New Mexico Centennial Grant Author Talk

Tapetes de Lana Weaving Center

Mora, New Mexico

November 12, 2011

Photo Credit: Don Shaw



Breathing Space

The final Footlights activity of 2011 is completed. So now I have breathing space, writing time, and inspired panic. I'm not out of ideas, don't have "writer's block." I have so many ideas and projects that I don't know where to begin. So, consequently, I do not begin. Is this procratination?

RADIO TALK

On Tuesday, November 8th, 8:45 am, KFUN/KLVF Radio, Las Vegas, NM, I will appear on Sharon VanderMeer's Writers' Talk Show and discuss writing, researching, Footlights in the Foothills, and new works in progress.

FOOTLIGHTS UPDATE

Author Talk, November 12, 2011, Saturday, 1:30 pm, Tapetes de Lana Weaving Center, Mora, New Mexico, presented as part of a Visiting Scholar Lecture Series funded by the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs Centennial Grant in support of the new book (in progress), Boomtown on the Western Frontier, and the Friends of the Las Vegas City Museum and Rough Rider Memorial Collection.

The talk will provide an overview of the plays, players, and venues of amateur theatricals in Las Vegas and Fort Union, NM, 1871-1899 with a focus on the Fort's performing companies and rivalries. Slide show of related historical photographs will be available.

"FOOTLIGHTS" NEWS

Saturday, August 20, 2011, 2 pm:  Presentation and Book Signing for Footlights in the Foothills at Tome on the Range, 158 Bridge Street, Las Vegas, NM, (505) 454-9944.

"LIGHT THE LIGHTS!"

Cloggers and sopranos, contortionists, Indian Club Swingers, ticket-of-leave men and ladies of the night, shepherds, saints, and devils—these are a few of the characters portrayed in the early amateur theatrical productions of Las Vegas, New Mexico, and nearby Fort Union. Between 1871 and 1899, this area hosted no fewer than eleven amateur acting troupes, an opera company, and an oratorio society. These home grown thespians performed both secular and non-secular plays in Spanish and English as well as musicals, variety acts, passion plays, and light operas. They played in courthouses, private salas, grand opera houses, and performance halls that were occasionally stocked with hay and grain. The amateur troupers strutted their stuff before farmers, outlaws, hooligans, soldiers, and the local aristocracy.

Between 1883 and 1886, the enlisted men of Fort Union formed several amateur companies and performed at the garrison. One group took its show on the road and played to Las Vegas audiences. During this brief period, fierce loyalties arose and a vicious rivalry played out in the pages of the Las Vegas newspapers. Entertainment of all sorts was an integral part of the booming western frontier. Although professional traveling troupes came by wagon and train, the homegrown companies—made up of butchers, seamstresses, homemakers, business leaders, and politicians—always drew large audiences. Footlights in the Foothills provides an overview of these amateur theatrical companies—the players, the plays, and the venues—in addition to stories of the social ties formed by the people who offered their talents and bared their egos to the audiences of "one of the hottest towns in the country."

Available at www.sunstonepress.com and

Tome on the Range

158 Bridge Street

Las Vegas, NM 87701

(505) 454-9944

www.tomeontherange.com

 

"Git Fer Vegas, Cowboy!"

Albuquerque Herald Full Page Advertisement, February 29, 1916

City of Las Vegas Museum Exhibit, 2009-2011

Photograph by Eric Maldonado

UCLA Extension Writers' Studio Plus

The Studio experience was everything UCLA Extension promised--and more. I enjoyed four intense, full days of total attention to writing, writers, and progress on my novel, Prairie Madness, Conspiracy at Fort Union, New Mexico. The workshop leader, Lisa Cron, really knows her stuff and gets her points across. She provides an excellent and very helpful site: http://www.wiredforstory.com/. And all of us writers were sincerely helpful and interested in each others diverse projects. The UCLA staff was excellent.



After the Studio, I returned with a volume of ideas on structuring the novel's narrative. But, luckily, I received some other writing opportunities. There's always something happening at the City of Las Vegas Museum, and it usually involves writing.



In April, I submitted "Harriet Knickerbocker, The Belle of Las Vegas," a brief (but intensely researched) biographical sketch. Hopefully, it will be published in a new photo-history of Las Vegas, New Mexico.



On May 6th, I presented a talk with slide images--"Cowboy Commerce: The Las Vegas, NM, Cowboys' Reunions"--at the annual conference of the Historical Society of New Mexico. The presentation was based on the Museum exhibit I had curated in October of 2009.



Now, I'm rearranging my files and settin up to get crackin' on Prairie Madness.

Ready for Los Angeles

Still waiting for galleys, but they should arrive soon. Here's the poster from last summer's dinner theatre production based on the forthcoming book. It was a great night!

Thanks to the actors--Deborah Blanche, Tim Crofton (also director), Lisa Cisneros, Joe Cooney, and Mike Trujillo; musicians--Jane Voss and Hoyle Osborne; photographer Birdie Jaworski; graphic design by Melissa Green.

Now, weather permitting, I'm taking off for Los Angeles and "Inside Story: Creating Powerful Narrative" with Lisa Cron.