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Actress Barbara Bates Smith, noted for her Off-Broadway debut with “Ivy Rowe,” adapted from Lee Smith’s bestselling novel Fair and Tender Ladies, now celebrates her 30th year of touring this show with a benefit performance on March 19 at Chestnut Creek School of the Arts. Musical accompaniment is by Jeff Sebens.
“I used to be a scandal; now I’m an institution!” This quote from the novel, says Barbara, aptly describes her portrayal of this feisty mountain woman’s life of “livin’ on love,” even as she takes a stand against the coal company’s bulldozer. Author Lee Smith has said, “Barbara IS Ivy Rowe! I am her most avid fan!” Of its Off-Broadway debut, The Village Voice wrote “A lifetime’s worth of sass, whoop, hurt, and reflection;” WOR Radio: “We are captivated and enthralled;” Variety: “Both funny and heartbreaking.”