 After a successful series of street theatre plays in New York City, Lee (originally from Kentucky) moved back to Appalachia, to Summers County, West Virginia, in 1971, leaving the city also on the advice of her friend Flannery O'Connor.She bought a farm and wrote, and ran acting workshops for the locals, including inmates of the Federal Women's Prison in the county.It took her a while to gain the trust of the local population, but she did, and wrote and produced a number of Ecotheater plays featuring local people as actors, including one play named for the folklore legend John Henry.