“Go, Granny D!”

“Go, Granny D!” Performance at Camden Public Library April 8

“Granny D” was a 90-year old grandmother who marched 3200 miles across America in 2000 to push for campaign finance reform, precipitating the passage of the McCain-Feingold Act. Doris “Granny D” Haddock continued her bipartisan reform efforts in countrywide voter registration drives, issuing her final challenge in 2010 at age 100: “Democracy is a running game. You huddle and you go back in. You keep going.” “Go, Granny D!” is a one-woman play performed by Barbara Bates Smith in keeping with the spirit of the original Granny D, accompanied by musician Jeff Sebens.

Barbara Smith has recreated the charm and triumph of the original Granny D. Currently touring nationwide, actress Barbara Bates Smith and musician Jeff Sebens will present “Go, Granny D!” on Tuesday, April 8, at 7:00 pm at the Camden Public Library. There is no charge for the performance, call the library at 236-3440 for more information.

“This show totally rocks!” said Quaker Pastor Philip Raines of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Blog reviewer Michelle Grasty wrote, “This show will make you laugh and think and beg for more.” Sponsor Felecia Shelor said, “A full house of Liberals and Conservatives all loved the play.” “This fabulous show based on Granny D’s memoirs brings her to life!” says her press secretary Maude Salinger. From the Daily Kos, “You will laugh and you will cheer.”

As Doris “Granny D” proclaimed, “You’re never too old to raise a little hell!”

Barbara Bates Smith, noted for her Off-Broadway adaptation and performance of “Ivy Rowe” from Lee Smith’s Fair and Tender Ladies, has toured for over twenty years with the works of Lee Smith. She has been active in the NAACP’s Moral Monday reform movement in North Carolina, even as an arrestee, in the spirit of Granny D’s efforts to reclaim our democracy. For a decade, Jeff Sebens has accompanied her shows with a variety of hammered dulcimer, mountain dulcimer, guitar, and banjo music.