Woodstock Fringe Presents OLD HICKORY, Closes 8/22

OLD HICKORY is a story about a man with a little problem - two really -a fearsome ex-wife who won't leave him alone and a knife . . . and he's been having these thoughts. Set today in the mountains of West Virginia, Old Hickory is a ‘hillbilly gothic' comedy about one man's journey to his moment of decision, with his trusty knife (and the guidance of a mountain shaman named Catfish).

Ric Siler plays five characters in this engrossing story that explores family, the choices we make and the extremes we go to when we see no other way out, all with a healthy dollop of Appalachian culture, wisdom and humor. The rhythms and ways of Appalachian life seems to spring naturally and evocatively to life in this funny, suspenseful and touching study of people trying to live together . . . or not. Old Hickory was recently performed to great acclaim at the One Man Talking Festival in New York City, after development at the Woodstock Fringe Playwrights Unit and a well received reading in March of this year in the Voices from the Fringe series.

Thurs, Fri, Sat Aug 12, 13 & 14 at 8pm, Sun, Aug 15 at 2pm
Fri, Aug 20 at 8pm, Sat Aug 21 at 5pm, Sun, Aug 22 at 2pm

Also coming up at Woodstock Fringe...

FISHING IN BROOKLYN, written and performed by LaTonia Phipps. Directed by Ruby Dee Award winner, Libya Pugh, Phipps tells the story of a young woman, Tia Lite, on the road to self-discovery. The play is told through the eyes of 12 characters, including the inquisitive and sassy Tia, a 10 year-old girl who, while watching her mother die of cancer, manages to bring a sense of light to the world falling down around her. The remaining characters all serve as matriarchs for the impressible Tia, providing her with the tools she needs to complete her journey.

Accompanied by African Drummer Arthur Toombs Jr., the audience is taken on a voyage into Ghana, West Africa, through Kingston, Jamaica and finally Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, exploring the Afro-Latin Diaspora. With a little Brooklyn flavor, Fishing in Brooklyn takes the audience back to the days when everything was simple, when you were in 'los brazos de tu Madre,' your mother's arms.

Sat Aug, 28 at 8pm & Sun Aug 29 at 2pm
Sat & Sun Aug 14 & 15 at 5pm

John Brown: TRUMPET OF FREEDOM is a one-man drama featuring veteran stage and screen actor Norman Thomas Marshall. It was co-written by Mr. Marshall and Director George Wolf Reily. Marshall portrays the legendary Abolitionist and 30 other Civil War period characters. Early in the morning of his last day on Earth, the day that he will hang by the neck until dead, John Brown writes a farewell letter to his compatriots in the Abolitionist Movement. In the letter, he registers his outrage and horror at his first seeing an African Slave, starved and naked and chained to a post and beaten bloody with an iron shovel for the offense of stealing a crumb of decent food. In the passion of that moment, he vows to God to rectify the injustice, and wage war against the government that sanctions this abomination. The play looks deeply into the conscience of a man who commits violent acts against those whom he deems to be guilty of grave sins against God's Law. It reiterates in powerful, graphic detail the age-old question, "Does the means justify the end?", no matter how brutal the means and how laudable the end. John Brown: Trumpet of Freedom employs an historically accurate narrative, relying largely on John Brown's own words.

Sun Aug 15 at 7pm, Fri Sep 3 at 8pm

Visit the Woodstock Fringe website for more information.