Marilyn Harris was born in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1941. She received a B. A. from Bennington College in 1963 with a concentration in graphic art, painting, and French and German literature. She lived in Paris and New York City until 1969.
In the heyday of communes – – late 60s and early 70s – – she lived in communes in Vermont, California, New Mexico, and Colorado. In 1974 she joined a three year old spiritual community, The Farm, in southern middle Tennessee where she still resides ( www.thefarmcommunity.com ).
Marilyn wrote her first play, “The Christmas Santa Claus Almost Didn’t Come,” at age 10 for her marionettes. Her second play, “C’est la Vie,” was written for French students at The Farm Community’s school in 1981. She taught French at Maplewood high school, Nashville, Tennessee, and wrote her third play in 1989, “Les Franco-Americains.”
In 1991, Marilyn earned an M.Ed from Tennessee State University with certification to teach French, Spanish, German and English as a Second Language (ESL).
During the Columbus Quincentenary, 1992, a play exploding the myth of heroic discovery begged to be written, and Marilyn took a year off from teaching to write a three-act drama in verse called “Dangerous Memories: The True History of the Conquest.” It had three performances at the Scarritt-Bennett Center at Vanderbilt University. Later the play was renamed “1492 The Play: The Conquest Through Native Eyes.”
In 2019 the website was created to offer the play to the public.
——————————
Marilyn played three roles in the play:
Gold digger (left, light blue hat) going to the mines.
Judge (right) in the High Court of New Spain.
Sailor (standing, with beard) on the voyage of Columbus