The Southern Highland Reader

CULLOWHEE–Western Carolina University’s Lectures, Concerts and Exhibitions Series will present an “Evening of Spoken Word” featuring poet, actor and musician Saul Williams on Tuesday, Feb. 16, at the Fine and Performing Arts Center.

The evening will begin at 6 p.m. in the center’s Star Lobby and Fine Art Gallery with a performance by DJ Brett Rock of Asheville and creation of live art. Local artist Kinjac and members of the Afromotive will perform from 7 to 7:30 p.m. in the FAPAC theater, followed by Williams from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. DJ Brett Rock will help close the evening as Williams hosts a book signing in the Star Lobby from 8:30 to 9:15 p.m.

Williams is best known for his debut performance and featured poetry in the 1998 film “Slam,” which he co-wrote. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998 and the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Williams has published three collections of poetry: “Said the Shotgun to the Head,” “She” and “The Seventh Octave.” His most recent work is 2006’s “The Dead Emcee Scrolls.”

Williams has performed with legendary poets Allen Ginsberg and Sonia Sanchez, and has released three albums: “Amethyst Rock Star” in 2001, “Not in My Name” in 2003 and “Saul Williams” in 2004.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information about the event or the LCE Series, call 828-227-7206.

CULLOWHEE – Tickets go on sale Monday, Nov. 30, for an appearance at Western Carolina University by Garrison Keillor, host of the popular public radio show “A Prairie Home Companion.”

Garrison Keillor

An acclaimed author, storyteller, humorist and musician, Keillor will take center stage in WCU’s Fine and Performing Arts Center at 7 p.m. Monday, March 8. Reserved seat tickets for “An Evening with Garrison Keillor” are $25.

“We are starting ticket sales much earlier than we do for most other events because we thought many of our patrons might be interested in purchasing tickets as a holiday gift for that Garrison Keillor fan in their lives,” said Paul Lormand, Fine and Performing Arts Center director.

Keillor hosted the first broadcast of “A Prairie Home Companion” in St. Paul, Minn., on July 6, 1974. The show ended in 1987, resumed in 1989 in New York as “The American Radio Company,” returned to Minnesota, and in 1993 resumed the name “A Prairie Home Companion.” More than 3 million listeners on more than 450 public radio stations now hear the show each week.

Keillor’s most recent role included playing himself in the movie adaptation of his show, “A Prairie Home Companion.” He also is the author of 12 books, including “Lake Wobegon Days,” “The Book of Guys,” “The Old Man Who Loved Cheese,” “Wobegon Boy,” “Me: By Jimmy ‘Big Boy’ Valente as Told to Garrison Keillor,” “Love Me” and “Homegrown Democrat.” His newest novel, “Pontoon,” was released in the fall of 2007.

Keillor has received numerous awards, including a Grammy Award for his recording of “Lake Wobegon Days.” He also has received two Cable ACE Awards and a George Foster Peabody Award. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and recently was presented a National Humanities Medal by the National Endowment for the Humanities. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame at Chicago’s Museum of Broadcast Communications in 1994.

CULLOWHEE – Care for a serving of Shakespeare, hold the Elizabethan English and add fiddle and a soft Southern drawl? The department of stage and screen at Western Carolina University will present “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” – a commentary on the absurdity of love – at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Oct. 29-31, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, at the Fine and Performing Arts Center on the WCU campus.

WCU’s Mainstage theater series presents Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” set in Depression-era Appalachia, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Oct. 29-31, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, at the Fine and Performing Arts Center on the WCU campus.

One of the most often performed of Shakespeare’s comedies, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” weaves multiple storylines: A royal wedding, a group of amateur actors planning the wedding entertainment, the confused affections of four young lovers and a feuding fairy king and queen whose magical spells cause mayhem. The characters ultimately decide they must have dreamed the chaotic series of events, yet all find themselves changed by the experience.

“Shakespeare has purposely made this all a jumble,” said director Claire Eye, a faculty member in the department of stage and screen. “Shakespeare’s point is that you can’t put logic into who you fall in love with.”

Eye set the play in Depression-era Appalachia because it was a time when people craved laughter, and the play reminds her of qualities of this region. “There’s such a beauty to the music and the people here,” Eye said.

The play’s music, dance, costumes and set will evoke Appalachia, and while the language will be Shakespeare’s original, the pronunciation will be in a Southern dialect – a natural fit because “Shakespeare’s writing is very musical,” Eye said.

The cast includes:

• Titania, queen of the fairies – senior Dayna Damron of Valdosta, Ga.

• Oberon, king of the fairies – junior Jack Watson of Asheville

• Demetrius – senior Jon Coward of Titusville, Fla.

• Lysander – senior Nathanial Mason of Bryson City

• Hermia – junior Christina DeSoto of Charlotte

• Helena – senior Amanda Pisano of Candler

• Puck – freshman Peter O’Neal of Raleigh

• Bottom the Weaver – Peter Savage of Asheville, a faculty member in the department of stage and screen

The play is part of the College of Fine and Performing Arts’ Mainstage theater series and recommended for ages 12 and older. Sunday’s showing also is part of the 2009-10 Galaxy of Stars Series. Tickets cost $20 for the general public, $5 for students and $15 for WCU faculty and staff and people older than 60. To purchase tickets, visit the FAPAC box office or call the box office at (828) 227-2479 for Visa and MasterCard orders. To order online, go to www.ticketreturn.com and select “need tickets” on the left-hand side. Under the “Western Carolina University” heading, select “arts & entertainment.” For Sunday’s show, choose “FAPAC,” and for all other shows choose “Mainstage.”

The Bascom, Highlands

Who can resist the charm and unrestricted creativity of children’s art? The Bascom will be exhibiting all manner of delightful art projects – a culmination of the 2008/09 Young Artist Program – from June 19 to July 11 on the ground floor of the main building at The Bascom. Following will be the exhibition Summer Camp Projects, which will be on view July 18 to Sept. 26.

It will be a new experience for children to have their classes in the beautifully appointed studio of The Bascom’s new main building. The north side of the classroom opens to the outdoors.

The Young Artist Program Summer Camp for children ages 5 to 13 is from June 23 to July 28. The camp includes crafts, clay, painting and mixed media with Bascom art teacher Susan Nastasic. Camp is offered Tuesdays at The Bascom: ages 5-8 from 10 to 11 a.m. and ages 9 to 13 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Camp is offered on Thursdays at the Highlands Recreation Park: ages 5 to 8 from 1 to 2 p.m. and ages 9-12 from 2 to 3 p.m. Drop in for one class or take them all: cost is $30 for a 6-class session or $5 per class.

This season at The Bascom, several intergenerational classes have been added that can accommodate young children and their families. Knitting, mask-making, card-making and rubber stamping are among the subjects that will be explored. A full lineup of classes is available at www.thebascom.org. Registration is now open for the summer programs. Prices range from $5 to $95.

Youth programming continues into the fall and winter. For more information, contact The Bascom at (828) 526-4949 or www.thebascom.org.

Western Carolina University, Cullowhee

CULLOWHEE – Children can explore the world of theater this summer during a weeklong summer camp hosted by Western Carolina University’s College of Fine and Performing Arts.

The Theatre Summer Camp will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, July 13, through Friday, July 17. The camp is for children ages 8 to 13 years old. The cost is $125 per child, with additional children from the same family receiving a rate of $100 for the week. Camp is limited to 40 participants, with campers providing their own lunches, snacks and beverages.

Camp participants will perform a show of their own creation at 7 p.m. Friday, July 17, at the Fine and Performing Arts Center.

The camp requires no previous theater experience, although children with a theater background are welcome, said Paul Lormand, director of WCU’s Fine and Performing Arts Center. “The camp is an opportunity for children to develop an interest in theater and to develop an appreciation for live theater,” Lormand said. “It’s really about creativity and using your imagination.”

Professional actors with Bright Star Children’s Theatre, an Asheville theater company, will run the camp. Activities will include games, improvisation, basic directing, learning stage direction, tours of the WCU theater facilities and more. The campers’ performance will grow from an activity where the children play characters based on a selection of hats – such as a top hat, sailor’s hat or nurse’s cap – they are given to wear.

Lormand decided to host the camp as a service to the community’s younger children, who have limited opportunities to engage in theater. He would like the camp to become an annual event for younger children in the tradition of the Triple Arts Broadway Series, held each year on campus for high school and college students and led by Terrence Mann, a Broadway actor and WCU’s Phillips Distinguished Professor of Musical Theatre.

David Ostergaard, a native of Sylva, launched Bright Star Theatre in August 2003. Each year, the theater group’s 12 actors perform hundreds of children’s shows in 14 states. Bright Star’s summer theater camps are led by professional actors with teaching experience. Because the camp offers a variety of theater-related activities, it allows campers to find a niche, Ostergaard said. “The camps also inspire team-building skills, trust, confidence and friendships,” he said. “And by the end of the week, the students have the accomplishment of putting on a play.”

The camp registration deadline is Friday, July 10. For more information, go online to www.wcu.edu/fapac, or contact Lormand at (828) 227-2505 or lormand@wcu.edu. If e-mailing to register a camper, include the name of the child and parent or legal guardian, a telephone number and address. Payment is due the first day of camp.

CULLOWHEE – The classic musical “Fiddler on the Roof” will show at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, March 26-28, and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 29, at the Fine and Performing Arts Center on the campus of Western Carolina University.

Set in 1905 in a small Jewish village in czarist Russia, “Fiddler on the Roof’ tells the story of one family amid the backdrop of changing social customs and growing anti-Semitism. Tevye, a milkman, tries to teach his five daughters the traditions of his tight-knit Jewish community. The daughters, on the other hand, resist their father, most notably in their choices of husbands.

Western Carolina University student William Ritter plays the role of the fiddler in the classic musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” showing March 26-29 at the Fine and Performing Arts Center on the WCU campus.

“Fiddler on the Roof,” loosely based on an 1894 short story by Sholom Aleichem, made its Broadway debut in 1964 and has remained beloved for its humor, warmth and honesty. The show features some of the most memorable songs in musical history, including “Tradition,” “Matchmaker,” “Sunrise, Sunset” and “If I Were a Rich Man.” The play’s title refers to a painting by Marc Chagall, with the fiddle serving as a metaphor for stability – through tradition – during uncertain times.

“The show’s themes of disappearing traditions resonate with audiences worldwide and explain its enduring quality and popularity,” said Bradley Martin, who directs the show’s music and is director of Western Carolina’s musical theater program. He said audiences especially sympathize with parents whose children appear determined to flout their values.

The play stars junior Greg Kennedy in the role of Tevye, the milkman; senior Christy Waymouth as his wife; junior Christina DeSoto and sophomores Emily Gill and Abby Gonzales as their three oldest daughters; and junior Jon Cowart and sophomores Terry Evans and Jay Raines as the daughters’ suitors.

Broadway veteran Terrence Mann, the Carolyn Plemmons Phillips and Ben R. Phillips Distinguished Professor in Musical Theatre, directs the play. Department of stage and screen faculty involved in the production include Claire Eye, assistant director; Jennifer Lent, assistant choreographer; Glenda Hensley, costuming; and Thomas Salzman, lighting director. Christopher d’Amboise, part of the WCU Broadway Guest Artist Series, serves as choreographer. Dennis Maulden of the Flat Rock Playhouse is the guest set designer.

The musical theater program is producing the play, which is part of the stage and screen department’s Mainstage Theatre lineup for 2008-09. Saturday’s show of “Fiddler on the Roof” also is part of the Fine and Performing Art Center’s Galaxy of Stars Series.

Tickets cost $5 for students; $20 for seniors, faculty and staff; and $25 for the general public. To purchase tickets, visit the FAPAC box office or call the box office at (828) 227-2479 for Visa and MasterCard orders. To order online, go to www.ticketreturn.com, select “need tickets” on the left-hand side, select the “arts & entertainment” tab, and then find the “Western Carolina University” heading. Select “Mainstage” for the Thursday, Friday and Sunday shows and “FAPAC events” for the Saturday show.

CULLOWHEE – Conceptual artist Mel Chin will deliver a talk at 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 17, in Room 130 of the Fine and Performing Arts Center at Western Carolina University. A reception will follow in the FAPAC Star Lobby.

Chin, who will visit WCU as part of its Artist-in-Residence Program, is known for a broad range of approaches in his art. Environmental, political, cultural and social themes dominate his work, which often requires multidisciplinary, collaborative teamwork. Past projects included gardens designed to draw heavy metals from some of the world’s most heavily contaminated areas and an interactive video game based on rug patterns of nomadic people facing persecution.

“Making objects and marks is also about making possibilities, making choices – and that is one of the last freedoms we have. To provide that is one of the functions of art,” Chin has said.

During his presentation at WCU, Chin will speak about his Fundred Dollar Bill Project, a nationwide effort to highlight the issue of lead-contaminated soil in New Orleans. The project encourages students, artists and concerned citizens to each design a “fundred” dollar bill. Chin hopes to collect three million bills by mid-2009 to deliver to Washington, where organizers will request an even exchange of money and services from Congress to support solutions to lead-related health and quality-of-life issues challenging New Orleans.

Marie Cochran, assistant professor of art at WCU, and Erin Tapley, associate professor of art education, are coordinating a local fundred effort, and individuals may bring their fundred dollar bills to the Chin event for collection. The fundred bill template is downloadable at www.fundred.org.

“A primary reason I wanted to bring Mel Chin to Western Carolina is to let people know that there are different ways to be involved in issues that are important to them, and one of those venues is the arts,” said Cochran, a fellow with WCU’s Center for Service Learning. “Chin’s work is very much about civic engagement. A simple idea, because he wants so many people to be a part of it, becomes a dynamic, multilayered endeavor.”

A native of Houston who now lives in Western North Carolina, Chin has earned awards and grants from organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts and New York State Council for the Arts, and the Penny McCall, Pollock-Krasner, Joan Mitchell, Rockefeller and Louis Comfort Tiffany foundations. His work has been shown in venues around the world, including Havana; Barcelona, Spain; South Korea’s Gwangju Biennale; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington; the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. A film he created with Chilean animators, “911/911,” will be shown at the Museum of Modern Art in April.

The Artist-in-Residence Program is made possible by the Visiting Artists Fund of the Office of the Provost, with support from the College of Fine and Performing Arts, the School of Art and Design, the Fine Art Museum, the Ward Endowment Fund for Ceramics, the Godfrey Seminar on the Business of Crafts, and friends of the School of Art and Design.

For more information about Chin’s visit or about local efforts in the Fundred Dollar Bill Project, contact Marie Cochran at (828) 227-3599 or mcochran@wcu.edu.

CULLOWHEE – Large color photographs of objects once belonging to the artist’s deceased loved ones will be on exhibit from Tuesday, Jan. 27, through Saturday, March 7, at the Fine Art Museum at Western Carolina University.

Servon

Artist Jody Servon will speak about her work at 4 p.m. Jan. 27 in Room 130 of the Fine and Performing Arts Center. A reception and gallery talk will follow in the Fine Art Museum.

“Saved” comprises 40 images of objects – each photographed on a white background – such as a wooden shoetree, a cast-iron skillet, the veins of a scapula and a woven dog collar.

“These stark images isolate the objects and give them an entirely different dynamic,” said Martin DeWitt, director of the Fine Art Museum. “They really convey the power of the relationships Jody Servon had with each of these individuals.”

Servon’s work includes photographs, sculptures, drawings, video and installations. A previous show collected more than 120 “art pieces” that Servon bought on the Internet auction site eBay for $10 or less. She has logged solo and group exhibitions and screenings throughout the United States and Canada and has received numerous prizes, including two from the North Carolina Arts Council. Her work is in collections including the Library of Congress in Washington and the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Ariz.

Servon lives and works in Blowing Rock and Greensboro. She received her bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Rutgers University and master’s degree in fine arts from the University of Arizona. She is an assistant professor and director of the Catherine J. Smith Gallery at Appalachian State University in Boone.

Fine Art Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays; and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays. For more information, contact Martin DeWitt, Fine Art Museum director, at (828) 227-2553 or mdewitt@wcu.edu.