Multiple Grammy winner Janis Ian, left, in 2008 plays with the late Jean Ritchie, a Kentuckian who grew up in Viper in Perry County and after moving to New York became a celebrated artist in the folk music revival. (Photo courtesy of Janis Ian)

It was big news last year when singer-songwriter and multiple Grammy winner Janis Ian announced Berea College would be the home for her archives.?

How Janis Ian’s ‘life’ came to Berea College

Berea College archivists have been working with the collection since the first materials arrived and are now ready to share some of what they’ve cataloged. The college is celebrating the archives’ opening with a series of events Oct. 17-20.

Ian’s archives span over a century, beginning with her grandparents’ immigration papers early in the 20th century through Ian’s career performing around the world and with musical legends including Joan Baez, Leonard Berstein, Dolly Parton and many others, to her advocacy for civil, women’s and LGBTQ rights.?

Click here for information about the “Breaking Silence” celebration and a short video in which project archivist Peter Morphew offers an introduction to the collection.?

Some highlights of the weekend’s events:

Friday and Saturday, Oct. 18-19: During the day guests can see samples from the Ian archives in the Hutchins Library atrium as well as archival footage from Ian’s public addresses and concerts.

7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18: The play “Mama’s Boy,” written by Ian’s mother, Pearl, will be performed at the Jelkeyl Drama Center.

7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19: Janis Ian Tribute Concert at Phelps Stokes Chapel emceed by Silas House will feature Amythyst Kiah, Aoife Scott, Melissa Carper, S.G Goodman, Senora May.

Bestselling Canadian novelist and essayist Emily St. John Mandel will discuss her work — including “Station Eleven,” a 2014 novel about a global pandemic’s aftermath —? at 6 p.m. on Oct. 17 at Transylvania University in Lexington.

The event is part of this year’s Bale Boone Symposium organized by the Gaines Center for the Humanities at the University of Kentucky.

Mandel will participate in a moderated conversation with Gaines Center director Michelle Sizemore, who says Mandel’s “work could not be more relevant for our time.”?

In “Station Eleven,” which has been translated in 33 languages and was adapted into an HBO miniseries, “a global pandemic ravages the human population and survivors search for meaning and purpose after civilization’s collapse. The story follows the remarkable journey of the Traveling Symphony, a Shakespeare troupe dedicated to making and sharing art amid the devastation.

“The group’s mantra, ?Survival is Insufficient,’ reinforces not only the basic needs of food, shelter, clean air and water, and health care for our lives, but simultaneously, the necessity of the arts and humanities for our existence,” said Sizemore.

Former President Barack Obama named “The Glass Hotel” one of his favorites books of 2020. In it the Canadian novelist “weaves several narratives together as it tells a story of financial corruption, greed and a massive Ponzi scheme,” according to CBC Books. Some of the plot unfolds in Mandel’s native Vancouver.

Like all Gaines Center events, Mandel’s appearance will be open to the public, but registration is required at “An Evening with Emily St. John Mandel.”?

A book signing will follow the discussion.

Royal Theater, 1801 - 1815 West Broadway in Louisville. (OneWest)

Revitalizing the historic Royal Theater in Louisville’s West End will be the focus of a community discussion Tuesday afternoon.

OneWest, a community development nonprofit, will host the event in collaboration with Luckett & Farley Architects.

“Opened in the 1920s, the theater quickly became a cultural landmark, known for showcasing the latest films and hosting community events,” according to a news release. “Its elegant design and vibrant atmosphere made it a central hub for entertainment and social gatherings in the West End. However, over the decades, the theater has fallen into disrepair, and OneWest aims to revitalize this landmark and collaborate with community members to shape a next chapter,” says the release.

The discussion on June 25 will be structured to accommodate different groups:

1 p.m., city officials;

2 p.m., community groups and schools;

3 p.m., business Leaders;

4:15 p.m., community residents.

The event will be held at 1803 W. Broadway, with parking available on the side and back of the building.

Attendees are strongly encouraged to RSVP using the following link: RSVP for The Royal Project Discussion.

The scene at Pioneer Playhouse in Danville, which this summer celebrates its 75th season. (Photo provided)

Pioneer Playhouse in Danville will lift the curtain this weekend on its 75th season of staging plays under the stars. It is the oldest outdoor theater in Kentucky, and unlike several others, has survived many challenges.

The weather is always a challenge. So are the economy and fierce competition for entertainment dollars. The COVID-19 pandemic crippled several outdoor theaters in Kentucky but Pioneer Playhouse remained open.

Another blow to Pioneer Playhouse is the death of one of its co-founders, Charlotte Henson, in February at age 93. She shared the vision of her late husband, Col. Eben Henson, who died in 2004, to bring Broadway to the Bluegrass. Their theater attracted hundreds of young actors over the years, including John Travolta, Lee Majors, Jim Varney and Bo Hopkins.

Daughter Holly Henson primarily ran the theater after her dad died — and it flourished — but she died unexpectedly in 2013 of breast cancer.

At the reins now are the two other Henson children. Robby Henson is artistic director and Heather Henson is managing director. Their brother, Eben Henson, primarily contributes to the theater with his music.?

The theater also has been guided over the years by a board of directors and influential emeritus board members like the late Gov. Brereton Jones and Lexington businessman and philanthropist Warren Rosenthal.

“It’s been very hard to keep on going,” said Heather Henson.? “We have a strong network of support but we primarily appeal to an aging population.

“When we do see the younger audience, they tend to enjoy it but it’s hard to get them out.”

She said she is not sure how many out-of-state patrons visit the theater but said an informal review of license plates recently showed that about 70% of the visitors to Pioneer Playhouse are from outside of Boyle County.

When asked about the future, Henson said it is hard to say whether Eben’s and Charlotte’s grandchildren will ever operate the theater.

“My kids love the playhouse but I don’t think they are theater kids, at least not yet,” she said.? “They have seen how hard the work is.”

“When Robby and I are gone, the future of Pioneer Playhouse will be left to our board. We just hope to have a grand season this year. Much has been planned.”??

A 75th? Anniversary Gala is planned for the evening of June 15 with live music, dancing, food and bar. Alumni from previous shows are to show up.? Included in that group are Kim Darby, who starred with John Wayne in the 1969 classic western “True Grit” and Eben French Mastin, who has starred in many playhouse productions.

Attendees to the gala are urged to “think ’50s, Hollywood glam” in their dress.

“We are going to celebrate 75 years,” said Henson. “I don’t think even dad would have contemplated that.”

The glory years of outdoor theaters in Kentucky probably are in the past, she said.

“I still think they are magical places but times change and various problems arise. There are a few like us still hanging in there.”

Where the show goes on

The second oldest outdoor theater in Kentucky is “The Stephen Foster Story,” a musical at the amphitheater of My Old Kentucky Home State Park in Bardstown. It started in 1959 and tells the story of the composer who wrote Kentucky’s state song, “My Old Kentucky Home.”

“It’s been challenging but I think we are doing great now,” said Johnny Warren, the musical’s executive artistic director for 12 years. He started as a cast member many years ago.

The amphitheater is in the state park but the musical is run by the Stephen Foster Drama Association, a nonprofit, Warren said. It receives no state funding and will also produce “The Little Mermaid” this summer.

“We’re 10 years behind Pioneer Playhouse in longevity but I think both of us are OK,” said Warren. “Several outdoor theaters have not survived the challenges.”

Even before the pandemic, “My Old Kentucky Home” was concerned about its future.

In 2018, its amphitheater was crumbling. State officials closed it after inspectors found major structural issues and there was no money to make repairs.

A major fund raiser brought in about $1.2 million for necessary repairs.

Warren is aware of criticisms that “My Old Kentucky Home” and other Foster songs present a romanticized, ahistorical version of the antebellum South and the institution of slavery.?

There’s no evidence that Foster ever visited Bardstown or the mansion at the state park, according to The Center for American Music at the University of Pittsburgh. The composer wrote “My Old Kentucky Home” in response to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” while living in Pittsburgh, originally titling it “Poor Uncle Tom, Good Night,” according to the center which includes the Stephen Foster Memorial Museum.?

Art is subjective, Warren said, and the musical —? which includes 50 Foster songs and performers in hoop skirts and colorful costumes — is a fictionalized version of the composer’s story. “We are very proud to tell about people who were enslaved,” said Warren. “We are proud of how we do it. We are a play. It’s fiction and we have minorities in the play and in the audience. We try to entertain and inform.”

Shakespeare in the park

The Shakespeare Festival?is in its 64th season at?Central Park in Louisville. It started May 29 and runs through Aug. 11. Its productions this year are “Romeo and Juliet,” “The Comedy of Errors” and “The Tempest.” Admission is free.

“We are doing great, especially coming out of COVID,” said Matt Wallace, producing artistic director since 2013.? Attendance at Central Park has been running over 25,000 a season.

Kentucky Shakespeare, like other outdoor theaters, no longer is a funded item in the state’s two-year budget but it does receive $20,000 from the Kentucky Arts Council and $10,000 from the state Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet. Wallace said Kentucky Shakespeare also raises money through various donations. Donations in the park last year totaled about $158,000, he said.

“Shakespeare is still free and that brings out the crowds.”

Wallace said tourism is doing well in Kentucky with a multitude of ways to spend dollars on entertainment.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear recently announced that 2023 marked a new record year for Kentucky tourism, with $13.6 billion generated in economic impact and 95,222 jobs.?

According to a study by Tourism Economics, 79.3 million travelers visited Kentucky last year, a 4.5 increase from 2022. They spent $1.26 billion on recreation and entertainment.

Other summer theatrical offerings

Several other outdoor theaters plan to be busy this summer.

The Kincaid Regional Theatre in Falmouth in Pendleton County has been putting on plays since 1983. On tap this summer is “Gilligan’s Island: The Musical.”

Calls to the theater about its status were not returned.

Old Fort Harrod State Park in Harrodsburg has scheduled for the first two weekends in July the outdoor drama, “James Harrod:? The Battle for Kentucky.” It is the ninth year for the production.

For years, the park was the site of a popular drama about Daniel Boone.

No calls were returned from the Kentucky Conservatory Theatre in Lexington.

Hard times come knocking

In the 1970s, the Civil War drama based on John Fox Jr.’s book, “The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come,” was staged in Letcher County until it lost its venue.

After many years without the drama, the Cumberland Mountain Arts & Crafts Council in Jenkins decided to bring it back in 2013.

And then devastating floods in 2022 swallowed the amphitheater where the drama was held.

“We’re still recovering from that and hope to get the play going again late this summer, probably on a limited basis,” said Don Amburgey, president of the council and the play’s producer.?

In the summer of 2017, Pine Knob Outdoor Theatre in Caneyville in Grayson County put on 10 shows.

Honus Shain, who started the theatre in 1987, said it closed after two cast members in their 30s died from COVID-19 after refusing to take the vaccine. “I would say it is closed for good.”

In the summer of 1962, Jenny Wiley Theatre produced a successful drama about Kentucky pioneers.

It was a nonprofit that produced shows at both the Jenny Wiley Amphitheatre, located within the Jenny Wiley State Resort Park in Prestonsburg, and an indoor venue in Pikeville.

In 2019, the company canceled its performances and was evicted from both its locations by the municipal property owners. Its programming has been replaced by the Appalachian Center for the Arts in Pikeville.

A staffer with the Prestonsburg Tourism Commission said no shows are planned for Prestonsburg.

Twilight Theatre Productions in Aurora at Kenlake State Resort Park in Western Kentucky ended its outdoor productions a few years ago. “The woman running it got sick and that was it, gone,” said a clerk at the park.

Correction: This story has been corrected to say that Kentucky Shakespeare, while not not receiving money in the state budget, does receive funding from the Kentucky Arts Council and the state Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet.

Greenbo Lake State Resort Park lodge. (Kentucky State Parks)

A foundation dedicated to continuing a former Kentucky poet laureate’s legacy is renewing a literary workshop in Northeastern Kentucky.?

The Jesse Stuart Foundation will host the Jack Ellis Writers Workshop at Greenbo Lake State Resort Park June 21-22. Several instructors, including George Ella Lyon — another Eastern Kentucky native and poet laureate —?will lead participants in more than a dozen breakout sessions on topics such as crime and fiction writing, poetry, research for writing and publishing processes.?

“Writing, first of all, is for you,” Lyon said in a statement. “It’s really a tool for understanding yourself and helping yourself. Your voice matters. You have stories to tell that nobody else could tell. You look at the world in a way that no one has ever looked at it before.”

Lyon, who has authored poetry collections, adult novels, novels for young people and dozens of children’s picture books and more, is a poet, writer, teacher, musician, storyteller and social activist with Appalachian roots and a global reach, the foundation said.?

James Gifford, CEO and senior editor of the foundation, said Lyon was selected for the workshop because “she is one of Kentucky’s best known literary figures.”?

“She’s an effective presenter and an energetic presenter, and just a genuinely nice person who is very popular with the general public and also the more literate public,” Gifford said.?

The other instructors include Gifford, Stan Bumgardner, Victor M. Depta, Brenda Evans, Keith R. Kappes, Wayne Onkst, Edwina Pendarvis and Christina St. Clair. More information about them, as well as information about registering for the workshop and agenda, can be found at jsfbooks.com/writers-workshop.?

Participants are chosen on a first-come basis. Those selected will pay a $50 registration fee on the first day of the workshop.?

Headquartered in Ashland, the Jesse Stuart Foundation was founded by Stuart and his wife, Naomi Deane Stuart, in 1979. Stuart led a similar writers’ workshop at Murray State University between 1969 and 1977. The foundation now serves as a regional publisher and bookseller of Stuart’s works as well as those by other Kentucky and Appalachian authors.?

Gifford said the foundation is an “institutional extension of Jesse Stuart’s life and work” and seeks to promote literacy and learning as part of its mission. This workshop is a natural extension of that.?

“We wanted to do it as a service to the people of Ashland and Greenup and Northeastern Kentucky, but we also wanted to do it because it was basically an extension of things that Stuart had done during his lifetime,” Gifford said.?

Hopscotch House, established in 1987 as a retreat for women writers and artists, is located off Wolf Pen Branch Road in eastern Jefferson County. (Photo from Salliebingham.com)

LOUISVILLE — Tucked away on a 412-acre farm in eastern Jefferson County, Hopscotch House, a rambling, five-bedroom farmhouse dating to 1848, was envisioned as a peaceful sanctuary for women artists and writers when the Kentucky Foundation for Women acquired it in 1987.

But its plan to sell the house has triggered an acrimonious battle with philanthropist Sallie Bingham, who launched the non-profit foundation to support female writers and artists in Kentucky and has filed a lawsuit to try to block the sale.

“There didn’t seem to be any way of persuasion,” said Bingham, who founded the foundation nearly 40 years ago with proceeds from the sale of her family’s media companies including The Courier-Journal and the Louisville Times newspapers.

A major complication: Hopscotch House, on a 10-acre site, is surrounded by Wolf Pen Branch Mill Farm, owned by Bingham, who placed the entire farm in a conservation easement to bar development.

The farmhouse, off Wolf Pen Branch Road on a small island of land inside her farm, is listed for sale at $2.75 million.

“I don’t want to see it broken up and some strip mall put in or houses or whatever,” said Bingham, who now lives in New Mexico and operates the farm primarily as a wildlife refuge.

Bingham filed a lawsuit in March in U.S. District Court, demanding that the foundation drop the planned sale and honor her initial vision for Hopscotch House as a retreat for women artists and writers.?

“Creativity demands that women be allowed to retreat, at times, from their world and their obligations,” said the lawsuit, quoting Bingham, who was the foundation’s first executive director. “Hopscotch provides the setting for such retreats.”

As an alternative, her lawsuit proposes the foundation be ordered to turn Hopscotch House over to her or to a Kentucky charity of her choosing.

Complicated tax rules governing nonprofit foundations prevent her from buying the property herself, Bingham said.

There is no contract specifying the use of the farmhouse the foundation owns. Bingham said her original plan for establishing the foundation was by agreement among “friends who understood what I was talking about.”

‘Lacks basic amenities’

The foundation, which no longer uses Hopscotch House for workshops and retreats, has fired back, in a counterclaim calling Bingham’s lawsuit a “malicious, coordinated effort” to block the sale, discourage potential buyers and diminish the property’s value.

The aging farmhouse, which the foundation bought in 1987, needs extensive renovation and its isolated location deters some women from attending events out of safety concerns, its lawsuit claims. Further, lack of reliable internet and water service have become increasingly problematic.

“The house lacks basic amenities that female artists use in the 21st century,” the lawsuit said.

Internet access is outdated and spotty and the farmhouse has no outside water source; it relies on a cistern with water supplied by truck. Upgrades would be extremely costly and likely impossible because the conservation easement protecting the farm restricts construction, digging or disruption to the surrounding property, it said.

Bingham’s true motivation, the counterclaim says, is to block the sale and potential development of the Hopscotch House property, which she has proposed placing in a conservation easement that would enhance the value of her surrounding farm.

The counterclaim, filed by lawyers with Wyatt, Tarrant and Combs, accuses Bingham of defamation through comments and posts on her website, SallieBingham.com, and of breaching her duty as a former executive director of the foundation.

In a reply filed by her lawyers with the Denton Bingham Greenebaum firm, Bingham denies the allegations, dismissing them as a “kitchen sink full” of meritless claims.

“This lawsuit concerns the foundation’s brazen attempt to sell off for its own financial gain certain real property located in the middle of Ms. Bingham’s historic Wolf Pen Branch Mill Farm,” the lawsuit said, property intended to be used for “retreats and residencies for women artists.”

The case, assigned to Senior U.S. District Judge Charles R. Simpson III, is pending.

Meanwhile, efforts to sell the property have stalled, said Sharon LaRue, executive director.

Bingham controls access to the site and informed the real estate agent she did not have permission to drive through the farm property to show the home, the foundation’s lawsuit said. This caused the agent to cancel one showing and has left potential buyers in doubt about access to the property, it said.

Further, the legal battle is interfering with the foundation’s main purpose — to use proceeds from the endowment from Bingham to fund the work of women writers and artists throughout Kentucky, LaRue said.

The foundation awards about $350,000 a year in grants, sponsors artists and writers and hosts workshops and retreats.

“This process is keeping us from doing our mission,” LaRue said.

Bingham acknowledged it may be a protracted battle.

“I think we’re in for a long process of legal maneuvering to try to force the foundation to do what it was intended to do,” she said.

The Bingham break-up

The year was 1986 when Barry Bingham Sr., the head of the family-owned Kentucky media empire, shocked the community and made national headlines with the news he was putting the companies — which included two newspapers, WHAS TV and radio stations and Standard Gravure printing — up for sale.

The year before, Sallie Bingham — one of three Bingham siblings who held shares in the family-owned companies — began planning the foundation, which she expected to fund with her share from the sale. She already had been attempting to sell her 15% share in the company, which media watchers said helped trigger the sale.

In a piece on her blog, Bingham said it was her time at the newspaper that inspired her to create the foundation.

“I was aware from my years as book editor at the Courier-Journal of the amount of work that women did at the Bingham companies; almost entirely in lower-paid jobs such as distributing mail, cooking and serving in the company cafeteria, working as secretaries, or cleaning,” Bingham wrote. “These women were about to lose their jobs with the sale of the company.”

Bingham decided to create and endow a foundation that would support and help fund women artists working for social change.

Bingham served as the foundation’s first director from 1985 until her 1991 move to New Mexico.

Bingham, in an interview, said she relinquished management to the board and a new executive director.

“I felt it was better, since I was not going to be living in Kentucky, not to be hovering over the foundation,” she said.

Meanwhile, Bingham had begun acquiring two tracts that make up her Wolf Pen Branch farm.?

When the farmhouse and five acres of land became available, the foundation, under her direction, bought it from the owners with the intent of making it a retreat for women artists and writers. Later, Bingham said five acres and a smaller house? contiguous to the farmhouse became available, which she bought and donated to the foundation.

Bingham, in a blog post, said she named the farmhouse Hopscotch House “because I want the women there to have fun.”

Changing mission

The foundation initially was started with a plan to “spend down” its funds in order to help as many writers and artists as possible, the foundation’s court filing said.

But Bingham later changed the mission to one of maintaining and investing the endowment and using proceeds to fund individuals, it said. The endowment has grown to about $16 million and gives away about 5% of its income annually.

Hopscotch House was meant to be the center of its activities but over time, began to be less feasible as a site for hosting women from across the state, LaRue said.

The 2020 COVID pandemic forced it to suspend hosting group events at the site and because of the need for repairs and other limitations, the foundation ended use of the site in 2022.

It instead has been hosting workshops and retreats through a partnership with the Sisters of Loretto on their campus in Marion County, which LaRue said is more suitable for its participants with lodgings, a dining hall, internet access and other amenities.

In a newsletter sent to members in March 2024, the foundation staff and board members said the foundation had sought professional advice on possible upgrades and repairs to Hopscotch House and learned they would be very costly and difficult to achieve.?

The foundation also surveyed participants for their opinions.

Some mentioned concerns about personal safety, because of the remoteness of the site. Others, including women of color, mentioned not feeling comfortable in the affluent, Eastern Jefferson County neighborhood. Others said they preferred a site in closer driving distance.

“Everyone wanted updated electricity, a sustainable water source, better internet/Wifi options” and other improvements, it said.

After considering these and other factors, the board decided to sell the property, it said.

LaRue said the foundation is seeking to further its mission while adjusting to changing times and needs of artists and writers it supports.

For example, contemporary philanthropy promotes meeting needs of recipients rather than dictating terms. That might involve funding someone’s trip to a conference or providing a grant for an artist or writer to choose a location to work.

“Trust-based philanthropy is the big thing right now,” she said. “People know what they need. We want our community to be part of the decision making.”

LaRue said she and the board remained focused on that mission, but the lawsuit has complicated it, blocking access to funds from the potential sale of Hopscotch House and causing it to spend money on costly legal fees.

“We are still giving out grants, but we are blocked from any action on the house,” LaRue said.