Letter from an Artist: Jules Corriere

August 22, 2001
Newport News, Va.

Hi Linda,

How's everything in rural North Carolina? Our latest project is not too far from you (one state away), in Union, South Carolina. Some really fabulous things are going on with this one. The town is going through some rough times right now. Two more mills closed this past year. Their Main Street has 20 closed storefronts. Economics and egos are being hit pretty hard right now. We're really lucky in that we're coming in at such a crucial point, when people don't just "want" to do a project together, but somehow, they need to do this.

The man who owns the radio station brought us in about a year ago. Nothing started happening until this year, and since we started, the thing has just bloomed — unbelievably. They say "yes" to everything.

I think I already told you we are doing a regular radio program each month, some of it fun skits, some of it stories from the county, and a little bit of music, using local talent. It will be played on 13 radio stations this man owns, between North Carolina and Florida. You may even be able to pick up one of the stations.

For Christmas, (actually, in November, for their Christmas open house week) we are doing a progressive Main Street performance. I love this part of it.

You know how drab and sad looking an empty storefront looks on a main street. Imagine 20 of them. Nearly half of all the stores are closed. Depressing sight. We are transforming it, though. After a meeting with the director of the Chamber of Commerce, he agreed to yet another suggestion Richard and I made, in order to boost the town ego. The director, Torance Inman, agreed to find 20 organizations, and each one would be responsible for painting a scene on one of the closed window storefronts. Our Christmas show on main street is an excuse for the window-painting project. We say it is decoration for the show. What it really is, is a sort of illustrated wish list for the town. What these 20 groups are going to paint is a stylized depiction of a thriving, bustling business — the kind they would like to see on Main Street, which will also tie into the 1930-40s radio show for Christmas we are planning. We came up with a list of 20 different stores — like a bookstore, a coffee shop, a Charles Atlas Gym, Beauty Salon, Fine Restaurant, Ice Cream Parlor, Bakery, Appliance Store, Optometrist. So, groups, like say, the Lions Club, will take a storefront business, say, optometrist office, since Lion's Clubs do things for the sight-impaired. People from their organization will paint inside the storefront, or on plyboard to put in the window, a scene of a busy eye doctor, with multiple ages, different colors, both sexes. We want to cut across stereo types, like having the shoeshine stand with a white man shining shoes of black and white women, or the Charles Atlas gym, with muscle-bound seniors lifting weights.

After the old-time radio Christmas show, the storefront windows will remain, with the dreams painted on the front, until a time when it opens again with a real business. Until then, though, it will put the dreams of the town out for them all to see. You know as well as we that something so powerful as making a dream public has a tendency to put it in the realm of creating a new reality.

The Christmas show itself will utilize about ten of these stores, for different scenes. There will be about seven different scenes, about five minutes long each, and rotating at six-minute intervals. A host character will meet his audience group of 30 to 35 people and take them down the main street to the first scene in an empty, but now decorated store. Every six minutes, the host moves on, bringing the audience with her/him. There are seven hosts as well, so as one host leaves with an audience group, a new host arrives six minutes later to take on a new audience group. The final spot is a very large store that has cookies and punch and music, maybe picture taking. The scenes will be held together by a sort of radio show format. I'm still working up the script for that, but it's what I have in mind. It opens November 15.

I did something like this in Newport News, but to a seven-scene version of "A Christmas Carol." We did the rotation the same way, and last year, we hosted 10,000 visitors in our five-day run. We are expecting 20,000 this year, because of the press we're getting in Southern Living Magazine. Both of my kids were "Tiny Tim." There were a total of 12 Tiny Tims! I think they want to do it again this year, too.

Anyway. The big production is scheduled to open July 19, 2002. It looks as though we are doing it in another bow-truss barn. Our advisory board is 50% African-American and 50% white. We have a tremendous amount of African-American support, because we are creating the project with them.

They've also commissioned me to write a book of their oral histories, to be ready for sale by the July show. So, it's exciting stuff.

I'm having a ball writing the radio show. I get to be funny!! I'll let you know the station numbers, so you can tune in.

Well, I'm going to break up my two kids. It sounds like two banshees in the spin cycle downstairs. Take care.

Hope to talk to you soon,
Jules

Original CAN/API publication: September 2001