Wilderness Road: A Tribute

For two generations, Wilderness Road brought Berea College students, local residents, and audiences from across the region together beneath the Pinnacles. Written for Berea College’s centennial and first staged in 1955, Paul Green’s outdoor drama became one of the cultural landmarks of central Kentucky. Its first run lasted four summers, from 1955 through 1958. In 1972, the drama returned under the leadership of Paul Power and continued through 1980.

A Drama for Berea’s Centennial

In 1955, Berea College celebrated its one hundredth year of life. For the centennial, the College built a new outdoor theater in the Berea College Forest near the Pinnacles and commissioned a play written specifically for it. The choice of playwright was not a local one. Paul Green, born in North Carolina in 1894, was by then one of America’s leading writers of historical outdoor drama. He had won the 1927 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for In Abraham’s Bosom, and he was the principal architect of the “symphonic drama” — a form that wove spoken drama, music, movement, spectacle, and landscape into a single large-scale event. His best-known work, The Lost Colony, had been running in North Carolina since 1937, and he went on to write other major historical productions, including The Common Glory and The Stephen Foster Story.

Berea was planning more than a conventional pageant. The College was building Indian Fort Theater and wanted a work that could speak to Appalachian life, the value of education, and the history of a divided Kentucky. Willis D. Weatherford Sr., the principal organizer of the centennial drama, wanted the project to show the country the strength and character of Appalachian people, to challenge misconceptions about the region, and to express Berea College’s educational purpose. Green was particularly suited to that task: in Wilderness Road he did not write a pioneer story. He centered the drama on the divided lives of two brothers, bringing education, slavery, family loyalty, and the Civil War into a single family’s story. The 1956 Chimes yearbook called the result a “parable for modern times.”

The Story and Its Meaning

Wilderness Road is the story of two Kentucky mountain brothers, John Freeman and Davie Freeman, whose lives and loyalties are pulled apart by the forces of their time. John is an educated idealist who wants to establish a school and argues for freedom, equality, and education. Davie is less educated, remains closely tied to the traditional mountain community, and joins the Confederate army. Both brothers love Elsie Sims, the daughter of Squire Sims.

The drama moves through mountain community life, the building of John’s school, family conflict, the destruction of that school, the Civil War, and the Battle of Perryville. Told as a symphonic outdoor drama, Green’s work uses Berea’s mountain setting and regional history to ask larger questions about education, racial justice, divided loyalties, and the possibility of reconciliation.

The First Run, 1955–1958

The first production opened in the summer of 1955 as a centerpiece of the centennial celebration, and its first season ran sixty performances. Indian Fort Theater was designed by John Lippard, and the 1956 Chimes described it as seating nearly 1,800 people. Its curving arrangement was designed so that the action could be seen from every seat, and its acoustics allowed sound to carry without electronic amplification. The yearbook also described limestone in the theater’s construction as having been taken from fences built by enslaved people during the Civil War era.

The drama was part of Berea College’s labor and educational mission as much as its stage. Students worked in the production and in the life around it — leading tours, working in hospitality, serving in the Boone Tavern dining rooms, and staffing the gift shops associated with the theater. The production drew visitors to Berea, and the town’s crafts, hospitality, and businesses became part of the experience surrounding the event. Berea’s mayor during the opening season was John Lewis Gay, who served from 1910 until 1958; the production’s place in the town’s civic and visitor life is visible throughout the surviving record, and the archives preserve material from opening night itself.

Samuel Selden directed the original production, supported by associate director Fred J. Parrott. The show was mounted as a large-scale, national effort: scenery and technical direction came from James Riley, costumes from Fairfax Proudfit Walkup, lighting from John Bonitz, and stage management from Jerome Hughes. Ted Cronk served as business manager. The broader institutional effort was organized under Willis D. Weatherford Sr., with the support of Berea College president Francis S. Hutchins and a trustee and drama committee that included Edwin Price, T. J. Wood, William Dean Embree, Elmer Gabbard, Barry Bingham Sr., E. S. Dabney, and L. D. Bibee.

Among the students who worked in the original run was Paul Power, who acted and performed support work during the 1955–1958 seasons. His experience with the drama would later become central to its revival.

The Revival, 1972–1980

After the original production ended in 1958, Wilderness Road returned in 1972, undertaken under the auspices of Berea College president Willis D. Weatherford Jr., with Paul Power as producer and director. The 1972 season ran from June 29 through September 4, with performances at 8:30 p.m. nightly except Monday and a special Labor Day performance.

The revival was not a repetition of the 1950s production. It was a new generation’s return to Green’s drama, with new performers, musicians, technical workers, and college students joining the continuing story. A 1973 Chimes feature photographed the playwright and revival leadership together: Paul Green, trustee chairman Barry Bingham, managing producer George Mallonee, former Berea College president Francis S. Hutchins, and president Willis D. Weatherford.

The drama continued for nearly a decade. The 1974 season ran from June 26 through September 1, and the production ran through 1980, when it ended amid financial difficulties.

The People Behind the Production

Two generations of directors, designers, musicians, technicians, student workers, and volunteers built Wilderness Road. The leadership of each era, as documented in the surviving archives, is collected here.

Original production, 1955–1958

  • Paul Green — author and playwright
  • Samuel Selden — production director
  • Fred J. Parrott — associate director
  • Fairfax Proudfit Walkup — costume designer
  • John Bonitz — lighting director
  • James Riley — scenery and technical director
  • Jerome Hughes — stage manager
  • Ted Cronk — business manager
  • Willis D. Weatherford Sr. — principal coordinator of the centennial project
  • Francis S. Hutchins — Berea College president
  • Paul Power — actor and support worker

Revival, 1972–1980

  • Paul Power — producer and director
  • Willis D. Weatherford Jr. — Berea College president
  • George Mallonee — managing producer
  • Barry Bingham — trustee chairman
  • Francis S. Hutchins — former Berea College president

From Indian Fort Theater to Pinnacles Amphitheater

Built in 1955 for the centennial and for Wilderness Road, the theater was designed to fit the mountain setting beneath the Pinnacles and to function as a large outdoor performance space. Over the years, the site served purposes beyond the drama, including Berea College commencements and other gatherings. The historic venue is now commonly identified as the Pinnacles Amphitheater.

In spring 2026, Kentucky Shakespeare presented The Tempest there through a partnership involving Berea College and the City of Berea, demonstrating the possibility of using the historic amphitheater for new performances. In September 2026, Berea College announced planning and fundraising to restore the Pinnacles Amphitheater for theater, music, and school events, describing a process that could take approximately two years depending on funding and ground stability.

Whether Wilderness Road itself will return has not been announced; the restoration concerns the venue, not a confirmed third production of the play. But the amphitheater that first rang with the drama in 1955 may soon be entering a new chapter as a place of public performance — and the two documented lives of the play, from 1955 through 1958 and from 1972 through 1980, remain part of Berea’s history.

Help Add to This History

The surviving archives contain additional programs, photographs, correspondence, reviews, and production records from both eras, and the complete company lists of the original and revival productions are still being assembled. We are especially interested in identifying the actors, musicians, technicians, student workers, civic participants, and audience members who made Wilderness Road possible.

If you have a program, cast list, newspaper clipping, production photograph, recording, or memory connected with Indian Fort Theater — or can identify a performer, role, season, or story — please contact The Spotlight Playhouse. Contributors will be credited where appropriate, and this history is intended to grow as more of Berea’s records and memories come to light.

Sources

By Chad Hembree — Bluegrass Playwright