ACTS I & II
Before the Civil War, there was a quiet harmony in the wild mountain terrain along the Tug Fork River. There were few families in the vicinity when both Kentuckians and West Virginians crossed the Tug to settle. Cousins often married cousins. Hatfields married McCoys.
Our story unfolds after the war, when times are lean. Northerners and southerners often steal hogs, horses, and hides to provide for their families. McCoys and Hatfields take turns, first as victims, then as attackers. Against these escalating hostilities and resentments, nothing could seem more foolhardy than a love affair between the daughter of Ole Ran’l McCoy and son of Devil Anse Hatfield. During the spring election of 1880, which is a great social event to mountain folk, Johnse Hatfield spies Roseanna McCoy. The attraction is instant and magical.
As the festivities end, Roseanna’s naïve heart is completely consumed with Johnse. She dreams of him as her ideal romantic love, never once believing him to be a notorious ladies’ man with a fast and wandering eye.
ACT III
During the 1882 election, the smoldering Hatfield McCoy feud bursts into flames once again. Roseanna’s brother Tolbert stabs Devil Anse’s brother Ellison. In desperation, Roseanna flees to her lover to try and halt any further bloodshed. To her utter horror, she finds that Johnse’s affections have turned to her cousin Nancy McCoy. That night Roseanna’s kinsmen surround Johnse and take him prisoner. Roseanna understands that Johnse will be killed. In an act of sheer devotion and blind love, Roseanna runs to Devil Anse Hatfield with the news of his son’s predicament. Hatfield’s kinsmen quickly gather to cut off the McCoys and reclaim Johnse. Roseanna, however, has betrayed her own family for a man who no longer loves her.
The feud, with its hostilities and bloodshed continued until 1891. Although Roseanna McCoy is only one of its many victims, she is perhaps its most poignant. The feud goes from history to legend, from bloodshed to peace. It inspires myth, magic, poetry, movies, and now…dance.