know the people in the company...Linda P-B and Linda Upton Hill, Jeffrey, Adora, Mayta, and through LP-B, Emmanuel, Atiba and Samiyyah. I value having met Victor and Joe and being able to perform with them before they were taken from this earth, much too soon. Indeed the best thing about Carpetbag during my time was the people in the company...good friends, great people, artists all. It was a special time in my life, and I loved every bit of it.

Happy 40th birthday, CBT.
***

Dorothy Kincaid
Remembering how the Black community of Alcoa, TN became involved with The Carpetbag Theater is a sobering and wonderful experience. I don’t remember the exact date of our first formal involvement, but I do remember the pitch from Emanuel Bailey (in the hallway of TVA East Towers) of how great it would be if his wife, Linda Parris-Bailey could come to the community of Alcoa and work with our youth group. Well, I couldn’t get a word in, so as I listened to him, I began to fantasize about Carpetbag and the Hall-Oldfield Community Organization becoming partners. Little did I realize – we were about to make history. Finalizing arrangements for a meeting made me realize the dream of a partnership with Carpetbag was about to become a reality. In order for us to supervise the youth, all meetings were held at the weekly choir practice. Both Linda Parris-Bailey and Emanuel attended. You could see the elation and surprise on their faces as they walked into the church and saw the 125 young people in the room. Yes at that time, we had 125 young people, ages 11 – 18 participating in the community youth group. After the initial shock, Linda and I talked and I immediately realized that she had done her homework and knew more about our community than we did. The President, Lee White and Vice President, Garry Hill listened as Linda presented the idea of using the youth group as actors in an original play that she committed to writing about the history of Blacks People coming to the community as employees of ALCOA. With the approval of the board, she trained the youth and directed the production of “Immigration in a Company Town.” The relationship between Hall-Oldfield and Carpetbag Theater expanded with the stage production, but I like to think that it really started in the hallways of TVA towers during my initial conversation with Emanuel Bailey.

The Carpetbag Theater with the help of Linda Parris-Bailey was actually instrumental in several success stories involving the Hall-Oldfield Youth Group in the early 90’s. I am profoundly grateful for Carpetbag’s involvement in this community. There were several community members who helped with the youth group:

Marjorie Stewart – Education

Connie Gaines-Tate – Volunteer for youth chaperon
Cora Mae Goss – Volunteer for youth chaperon
Jo Davenport – Artist and Graphic Designer

I will always remain sincerely appreciative, Dorothy Kincaid.
***

Tammy Anderson
Congratulations Carpetbag Theatre on your 40th Anniversary. Thank you for programming 'I Don't Wanna Play House' as a part of your season. It was a great honor to present to your audience and to work with your team. Thank you to Linda for believing in me and my work and I will never forget the moment we sat in your 4 wheel drive and watched the ... Read More name of my show stream across a corner panel on the side of a building in LIGHTS!!! History!!

Congratulations to all of your Team, Artists, productions, producers, writers, volunteers, families and friends. History!!!

Love Tammy Anderson and family xxxx Melbourne Australia
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Sheena Sood
oh CBT's 40th was fantabulous...only made me wish i knew about them for the past 24 yrs of my life! =) btw Linda, that is a stunning photo of you! =)
***

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