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Sacred Nine Project: Cora L, Imposter
The troubling legacy of an American treasure
first performed: Sunday, January 5, 2020, 3:00 PM, Rayne United Methodist Church
The year is 2070 (really 2020), and US President Henrietta Blair has created the Ministry of Virtuousness, aimed at reviewing artists, poets, and musicians and determining if their legacies should be RENEWED or REVOKED. The Ministry of Virtuousness Performers led by Minister James Apple (played by Ken Goode) offered oral arguments and aural evidence for and against this songwriter and lyricist. The delegates came and voted on January 5, 2020, at Rayne Memorial Methodist Church, 3900 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70115.
We would like you to cast your vote, too! It won’t be the same has having attended the Legacy Hearing, but if you will start below, you can start reading the script. You can also watch the video of the entire hearing. After each segment of the script you can continue in order, as the thumbnails are presented above: “parlour,” “minstrel,” “rally, “sacred,” and “gospel.” Links to keep the sequence intact will be provided at the end of each script segment. After reading this script (or watching the video) you will understand what this is all about and will discover the real identity of our subject! After you have read her case, please click the poll below a little ways down and offer your vote and feedback!
photos by Arynne Fannin
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The Legacy Hearing of Cora L, Imposter (This is the unedited version of the script that had been shorted for sake of time for the performance on January 5, 2020.)
JAMES APPLE, Legacy Minister and narrator
[speaking up to the balcony] Minister Martha Oliver, please mark the beginning of our hearing on this day, the fifth of January, 2070, at exactly 3:05pm.
[introduction]
Good afternoon, Delegates, I am Legacy Minister James Apple. Thank you for performing this duty. As you know, one of Henrietta Blair's campaign promises was to institute a Ministry of Virtuousness, which examines American artists and the quality of their output and character to determine if their legacy is to be renewed or revoked. For each Legacy Candidate, the Ministry meets first. When that panel votes against a candidate, a Legacy Satellite like this one holds a public vote in order to grant the artist, living or dead, the fairest process. That is why we find ourselves here today, and why some of you may have already been notified to serve in another upcoming Legacy Hearing, for a songwriter who has just turned 80, and has finally decided to retire, Taylor Swift.
This may be the first time many of you have served as delegates, so allow me to initiate you. Please listen to all evidence, spoken, sung, or played with an open mind. Whenever I say, “The Ministry Watches,” you say, “May it find virtue.”
Let us practice:
The Ministry watches.
[the people: May it find virtue.]
[if they are hesitant, make them do it a second time. If still feels less than hearty, just improvise a gentle way to move on.]
Before the vote, the Ministry prepares a script, like the one I am reading, and a Legacy Minister, in this case, myself, creates a representative program of the artist's creative endeavors and assembles the performers to bring them to life. The program is then submitted to the Ministry, who sanctions the works that they want you delegates to hear and redacts the rest, as you can see in your agenda. While it will be tempting to let you hear those redacted pieces, my duty is to offer the agenda exactly as it appears in your program.
Everything you hear this afternoon is the truth. Well, except for the items listed between the big red asterisks on the back of your program. Cora Linden, poet, lyricist, songwriter, and hymnist, was born in Putnam County, NY on March 24, 1820. She was so beloved that way back in 2020 [give the audience kind of a feeling of 'wink-wink'] celebrations sprouted up everywhere to commemorate her 200th birthday. She was well-known, met a few presidents in her life-time, and even addressed Congress. But Ms. Linden operated, by her own admission, under more than 100 aliases (Fanny Crosby's Life Story, Chapter 22). She was embroiled in controversy. She constantly wore a particular element of disguise, but more on all that later.
As the afternoon progresses, you will hear remarks from me, and evidence from our Ministry of Virtuousness Performers. However, this is not a performance, so if you would like to applaud, please do so at the conclusion of the hearing. Incidentally, the genre and songs will be continually updated with the annunciators to my left. These annunciators also display the original sheet music art. [indicate to the easel.]
Now go to “parlour songs.”
