“I’ve spent about 15 years plus some working with people’s stories in a series of communities in this country. I write plays from oral histories for those communities. Just finished my 30th. I’m watching people’s lives and communities literally change, sometimes drastically, for the work. Spider Speculations is the beginning of trying to understand the hows and whys of all the changes.”—Author Jo Carson Jo Carson lays bare her personal investigation into her own creative process after a spider bite on her back begins a series of life-altering events. Spider Speculations applies cutting edge mind-body science, quantum physics and ancient shamanistic techniques to describe how stories work in our bodies and our lives, and what happens when real stories are used in a public way. Carson, whose ability to capture the spoken word hallmarks her community-based work, sets down this story in her own distinctive voice, interspersing the journey with examples of her performance work. This truly original American book will speak to anyone thinking about art and community or engaging with people’s stories. Jo Carson is a writer and performer living in John City, Tennessee. She has published award-winning plays, short stories, children’s books, essays, poems and other work. Her play Whispering to Horses and solo show If God Came Down… premiered at Seven Stages in Atlanta. She currently performs Liars, Thieves, and Other Sinners on the Bench , made up of selected stories from her oral history plays, which will be published by TCG in 2007.
“Haunting and funny, full of folk wisdom and unfl inching honesty.”— Publishers Weekly , on the work of Jo Carson “She is a quintessential community artist with a true ear for the way people talk and what they really mean to say. Her work has inspired innumerable young artists to take up work with their own communities.”—Linda Frye Burnham, Community Arts Network “Human experience is varied and astonishing,” notes Jo Carson, “and this is a taste.” A uniquely American writer and performer, Carson has spent fifteen years working with peoples’ stories in communities across the country, crafting more than thirty plays from the oral histories she has collected. In performance, these works have illuminated and invigorated the communities in which they were forged, as the people see themselves onstage in a new light. This book collects Carson’s favorite excerpts from the plays—stories that range from the homespun to the extraordinary and together create a portrait of America in an amazing diversity and authenticity of voices. They are slices of life, passed beyond the circle of family and neighbors. Jo Carson is a writer and performer living in John City, Tennessee. She has published award-winning plays, short stories, children’s books, essays, poems, and other work, and for years was a commentator on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered . Her play Whispering to Horses and solo show If God Came Down . . . premiered at Seven Stages Theatre in Atlanta, and her book of monologues and dialogues, Stories I Ain’t Told Nobody Yet , made Booklist ’s editor’s choice and the American Library Association’s recommended list.
Fifty-four monologues and dialogues, a remarkable distillation of rhythms and nuances from the region of the heart.