These days even feared creatures appreciate the power of storytelling. When in the East Tennessee town of Sneedville a wampus cat (Tazannah Mahoney) kidnaps the wannabe wampus cat slayer – a high school dropout named Margaret (Raven Reichenbach) – all it wants is the right to tell three stories, which explain the creature’s identity. The thing is, after hearing the stories, Margaret is not so sure if she still wants to kill the wampus.
Margaret and the Wampus Cat by playwright Katie Myers may have been inspired by Appalachian and Southern tales, but the Central Coast of California becomes the stage for its premiere. “It’s a great story,” says MPC Theatre Arts Department Chair Todd Siff. “It combines Appalachian folklore, an LGBTQ story and a coming-of-age story.”.
Margaret is a 19-year-old loner who wears big jeans and big boots and gives off a tomboyish air. She is smart, “but not in the kind of way that makes you good at school,” according to the script. She functions outside of the community of Sneedville that has one gas station, one courthouse, a Subway, and a Hardee’s – keeping to herself until an opportunity to become a hero presents itself. Margaret volunteers to take care of the beast who supposedly terrorizes the community, perhaps hoping her bravery will result in being accepted by those who are sending her on the mission.
The legend of the wampus cat has its origins in Cherokee mythology and remains popular in the Ozark Mountains, Appalachia and parts of the Southern plains. Typically imagined as an insanely large cat, the monster and its ways vary from region to region. It can be deadly or comical, whining about roaming the community.
Myers, a climate journalist in the mountain South, and local director River Navaille met via New Play Exchange online. “The title grabbed my attention, and then I fell in love with the characters, the setting, and the nested stories,” Navaille says. “Something about the play feels very old and very new at the same time, and the lines are blurred between fantasy and reality, folklore and future.”
They brought the play to the Monterey Peninsula College Theatre Company season selection committee, and the premiere was set in motion.
MARGARET AND THE WAMPUS CAT runs 7pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2pm Sundays, Oct. 15-Oct. 25. MPC Studio Theatre, 980 Fremont St., Monterey. $22; $12/students, seniors. (831) 645-1360, mpc.vbotickets.com.