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This first-person story for adults and kids alike weaves together the lives of the hobo Coal Car Riggs and a young farm girl as they struggle to survive.
Being in fourth grade is hard enough. Being in fourth grade during the Great Depression in Iowa? That's a real challenge. Young Eva Killen, her family, and her hobo friend Coal Car Riggs work together to survive the Depression. Along the way they will cross paths with Grant Wood, Jeff Davis the Hobo King, and the Million Dollar Mulligan.
All performances are first-come, first-serve - wrist bands will be handed out one hour prior to each performance.
Darrin Crow is a storyteller from Cedar Rapids. Storytelling has been a part of his life for as long as he can remember, whether it was listening to his aunts, uncles and grandparents talking about farming and coal mining in Iowa or immersing himself in Jules Verne and Tolkien up in his tree house. As a high school student he began volunteering at a living history museum. Here he found that he could use his love of telling stories to put people in touch with their heritage in a way they had not experienced before. In college he studied interpretive speech, and after college he worked as an actor and itinerant storyteller in Pennsylvania and Florida. In 1999 he returned to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and has been telling stories ever since. Over the last decade he has honed his craft by telling stories across the area in settings from church basements to major outdoor festivals.
The Downtown Library is located at 450 5th Avenue SE, in the heart of Downtown Cedar Rapids. It is a 94,000 square foot building with a variety of civic spaces and a vibrant collection of library materials. Special features of this location are the Whipple Auditorium, a 200 seat auditorium overlooking Greene Square; and the LivingLearning Roof, a green roof with public seating and space to hold special events. Roasters Café is located in the Downtown Library, providing a full service coffee shop for visitors, as well as catering for meetings and special events.
