 Thomas Jones plays the part of Guthrie in Woody Sed: A Play About the Life and Music of Woody Guthrie. |
Woody Sed: A Play About the Life and Music of Woody Guthrie, is one-man play about the the legendary Dust Bowl troubadour and the songs he sang.
 It is presented by Two Dollar Shoes and UBC's Theatre 26.
Performed and created by Thomas Jones, Woody Sed highlights
19 songs, both well-known and obscure, each framed in a theatrical context.
The 90-minute memory play features a cavalcade of true-to-life characters - 25 personalities in all - performed entirely by Jones.
The play is presented at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Theatre 26 (Administration Building, UBC's Okanagan campus).
Tickets are $20, $10 for students.
"This play was born out of the sheer astonishment I experienced learning about Woody's life and the relevance
I saw in his work and his story to the world we live in today," said Jones, a UBC graduate.
 Guthrie was a prolific and provocative writer, the father of the 1960s folk revival and, according to Billy Bragg, the first "alternative" musician.
Though best known for This Land Is Your Land, Guthrie's combination of working-class principles, anti-fascism, and creative prolificy has strongly influenced music legends from Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen and Joe Strummer.
"Woody Guthrie saw it and wrote about it - from the dust bowl of Oklahoma to the towers of New York City and from hobo jungles to the merchant marine," said Jones.
"Woody Sed takes you there, charting Guthrie's rise to fame and his struggle to escape a harsh and predestined fate. Gleaned from Guthrie's own writing, it is both the biography of a seminal American musician and an epic drama of Greek proportions."
The play gives context to his songs, including Do Re Mi and Bound for Glory, as well as Leadbelly's Goodnight Irene and Wilco's California Stars, based on lyrics by Guthrie.
"Woody wrote songs about his turbulent times that speak to us today," said Jones
"The issues that Woody addressed read like a laundry list of the problems our societies face today: corporate abuses, the rights of workers, environmental disaster, corrupt politics, inequality, racism, fascism, abusive bankers, migrant workers.
"Woody saw it all and told these stories through his music. That was his great gift, and that's why his songs live on."
Featured at Vancouver's 2012 International PUSH Festival, Woody Sed was nominated for Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards for its outstanding direction and performance.
orn in Middletown, Conn., he moved at age 11 from Philadelphia to Vancouver, where he has been based ever since.
For more info visit woodysed.com For a map of UBC's Okanagan campus, go to ubc.ca/okanagan/campusmap.
QUICKFACTS
What: Woody Sed: A Play About the Life and Music of Woody Guthrie
Who: Written and performed by Thomas Jones
When: Friday, and Saturday, Jan. 25-26, 8 p.m.
Where: University Theatre, Administration Building, UBC's Okanagan campus
Tickets: $20 regular, $10 students
