PIECED TOGETHER
NEWPORT NEWS, VIRGINIA
Have you ever burned a book?
There
is something that happens – the pages will turn, lifted by the heat of the
fire, some quality in the ink is engraved in light on the page. Like illuminated
manuscripts.
Just for an instant –
~From
Pieced Together, by Jo Carson
In September of 1997, the Yoder Barn held it's
first performance,
Pieced Together
The play began as a celebration by the local Mennonite
Community of its One Hundred Years in Newport News. Drawing from nearly one
hundred oral histories, the play told stories of the birth, growth and changes
of this unique community on Virginia's historic peninsula. Adding to Jo Carson's
script were the songs of Folk Singer and composer Sally Rogers, as well as
traditional Mennonite Hymns, sung in four part, Acapella Harmony.
Like the community itself, the Play and Project of Pieced
Together has grown, drawn from the strengths of its community participants and
leaders. Since this first play, The Yoder Barn has produced plays annually, and
with each new play comes new stories of heritage, tradition, and change.
Visit The Yoder Barn Website
for information on Dates and Times of Coming Performances.
THE YODER BARN itself is a site not to be missed.
This 1934 Dairy Barn was picked up, put on rollers and moved a
quarter of a mile to save it from destruction as businesses began springing up
around it. The same company that moved the Cape Hatteras Light House was called
in for this job.
John David and Esther Mable Yoder began working with Richard
Geer in the early nineties preparing for the Centennial Celebration. One
afternoon, they took Richard out to the Barn before it had been moved. He said
to them at that moment, "This needs to be the performance space". At
the time, it was filled with farm equipment, debris and general stuff that had
been gathering for thirty years. No one knew how it would happen that this space
would become the theater.
A couple of years later, after the Barn was moved, the Yoder
Preservation Trust put Walter Wildman on task as the architect. Working also
with Richard, Brackley and Joe, the Barn was designed for a Community
Performance.
Audience Members now walk into the cathedral like space, with a
thirty five foot ceiling. Its balloon frame, bow truss structure makes it a wide
open area, with no central support beams. The multiple stages are located
throughout the structure, which is one hundred and forty feet long. The old
hayloft has been turned into a balcony and stage, a hundred year old hay wagon
is used as another stage, and the old barn door serves as a stage door on the
main stage.
Walter Wildman's vision for the space earned a national award
for architectural rehabilitation. The Barn was not only saved, but given a new
life. Where before the barn delivered milk to the community, it now nourishes
the community in other ways-- offering a place for neighbors to come together
and listen to and share their stories.
The Yoder Barn is truly a gift to the people of Newport News.
Thank You, John David, Esther Mable, and the Yoder Preservation Trust.