Greer Arena Theatre to host evenings of entertainment

'Bedlam: An Evening of One Acts IV' starts tomorrow

Kara Hodge - Entertainment Beat

Think that there is nothing to do in Boone? Think again. For the fourth time this year the department of theatre and dance presents an evening of one-act student-directed plays.

"Bedlam: An Evening of One Acts IV" starts tomorrow through March 24.

Eerie love and mystery are presented in the two plays for "Bedlam." The evening consists of two student-directed plays, the first of which is "Seduction Duet" by M. H. Appleman. It is a strange and dark story of two hopeless romantics.

Here's a brief synopsis: Cynthia, played by Andrea Gilkey, gets molested by a coworker. Matt, played by Matt Thompson, rushes to her aid, rescues her like a knight in shining armor and walks her home.

At her apartment, they get to know one another, and soon begin to realize that the other is not really what they seem. "Seduction Duet" is filled with humor and tension and of course, love.

Jessica F. Hunt directs, Laura Killian designs costumes and Mindy Loughhead manages the stage.

The second play of the night is "The Heartbreak Tour" by Peter Morris. It is a story of a children's theater tour that goes horribly wrong.

The show goes through Larry's problems dealing with his fellow castsmates and his stage managers, Jason Adams, Jessica Kaufman and Jen Allman. Larry is played by Matthew Phillips.

"The Heartbreak Tour" includes music, dancing and fist-fights. "Tour" also promises to give everyone a newfound respect for those who have braved children's theater.

Noah Jones is the director, Laura Crisp is the costume designer and Caryn Crye serves as stage manager.

The one act plays represent a collaboration between the students in two upper-division theater classes this semester. The plays are directed by the students in the advanced-directing class where they each select and prepare the plays for public performance. The costumes have been designed by students in a costume design class. There will be an additional set of two one-act plays in April to complete the collaboration.

"One Acts IV" performs in the Greer Arena Theatre. Tickets are $3 and can be purchased at the Valborg Theatre Box Office Mon. through Fri. from 2-5 p.m. For reservations or more information call 262-3063.

Visiting Writers' Series to feature poet Tony Sanders

Kara Hodge - Entertainment Beat

Tony Sanders, Award-winning author of "Partial Eclipse" and "Transit Authority," will read from his works on Thursday, March 8, at 7:30 p.m. in Linville Falls Room of Plemmons Student Union.

His presentation is part of the university's Visiting Writers Series.

Sanders' first book "Partial Eclipse" received the Vassar Miller Prize for Poetry, an annual national competition resulting in the publication of a winning manuscript each fall.

"Sanders proceeds through his poems with a pervasive steadiness of diction, a syntactic resonance quite his own yet gratefully beholden to such exacting masters as Stevens," said Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Howard.

In "Transit Authority," Sanders looks with a rueful intrigue at an urban landscape swamped with near misses and has-beens. While the topic seems disconcerting, the poems' alluring subtleties keep the reader interested.

Sanders teaches English and creative writing at Fairfield University in Connecticut. Educated at Yale, the University of Iowa and the University of Houston, Sanders has had his works published in "The Paris Review," "Grand Street," "The Yale Review" and "The Gettysburg Review."

The Visiting Writers Series is sponsored by the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment for the Arts; Appalachian's Office of Academic Affairs, College of Arts and Sciences, Office of University Advancement, University Bookstore, Equity Office and Office of Multicultural Student Development; "The Appalachian Journal," the Hubbard Center for Faculty and Staff Development, the Richard T. Barker Friends of the University Library and the Friends of the Watauga County Public Library; business sponsors Gideon Ridge Inn and Red Onion Restaurant; and community sponsors Carol Anne Coe, Gil Verbit, Mildred Luckhardt and Robert Moren.