April 1, 2014

In this issue, Charles Morrow and Charles Aughtry identify the man behind Oklahoma’s favorite musical, John Wooley explores the exploitative genesis of a particular Passion play, and Laurie Notaro imagines a scene in a very off-Broadway production. Plus, poetry by Miss Terri Ford, Regina DiPerna, and Doug Claybourne. 

BROADWAY’S FORGOTTEN MAN: Meet Lynn Riggs, the Oklahoman who wrote the play that would become one of Broadway’s most famous musicals. By Charles Morrow.

COLLEGE MAN: From the archives, a history of Lynn Riggs’ time at the University of Oklahoma. By Charles Aughtry.

FROM HYGIENE FILMS TO PASSION PLAYS: How a director of a 1940s sex film found Jesus in the Wichita Mountains. By John Wooley.

SHOWBIZ FOLK HERO: Flash fiction from This Land’s Imaginary Oklahoma anthology. By Laurie Notaro.

POETRY:  “Rapture” by Miss Terri Ford, “Nude in the City” by Regina DiPerna, and “When I Was a Kid…” by Doug Claybourne.

ORIGINAL OKIE: Gary Busey is an actor, who got his start as a percussionist in his Stillwater-based band, The Rubber Band, and later played drums for Leon Russell, Kris Kristofferson, and Willie Nelson.