People living in the rural South in the mid-20th century didn’t have a ton of entertainment options.
Oftentimes, their arenas were tents used by circuses or traveling artists in Toby shows. Dawn Larsen, a musician, actor and theater professor at Francis Marion University near Florence, S.C., will bring to life a famous Toby show performer on April 30 at the University of South Carolina Aiken Etherredge Center.
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“I wrote this show a long time ago,” said Larsen who will portray Maxine Lacey in the one-woman show, “Corn Under Canvas: An Evening With a Tent Show Actress.” “In 2000, the Kentucky Humanities Council held a Chautauqua.”
A chautauqua was a traveling show in the late 19th century and early 20th century combining entertainment and education. For her presentation, Larsen she delved into the concept of the Toby show, which had a stock character named Toby who often outwitted city slickers with his smarter-than-she-looked girlfriend. The Toby character was an archetype that led to other characters such as Andy Griffith, according to Larsen’s website, dawnlarsenmusic.com.
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Her research led her to Lacey, who performed from 1940 to 1965 in parts of rural Kentucky and Tennessee. Larsen developed the show around Lacey and traveled with it for five years, giving Larsen the distinction of having the last traveling Toby tent show.
Not only does Larsen embody Lacey’s onstage persona, but she gives the audience a glimpse into the life of a traveling performer. She met with other performers and interviewed people who knew what life on the road with these shows was like.
Children would go to whatever school was in the town they visited. They’d stay a week and move on, she said.
When she toured with the show from 2002 to 2007, she traveled in some of the same places Lacey performed.
“I met older people who’d seen the original show when they were children,” she said.
They often remembered bits and pieces of the original, and it took them back to their youth. She also met people who knew Lacey.
“People that knew her commented that she and I were a lot alike,” she said.
Larsen said the Toby show is often overlooked by historians because it was the entertainment of the common people, but she finds it fascinating. She’s also seen that the construct crosses into other cultures.
“There’s a Mexican version,” she said. “I went to south Texas and Mexico City and studied there.”
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The two styles are similar, but they grew up without knowing about the other, she said.
The show begins at 7:30 p.m. on April 30. For ticket information, call (803) 641-3305.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com.
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