The Center for Documentary Studies, in partnership with The Hinge, is thrilled to present the second installment of Professor Diablo’s True Revue, an evening of art and performance. Playwright and actor Mike Wiley, photographer Jeff Whetstone, and roots and folk rock act Hiss Golden Messenger conquered the theme of Power with their performance.

The first act covers Whetstone's oral histories from Fish Springs, Tennessee and the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority. Experience the flooding of Fish Springs for the Watauga dam, in monologue and music and photographs. The second act includes a reinterpretation of John Sayles’ film Matewan also presented in monologue, music, and photographs.

Mike Wiley is an acclaimed actor and playwright who has spent the last decade fulfilling his mission to bring educational theatre to young audiences and communities across the country. In the early days of his career, Wiley found few theatrical resources to shine a light on key events and figures in African-American history. To bring these stories to life, he started his own production company. His most recent works include a one-man play based on Tim Tyson’s memoir Blood Done Sign My Name and The Parchman Hour, an ensemble production celebrating the bravery and determination of the Freedom Riders who risked their lives to desegregate Southern interstate bus travel in 1961.

Hiss Golden Messenger is Durham, North Carolina–based songwriter M.C. Taylor, in partnership with multi-instrumentalist Scott Hirsch, who lives in Brooklyn, New York. The pair have been playing music together for nearly two decades. Poor Moon is the fourth proper Hiss Golden Messenger release, and serves as the best summation thus far of Taylor’s lone journeys through the dark night of the soul. “God is good, and it’s understood,” he sings. “But he moves in mysterious ways.”

Jeff Whetstone was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee and has been photographing and writing about the relationship between man and nature since he received a zoology degree from Duke University in 1990. Whetstone served for five years as an artist-in residence at Appalshop, Inc., a media arts center located in the coalfields of eastern Kentucky. While working at Appalshop, Whetstone was the project director for the Before the Flood exhibition that premiered at the National Folk Festival. His photographs and writing have been featured in Southern Changes, DoubleTake, Southern Exposure, Daylight Magazine, and elsewhere. Jeff Whetstone is represented by Julie Saul Gallery, New York; Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, Los Angeles; and Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta.

Shot by Joel Mora and Matthew Phillips. Edited and animated by Joel Mora.