Trump and Thompson Perform Spoken Word and Music at Ice House

Professor of Theatre Kirsten Trump, M.F.A., and guitarist Billy Thompson will present “Songs from the Sleepy Creek,” an evening of spoken word and song, at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9, at the Ice House in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. “Songs from the Sleepy Creek” is a collection of poetry published in June 2020 by Trump.

Trump recently served as voice and text coach for the Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) world premiere of Chisa Hutchinson’s “Redeemed” as part of its 2023 season. In previous seasons, Trump has worked on world premiere productions of such notable American playwrights as Lee Blessing, Keith Glover and Catherine Filleaux.

Thompson is an acclaimed guitarist who has worked with musical greats such as Little Milton, Albert King and Art Neville. He has eight releases and he has had recordings nominated for awards in the blues community. Those recordings have included such notable musicians as Mike Finnigan, Tony Braunagel, Hutch Hutchinson and Bill Payne. Most recently he has been touring with renowned Zydeco player, C.J. Chenier and his Red Hot Louisiana Band, having kicked off at the New Orleans Jazz Festival in May and played the summer at venues and festivals throughout the Midwest, the West Coast and Canada.

Thompson has included several of these pieces on recordings. He will also share new and old pieces that came to life from his studio on the Sleepy Creek.

“Special thanks and acknowledgement to our good friends and Morgan County neighbors Beth and Tim Rowland,” said Trump. “Beth guided and published the book through her Twin Peaks Publishing, Inc, and without her support and expertise the book would not have come to fruition.”