‘Swamp Gravy’ Cooks Teach Others How to Copy Their Recipe for Revival

The architects of Colquitt, Ga.’s renaissance are sharing their expertise with other communities that hope to use the arts to fuel an economic rebirth.

For the last five years, the Colquitt Miller Arts Council has held an annual conference to spread the lessons of “Swamp Gravy,” its theatrical production based on the stories of local residents. This year’s meeting, held this month, drew more than 80 participants.

Tim Chapin, chairman of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Florida State University, in Tallahassee, led a series of sessions on community development. One of the key lessons that towns can take from Colquitt, he says, is the importance of perseverance.

“They had a vision, and once they figured it out they stuck with it,” he says. “They didn’t try it for two years and then go, ‘Well, this isn’t going to work. Let’s move on to something else.’”

On the creative side, Richard Geer, the director who co-founded “Swamp Gravy,” led daylong sessions on community-generated theater. Participants start the day in storytelling circles, and by evening, they have created a production based on their own stories, which they then perform for the rest of the conference.

The idea is to simulate the process a community like Colquitt goes through as it creates theater.

It’s about more than putting on a show, says Mr. Geer. If a community can create a space where everyone feels comfortable telling their own stories, the creative relationships that are forged could just as easily be applied to “map a better bus system or come up with a child-care program.”