November 2014 Milton Newsletter

Sky Over Milton | Project News | Feature Story | Profile of the Month

Project News

Ms. Nola: A voice to remember

by Lisa D'Amour, co-creator and author of the play We first met Nola Broussard in 2012 on one of our early trips to Milton, LA. She was 98 at the time and her son, George “Wawee” Broussard had invited us over to talk with her and a couple other women from her generation. We sat in Wawee’s living room and heard stories of the early days in Milton, when school lessons were done by candlelight, food was stored in a hole under the house to keep it cool, and families would take turns slaughtering cows and sharing the meat. We were mesmerized by Nola’s strong, deep voice, and the way she would revert to cajun french when she would confer with her friends about details from the past. These pictures show two different views of Ms. Nola-- the second one is from that first visit. Below them is a picture of the Vermillion River, which runs through Milton, LA. Ms. Nola lived next to it her entire life.

When we started to develop our performance, we wanted to bring voices from all the Miltons into the room, and Miss Nola was the first person who came to mind. Early on in the performance, an actor puts her hand on a speaker, and it comes to life with Nola’s voice, talking about how she met her husband in this tiny town. Even when she is just a voice coming out of a speaker, she commands the room with her age and experience. Nola Broussard passed away on Monday October 27th , shortly before her 100th birthday. We are so honored to have met her, and to have her live on in our show.

Feature Story

PearlDamour's recent trips to Milton, North Carolina

by Ashley Sparks, engagement strategist on the project When we started the MILTON project, we knew we didn’t just want to drop in, do the show, and then leave town. So although we completed the show of MILTON

What's Up In Milton WI

Upcoming on December 6th is a full weekend of Christmas Celebrations including: Hot Dogs with Santa at The Gathering Place, the Chamber of Commerce Christmas Walk, 200 nutcrackers on display at the Milton College, a Christmas Carol opens at the Milton House, and the 27th Annual Cookie Walk at Milton United Methodist Church!

MA

For Veterans’ Day the town hosted a parade featuring the Milton High School Concert Band and Choir, local veterans, and clergy. Click here for the full schedule.

NC

December 6th Santa is making a special early appearance in Milton! The town is hosting a day of Christmas festivities including a Bake Sale at the Woman’s Club, and Artist Reception at Milton Studio Art Gallery, caroling, Santa making a cameo at the Thomas Day House and the annual lighting of the Christmas Tree!

LA

Milton Elementary Middle School was one of seven schools and a dozen businesses cited as the most spirited contestants in the annual “Paint the Town Red” contest held during the University of Lafayette’s week-long Homecoming celebration.

OR

Randy Grant was recently hired as the new director of the MiltonFreewater Downtown Alliance!

in Milton, NC last August, we were happy to be able to make two recent trips back to town through the generous support of the Danville Regional Foundation.

There is an active group of local advisors who are extremely interested in building on the momentum from the 1st Annual Street Fair last June and our subsequent MILTON performance. Their idea? To create an Annual Thomas Day Performance Festival, to coincide with the Street Fair next June 2015. We are working with them to explore the possibilities. Our return trips focused on resource sharing, play development, and big-picture visioning to help pull off a small-scale festival. And we made sure to get in a generous amount of porch time with some of our friends while we were there!

Lisa and I visited Milton in October and facilitated a 2day planning retreat for Board Members of the Thomas Day House. We started with an introduction to different festival models, ticketing structures, and big picture dreaming. During day two of the retreat, we mapped out the local resources (things, money, and people) that could support pulling off the festival. I really love doing this type of mapping with folks -- it’s a tool that can ease the pressure off core planning groups feeling like they have to do ALL the work. We can see the wheels turning as this small team starts to think about how their little festival is unique. Local history buffs, students and professors from NC Central, and kids that live in town were just a few of the groups that were identified as people that would be in their ‘target audience market’. It was our first time back since the show, and we were welcomed with open arms, a fresh venison stew, brown beans with chow chow, and cast iron cornbread. We said grace and dug in, perpetually humbled by the hospitality we experience in Milton, North Carolina.

In November, Katie returned and continued the training

with the planning committees for both the Street Fair and the Thomas Day Performance Festival. This time the focus was on marketing methods and creating some clear plans for gaining support from other locals.

She also worked with local storyteller Fred Motley on the performance that might anchor the performance festival-- a short play about the life of Thomas Day. Katie, Fred, and our local colleague from MILTON Monet Marshall workshopped the material with a small group of actors and discussed production plans (Fred and Monet pictured here). As we continue our experiments in the way that arts can be a transformational tool in community, we have been privileged to see it happening in real time in Milton, NC. As outsiders we know that we learn so much from being in these special towns -- it’s a gift for us to share our tools as artists and watch the town grow their skills as organizers, arts producers, and instigators of creativity.

Profile of the Month Hall Kirkham is an Episcopal priest in Milton, MA.

Click here to learn about his life as an investment consultant prior to the priesthood!

About the Miltons Visit the Sky Over Milton Website and see information and historical facts about the five towns involved in this project: click here!

Participate If you live in one of the Miltons, click on these buttons to answer the question of the month or share pictures of the sky from your Milton.

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