The ETSU division of theatre’s production of Hear That Whistle Blow . . . Erwin Train A Coming has been selected to compete in the Region IV Festival of the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival.
The play is one of six selected for presentation at this festival, which will take place at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg from Feb. 7-10.
The ETSU production, which is directed by Ron McIntyre-Fender, is slated to close the festival on Feb. 10. Other schools to be represented at the festival are Eastern Mennonite University, Savannah College, the University of Georgia, North Carolina A&T and William Carey College.
Hear That Whistle Blow . . . Erwin Train A Coming takes the audience on a ride into the lives of the men and women who worked the Clinchfield Railroad, going all the way back to the days when coal mine owner George Carter had a dream of building a railroad to transport coal from the mountains.
This play was adapted to the stage by Bobby Funk, director of the ETSU division of theatre, from the elderly railroad workers’ oral histories, which were collected by students in Joyce Duncan’s service-learning English class at ETSU. Its original music was composed and directed by Anne Cook.
This special play celebrating the heritage and history of this region was made possible through the Expanding Community Partnerships Program, which is funded by the third grant awarded to ETSU by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Mich. Hear That Whistle Blow . . . Erwin Train A Coming was done in partnership with the Unicoi County Heritage Museum.
ETSU will also send several students to compete in both the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Auditions and the ACTF Design Competitions as part of the Region IV Festival. These students will begin their competition on Feb. 7.
Students nominated for Irene Ryan Acting Scholarships include Megan McNerney, Cape Coral, Fla.; Jenny Andrews, Rebecca Greasby and Sejal Mehta, Johnson City; Keller Layton, Marietta, Ga.; and Thomas Townsend, Elizabethton. Also selected was Molly Tatum, a student from Milligan College. These tuition scholarships, which are given for $500 each at the regional level, are made possible by the generosity of the late Irene Ryan, who is best remembered for her portrayal of the lovable and feisty Granny Clampett in The Beverly Hillbillies.
ETSU student Rebecca Hickman’s costume designs from “Godspell” and “Dancing at Lughnasa” were nominated to compete in the ACTF Design category. Hickman resides in Telford.
KC/ACTF is a year-round program in eight geographic regions in the United States. The goals of the festival are to encourage, recognize and celebrate the finest and most diverse work produced in university and college theatre programs; to provide opportunities for participants to develop their theatre skills and insight and to achieve professionalism; to improve the quality of college and university theatre in America; and to encourage colleges and universities to give distinguished productions of new plays, especially those written by students, as well as the classics and revitalized, newly conceived or experimental works.
KC/ACTF provides opportunities for college and university theatre departments to showcase their best work and to receive outside assessment.
Through state, regional and national festivals, participants celebrate the creative process, see one another’s work and share experiences and insights within the community of theatre artists. KC/ACTF offers student artists individual recognition through awards and scholarships in playwriting, acting, criticism, directing and design.
Region IV of KC/ACTF encompasses Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Special encore presentations of “Hear That Whistle Blow . . . Erwin Train A Coming,” are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. at Memorial Theatre, Building 35, on the campus of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Mountain Home. The proceeds of the performance will go to help offset the costs of taking the play to the KC/ACTF competition.

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