MidMountain, an arts collective and nonprofit in Arnolds Valley, will host a series of history focused programming in mid-May.
The events include a free screening of the documentary “The Indelible Appalachians” and virtual Q&A with director at Rockbridge Regional Library in Lexington at 5:30 p.m. on May 15; a free open studio including a puppet-making workshop at MidMountain Retreat from 4 to 8 p.m. on May 16; and the organization’s second daylong festival – a celebration of undersung stories, the “Histories & Harmonies Hootenanny,” on May 17.
The group is also actively seeking oral histories about the Arnolds Valley area and the surrounding region, collecting stories by appointment and at a booth at the Lexington Farmers Market on May 14.
The Hootenanny will run from 3 to 9 p.m. on May 17 at the retreat located at 338 Arnolds Valley Road. It will feature performances, exhibits, or presentations from Ammonite, Geonovah, Harli Saxon, IONNA, Malcolm Davis, Jess Mullins Fullen, Dr. Nneka Dennie, Betsy from Mars, Soleil Ouimet, Bobbi Guyton, Lee Hunsaker, hanta t. samsa, Handmade Void, AnaMarie King, Hannah Burt+Torri Ashford, Andy “River” Peterson, Katrina Hope, and more.
The Hootenanny will also present the debut workshop of new folk punk opera “Save from Oblivion” focused on the life (and afterlife) of the sole Black survivor of the Harper’s Ferry raiding party, Osborne Perry Anderson, his near lifelong comrade in abolitionist publishing, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, and who we chose to remember. The “Save from Oblivion” production will star Affrilachian Arts Institute founder Malcolm Davis as Osborne Perry Anderson and Jess Mullins Fullen as Mary Ann Shadd Cary. The show will also feature playwright and composer Andy “River” Peterson as John Brown’s widow Mary Ann Day Brown, as well as musical arrangements produced by Harli Saxon.
For tickets for the Hootenanny, visit midmountain.org/hoot.
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