Videos
*This is an informal video from a small VA theater; dim stage lighting in the opening scene resolves quickly.*
“ I used to be a scandal… Now I’m an institution," my slogan for my 33rd year of performing “Ivy Rowe.” From Tampa, to New York, & Edinburgh, it was 700 times nearly 2 decades ago—now I’ve lost count.
adapted from Lee Smith's novel "Fair and Tender Ladies," Musician, Jeff Sebens
In 1999, Doris "Granny D" Haddock walked over 3200 miles across the country to bring attention to campaign finance reform. This heroic effort was documented in the books that Dennis Burke co-authored with Ms. Haddock. Barbara Bates Smith used that source material to make a stage production of that journey and now we have translated that production into a new video. Our hope is that many more people can be challenged and encouraged by this story and continue the fight to reform our electoral process.
20-minute video by Jeff Sebens of the one act play by Ken Jenkins. Barbara portrays a spunky farm woman and Rupert is her calf. An audience favorite for years (especially on Earth Days), it also enjoyed a steady run in the High Schools of Polk County FL... It's fun to have a new video version.
More information: www.barbarabatessmith.com
Two minute video, Barbarab Bates Smith interpreting "The Creation" by James Weldon Johnson in American Sign Language
A Spiritual Journey of Sorts: In this 18-minute video by Jeff Sebens, Barbara explores "why I don't go to church." She quotes mentors Thich Nhat Hanh and Joseph Campbell, and her therapist-- attempting reconciliation with her husband and her priest. Thought-provoking discussions follow.
"The show is a zinger…compelling, authentic, brave" says Frank Levering, D.D., Harvard. Judith Toy, Buddhist leader, says "intelligent," "spirit fed," "hilarious!" “Outstanding!” The Reverend Timothy McRee, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Canton NC calls it.
More information: www.barbarabatessmith.com
"The Night the New Jesus Fell to Earth!" a 9-minute adaptation of Ron Rash short story with actress Barbara Bates Smith & musician Jeff Sebens. One in "A Rash of Stories."
"Consummate storytelling" says Jim Cavener of the Asheville Citizen-Times. A triumph at Carolina Mountains Literary Festival, 200 in a standing ovation. Ron Rash has said, "Well, I can write funny, too!"
More information: www.barbarabatessmith.com
ON OUR WAY: 18-minute story of Fannie Lou Hamer, Civil Rights Heroine-- and Mississippi sharecropper, disrupter of the 1964 Democratic National Convention
Brenda Ellis (actress, singer)
Barbara Bates Smith (playwright, actress)
Jeff Sebens (director/videographer)
-Enabling discussions about race & motivating voters
GO, GRANNY D! A 3-minute survey: Off-Broadway actress Barbara Bates & musician Jeff Sebens adapt this crusader's story from her biographer Dennis Burke.
Bill Moyers said, "To get the money out of politics, the tracks to follow will be the footprints of Granny D."
Touring countrywide before the pandemic, "Granny D" is ready to get back on the road.
More information: www.barbarabatessmith.com
Lee Smith's heroine, Molly Petree, orphaned by the Civil War, is a “spitfire and a burden” whose tale resonates with passion, humor, and drama- and with the talented vocal, banjo and hammer dulcimer score of Jeff Sebens.
"The average score of your evaluations on a scale of one to ten was TEN! —Silas House, Mountain Heritage Literary Festival
25 African-American teenagers, recruited from 1988’s race-rioting in Tampa near Playmakers, are "given a voice" by Barbara Bates Smith & Mark Hunter to music by Nat Adderley!