Pinky Swear Productions Brings the Bell Witch Legend to Life in Bell Wringer

Pinky Swear Productions will present a new production of Bell Wringer, the 2023 winner of Best Musical at Capital Fringe. Based upon the legend of the Bell Witch comes a musical comedy written by local playwrights Seth Alcorn and Karen Lange. Half O Brother, Where Art Thou, half Blair Witch, Bell Wringer re-tells an Appalachian legend about a witch who torments a town in eastern Tennessee.

This is the second bluegrass musical for Pinky Swear. Their 2016 Capital Fringe Festival show, Over Her Dead Body, was a runaway hit, earning both Best Musical and Best Overall Show audience awards, followed by a 2024 tour to Edinburgh Fringe.

The show was inspired by a Klecksography project Lange did with Rorschach Theatre. That project introduced her to the legend of a "witch" who terrorized the Bell family between 1817 and 1821. The witch's main targets were the patriarch, John Bell and the oldest daughter, Betsy Bell. The witch seemingly came out of nowhere and disappeared just as suddenly.

"When I read about the legend, the first thing that popped into my mind was 'This would be perfect for a bluegrass song.'" said Lange, when asked about the origins of the show. "So our team wrote a 10 minute song about one of the many interpretations of the story." Lange couldn't get the legend out of her mind, so she teamed up with fellow bluegrass-lover, Seth Alcorn, to write a full-length show about the legend. This partnership allowed both playwrights to write what they love: comedy. The result is a little creepy and a lot silly.

One of the other things that fascinated the Lange/Alcorn team was how much the spread of legends and the willingness of people to believe the preposterous over the rational echoes through today's society. The addition of a group of gossips (the social media of the day) provides some insight into that.

Bellwringer features the talents of local DC actors Karen Lange, Hope Gundlah, Tom Howley, Adrian Iglesias, Julia Rudgers, and Nicole Ruthmarie, accompanied by a bluegrass band composed of Justin Heath on guitar and Charles Sinche on fiddle. The songs are a blend of familiar bluegrass tunes with whimsical new lyrics provided by Seth Alcorn and original pieces composed by Karen Lange.

Pinky Swear is a feminist theatre company that celebrates the diversity of women's experiences by telling inclusive and subversive stories. The company is currently celebrating its 18th year. Pinky Swear's productions focus on elevating the voices of women and non-binary individuals, celebrating DC stories outside of the White House and Capitol Hill, and promoting the diverse community of the Washington, DC metro area.