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NORTH CAROLINA L I T E R A R Y R E V I E W
Fall 2023
lumBEES,
Women of the Dark Water Directed by Bo Thorp Produced by Darlene H. Ransom introduced by Devra Thomas
PHOTOGRAPH BY PAUL RUBIERA
North Carolina’s rich literary culture includes its long history of local-penned dramas. In 2009, the North Carolina Literary Review featured North Carolina drama and has run an occasional short play in other issues over the past thirty-plus years, as well as a few essays about dramatic works. Recently, we were delighted to discover we could include the following excerpts from a staged performance within the 2023 special feature on Native American Literature of North Carolina. The summer of 2019 had several momentous occasions for members of the Lumbee Tribe: in addition to the annual Homecoming Celebration held in Robeson County, Lumbees were able to celebrate their stories in music in Raleigh at the Governor’s Mansion as part of the “Music at the Mansion” series and on stage at Cape Fear Regional Theatre (CFRT) in Fayetteville with the original show lumBEES: Women of the Dark Water – A Memoir with Music. The theatrical show started because Darlene Holmes Ransom lived next door to CFRT’s founding artistic director, Bo Thorp. So when Ransom had an idea for a Lumbee women–inspired performance while watching a play Thorp was directing, she went back stage to tell her neighbor about her idea and ask if she would direct it. Old friends, the two got to talking about Ransom’s experience as a Lumbee woman, growing up in North Carolina. Thorp agreed to help shape the story for theatrical purposes. Starting in 2014 and over the course of several years, Ransom invited five other women to share their stories with the community. Given her extensive theater background, Thorp provided direction and dramaturgy, and renowned writer and filmmaker Georgann Eubanks provided scriptwriting assistance. The women sharing their lived experience with Ransom, The BEES as the women came to call themselves, were Roberta Bullard Brown, Dolores Jones, Jinnie Lowery, Jo Ann Chavis Lowery, and Della Maynor. “Traditionally, our people transmitted their ABOVE lumBEES (left to right) Della Maynor, Darlene
Holmes Ransom, Dolores Jones, Jo Ann Lowery, Roberta Bullard Brown, and Jinnie Lowery