This episode presents the American Folklife Center’s 2020 mummers’ play, “The Peaceful Transfer of Mumming.” Every year, in the week or two before Christmas, staff members of the American Folklife Center put our research and performance skills into play, bringing collections to life in a dramatic performance that tours the halls of the Library of Congress. The performance is based on traditional mummers’ plays. This year, since we can’t perform our mummers’ play live, we present it here as a podcast episode, like an old-time radio play. “Mumming” is an old word for a tradition of getting dressed up in costumes and going from house to house, doing a performance in exchange for food, drink, and money. In Britain, sometime in the 17th century, it took the form of a particular kind of play which includes music, and dance, and rhymes. In the play, several characters get in a fight, one or more are killed, and a doctor arrives and revives the dead characters. This 2020 mummers’ play features Stephen Winick as Father Christmas, Stephanie Hall as Beelzebub, Valda Morris as Linear Feet, Michelle Stefano as Thomas Jefferson, George Thuronyi as John Adams, Hope O’Keeffe as George Washington, Theadocia Austen as Doctor Dolley Madison, and Jennifer Cutting as Abigail Adams. Accordion music is provided by Jennifer Cutting.

For full audio of items excerpted in the podcast, and more great folklife content, visit the Folklife Today blog.