A Thick Description of Harry Smith

by Carlos Murillo

A THICK DESCRIPTION OF HARRY SMITH, a proto-psychedelic medicine show, takes a wild ride through the life, work and times of filmmaker, musicologist, painter, anthropologist, collector, occultist and fabulist, Harry Everett Smith. Best known for editing the seminal Anthology of American Folk Music, Smith's peculiar life is an emblem of American bohemian life in the 20th Century. Conceived as a Prairie Home...

A THICK DESCRIPTION OF HARRY SMITH, a proto-psychedelic medicine show, takes a wild ride through the life, work and times of filmmaker, musicologist, painter, anthropologist, collector, occultist and fabulist, Harry Everett Smith. Best known for editing the seminal Anthology of American Folk Music, Smith's peculiar life is an emblem of American bohemian life in the 20th Century. Conceived as a Prairie Home Companion style variety show, Thick Description uses reworked folk songs, radio vignettes of real, speculative and imagined episodes of Harry Smith's life, Foley work, and a wide variety of storytelling styles to reveal an alternative conception of American identity.

  • Inquire About Rights
  • Recommend
  • Download
  • Save to Reading List

A Thick Description of Harry Smith

Recommended by

  • Samantha Marchant: A Thick Description of Harry Smith

    A web with strands of story, music, icons, America, and image woven in a far out way.

    A web with strands of story, music, icons, America, and image woven in a far out way.

Development History

  • Type Workshop, Organization New Dramatists, Year 2014
  • Type Workshop, Organization Collaboraction/Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Year 2011
  • Type Residency, Organization The Watermill Center, Year 2011
  • Type Workshop, Organization New Dramatists, Year 2009
  • Type Commission, Organization Berkeley Rep, Year 2009

Production History

  • Type University, Organization University of Washington School of Drama, Year 2024
  • Type Workshop, Organization P73, Year 2012