It is hard to imagine life today without computers. After all, in our high-tech society it seems that these multi-functional machines govern our daily existence. There is no area that the impact of computers has not touch, even the theatrical world is not exempt.
On this note, the ETSU Division of Theatre has recently been honored by the American College Theatre Festival to perform an original play, Hear That Whistle Blow . Erwin Train a Coming on the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Art’s Millennium Stage in Washington D. C.
How does this fit in with the computer craze? Easy. The performance will be simulcast on the Internet.
Robert Funk, division of theatre director, said, “People talk about the Final Four in basketball . these are eight of the best plays in America in college theatre.”
Funk went on to say that, although the Kennedy Center has arranged simulcast performances in the past, this is the first time there will be such a production in partnership with the ACTF.
The ACTF is year-round program in eight geographic regions in the United States, designed to recognize university theatrical programs with outstanding productions of new plays and classical works through state, regional and national festivals. The ACTF enables college theater departments to receive assessment of their work and rewards students by offering awards and scholarships.
Students in Joyce Duncan’s service-learning English class collected oral histories from elderly railroad workers, and from these accounts Funk adapted the play. The story centers around those individuals who spent their lives toiling for the Clinchfield Railroad and spans the time during which George Carter, coal mine owner/entrepreneur, dreamed of constructing a railroad to transport coal from the mountains.
The play was first performed in October in Johnson City and Erwin.
Following its presentation at the region IV of the ACTF at the University of Southern Mississippi, the play was chosen to perform in Washington.
“It is a huge honor,” Funk said. “We had to go through state and regional festivals to get here.”
Region IV includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
The play was done in conjunction with the Unicoi County Heritage Museum and the Expanding Community Partnerships Program, funded by grants from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Mich.
The Kennedy performance will be at 6 p.m. on April 25 and the Internet version may be found at www.kennedy-center.org, where it will later be archived. There is also a special benefit performance scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on April 22 to raise travel funds needed for the trip to Washington. This encore performance will take place at Memorial Theatre, Building 35 on the Veterans Affairs Medical Center campus. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $3 for students with valid I.D.
For more information, call the ETSU Division of Theatre box office at 439-7576.

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