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NATF & NRT Help Cherokee Modernize Legend

By Janine Marr
It is said that many years ago, animals could talk just like humans do today. The Cherokee have many legends about this time, including “Why The Opossum’s Tail Is Bare”, which was transcribed into English text by James Mooney in the late 1800s after spending many years with the Cherokee people.

In April, The Native Radio Theater Project, in association with The National Audio Theatre Festivals, Inc., conducted a week-long residency in Cherokee, NC, at the Cherokee Youth Center Boys & Girls Club, combining the resources of the Cherokee Youth In Radio Program, under the direction of Shawn Crowe, and the Cherokee High School Theater Arts Class, taught by Kevin Norris.

NATF Secretary and NRT Project Coordinator John Gregg produced the workshop with the assistance of NATF President Janine Marr. For two months prior to the residency, Shawn Crowe, Kevin Norris, and selected Cherokee High School students worked on a contemporary radio adaptation of James Mooney’s translation of the traditional Cherokee legend, adding a modern-day family with Grandfather (Gi-du-du), performed by Cherokee storyteller Lloyd Arneach, telling the story to his many inquisitive grandchildren. The animals talked, as humans do today, during the scenes with Possum, Rabbit (the trickster in this story), Cricket (Rabbit’s accomplice), and other animals who waited for the “big moment” during the council and dance.

In two days, John, Shawn and I recorded the walla of the young children ages six through twelve, the musicians, the many scenes, the credits, a very special Cherokee prayer spoken by Cherokee interpreter Josh Webster, and live sound effects. In the field, we recorded the outdoor ambience of lapping waves and river rapids, birds, spring peepers, footsteps in dried leaves, and more, along the Oconoluftee River where the endangered river cane grows, still used for making the traditional Cherokee cane flute.

The live sound effects utilized the talents of college students from Western Carolina University, under the instruction of Wayne Robbins, who attended the 2006 NATF workshop in West Plains where he learned the art of live sound effects performance, and students from the CYC after-school program, who were happy to offer sounds of kids having a water fight in the bathroom, running across the floor, and scratching rocks with claws.
The most challenging live sound effect was that of a window opening and closing. Sue Zizza, past NATF Executive Director and sound effects artist, offered a solution. She suggested using a large piece of wood, such as a pallet (we used a wooden floor that Wayne built for other effects), and a heavy roll of aluminum foil still in the box. (We found an industrial-sized roll at the CYC.) By sliding the foil box, with the metal cutting edge contacting the wood, up and down the board, stopping at a piece of wood at the top (we used a large dowel), we had the sound of someone pulling the old window up as far as it would open, then closing it back down again.

Voices cast in “Why Possum’s Tail Is Bare” included several high school students, a few who could easily go on to professional voice-over work, younger voices from the CYC after-school program, and local community members, the most noteworthy, being Myrtle Driver, an elder who is considered the authority on both the written and spoken eastern Cherokee language, and translates official meetings into Cherokee for the tribe. Myrtle recently translated Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier into Cherokee to help preserve the Cherokee language, which is one of the hardest to learn, and the assistance of Myrtle and Josh was invaluable to everyone present as we tried to learn the words in the play.

John, speaking of his Cherokee experience, said without hesitation, “I had a wonderful time in Cherokee and the townspeople were delightful and super-friendly. The kids were absolutely wonderful--unbelievable talent. I was really amazed at how much they had progressed by the end of the week--they were really getting into it and sounding quite natural, even though they were in the front of a microphone. I think the general public is in for a real treat because the play is very rich with sound. I would love to work with these kids again.”
The finished half hour program, mastered by John Gregg, will be aired on the Native Voice 1 network later this year (www.nv1.org). This was the first residency by the NRT Project, who plans to collaborate with native theater groups to preserve their culture and language using the contemporary audio theater art form.

NATF & NRT Help Cherokee Modernize Legend By Janine Marr It is said that many years ago, animals could talk just like humans do today. The Cherokee have many legends about this time, including “Why The Opossum’s Tail Is Bare”, which was transcribed into English text by James Mooney in the late 1800s after spending many years with the Cherokee people.
	In April, The Native Radio Theater Project, in association with The National Audio Theatre Festivals, Inc., conducted a week-long residency in Cherokee, NC, at the Cherokee Youth Center Boys & Girls Club, combining the resources of the Cherokee Youth In Radio Program, under the direction of Shawn Crowe, and the Cherokee High School Theater Arts Class, taught by Kevin Norris.
NATF Secretary and NRT Project Coordinator John Gregg produced the workshop with the assistance of NATF President Janine Marr. For two months prior to the residency, Shawn Crowe, Kevin Norris, and selected Cherokee High School students worked on a contemporary radio adaptation of James Mooney’s translation of the traditional Cherokee legend, adding a modern-day family with Grandfather (Gi-du-du), performed by Cherokee storyteller Lloyd Arneach, telling the story to his many inquisitive grandchildren. The animals talked, as humans do today, during the scenes with Possum, Rabbit (the trickster in this story), Cricket (Rabbit’s accomplice), and other animals who waited for the “big moment” during the council and dance.
	In two days, John, Shawn and I recorded the walla of the young children ages six through twelve, the musicians, the many scenes, the credits, a very special Cherokee prayer spoken by Cherokee interpreter Josh Webster, and live sound effects. In the field, we recorded the outdoor ambience of lapping waves and river rapids, birds, spring peepers, footsteps in dried leaves, and more, along the Oconoluftee River where the endangered river cane grows, still used for making the traditional Cherokee cane flute.
The live sound effects utilized the talents of college students from Western Carolina University, under the instruction of Wayne Robbins, who attended the 2006 NATF workshop in West Plains where he learned the art of live sound effects performance, and students from the CYC after-school program, who were happy to offer sounds of kids having a water fight in the bathroom, running across the floor, and scratching rocks with claws. The most challenging live sound effect was that of a window opening and closing. Sue Zizza, past NATF Executive Director and sound effects artist, offered a solution. She suggested using a large piece of wood, such as a pallet (we used a wooden floor that Wayne built for other effects), and a heavy roll of aluminum foil still in the box. (We found an industrial-sized roll at the CYC.) By sliding the foil box, with the metal cutting edge contacting the wood, up and down the board, stopping at a piece of wood at the top (we used a large dowel), we had the sound of someone pulling the old window up as far as it would open, then closing it back down again.
Voices cast in “Why Possum’s Tail Is Bare” included several high school students, a few who could easily go on to professional voice-over work, younger voices from the CYC after-school program, and local community members, the most noteworthy, being Myrtle Driver, an elder who is considered the authority on both the written and spoken eastern Cherokee language, and translates official meetings into Cherokee for the tribe. Myrtle recently translated Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier into Cherokee to help preserve the Cherokee language, which is one of the hardest to learn, and the assistance of Myrtle and Josh was invaluable to everyone present as we tried to learn the words in the play.
John, speaking of his Cherokee experience, said without hesitation, “I had a wonderful time in Cherokee and the townspeople were delightful and super-friendly. The kids were absolutely wonderful--unbelievable talent. I was really amazed at how much they had progressed by the end of the week--they were really getting into it and sounding quite natural, even though they were in the front of a microphone. I think the general public is in for a real treat because the play is very rich with sound. I would love to work with these kids again.” The finished half hour program, mastered by John Gregg, will be aired on the Native Voice 1 network later this year (www.nv1.org). This was the first residency by the NRT Project, who plans to collaborate with native theater groups to preserve their culture and language using the contemporary audio theater art form.