Swamp Gravy

Swamp Gravy is the U.S. state of Georgia's official folk-life play, but more than that is a community project that has contributed to emotional and economic healing in its community, Colquitt, Georgia.

Story gatherers from the area were charged with the task of recording stories from the community. Once they were gathered, the stories were transcribed and put together in a script by playwright Jo Carson. Swamp Gravy[1] began small, just a one time event performed in the elementary school auditorium. Since then, it has grown into a seasonal run of thirty-two shows annually. A new show premieres each October with new stories from the town. Original music is added by local volunteers to complement the stories.Valerie and Presto

Colquitt was a small town, struggling like many of its kind. Projects like Swamp Gravy and the Millennium Mural Project have succeeded in bringing tourism to the area.

The cast consists of 60-80 volunteer actors. Many cast members have been with the project throughout its life.

Swamp Gravy has become a national and international model for community theater. Delegates from Colquitt have traveled to nearly 15 states and several foreign nations in order to start other projects of the same kind.

The Arts-Council's flagstaff production, Swamp Gravy, has paved the way for other shows at Cotton Hall Theater including professional productions, variety shows, and youth theater shows.

December 3, 2003 saw the world premiere of Cotton Hall's first professional production,A Southern Christmas Carol with book, music and lyrics by Rob Lauer—who also directed the production.

A Southern Christmas Carol was staged with a cast of 10 professional actors, and received critical raves and was a box-office success. The theater staged it again in both 2004 and 2005. Due to the number of Holiday season tourists coming to Colquitt to see the show, sales at local shops and restaurants reached new highs for the months of November and December.

During the three years that the show was produced at Cotton Hall, a number of professional actor were featured who have since had success on Broadway and in the music industry. Character actor Peter Lewis created the role of 'Old Man Scrooge' in 2003 and repeated it in 2004. Singer and actor Rubin Singleton created the role of 'Tiny' in 2003 and repeated it in 2004 before landing a recording contract and performing with Beyoncé and Josh Groban. Karen Beyer, who also choreographed Swamp Gravy and Christmas Carol, created the role of 'Missionary Lady' before going on to appear as a regular in the Lifetime Channel's series Army Wives. Actress Marissa McGowen created the role of 'Fan' before going on to star in the Broadway revival of "A Little Night Music." Andrew Frace played 'the Ghost of Christmas Past' in 2004 and went on to appear in the nation tour of Disney's The Lion King and then star in the Las Vegas production of the Tony Awarding winning Best music of 2005, "Jersey Boys." Michael Mahany played the role of 'the Ghost of Christmas Past' in 2005 and then went on appear in the original Off Broadway production of "Spring Awakening" and as the male lead in Disney's High School On Stage, and in the film Sex In the City 2.Matt Gibson, who played Nephew Fred and Eb in the 2005 production, appeared with Patti LePone in the Tony Award-winning 2008 Broadway revival of "Gypsy."

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