Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Every April, Henson's daughter Holly, a stand-up comedian in Minneapolis and the current
artistic director, goes to New York to audition actors for the summer season (they're the only
ones who get paid). As Holly is quick to point out, “It's not for everyone. We're definitely off
the beaten path. I always say we're looking for the anti-divas of the theater world.”
BEFORE PULP FICTION
In 1969, when he was only 15, John Travolta appeared at Pioneer Playhouse in
The
Ephraim McDowell Story
, an original play about a 19th-century Kentucky surgeon.
Other actors who honed their skills at Pioneer include Lee Majors, Bo Hopkins, and
Jim Varney. The real star at Pioneer Playhouse, though, was Colonel Henson, the
string-tie wearing charmer who staged more than 300 plays. Other accomplishments
from his wide-ranging and storied career include working as an alligator wrestler in
Silver Springs, Florida; acting in dozens of movies, notably
Raintree County, April
Love,
and
The Treasure of Matacumbe;
and performing in plays with Tony Curtis,
Bea Arthur, and Harry Belafonte while studying drama in New York. In 2003, PBS
aired a documentary about Henson and his world-famous Pioneer Playhouse.
Volunteers come in from around the country (one volunteer has been driving here from
Nevada for five years), and they either camp at the campground on the 200-acre site or land a
spot in one of the theater's rustic rooms. In return for four or five hours help a day Thursday
through Saturday, they get three meals a day (except Sunday, when the cook gets a day off)
and free tickets to all five performances. An outdoor preshow dinner of fried chicken, barbe-
cue brisket, corn pudding, green beans, and other southern delights is served.
Besides the campground, the Pioneer Playhouse theater complex includes a drama
school, a museum, a re-creation of an 18th-century Kentucky village, and a box office that
was once the train station in MGM's Civil War epic
Raintree County
. There is no charge to
volunteer at the Pioneer Playhouse.
HOW TO GET IN TOUCH
Pioneer
Playhouse,
840
Stanford
Road,
Danville,
KY
40422,
859-236-2747,
www.pioneerplayhouse.com.
