PITTSBORO - Stage productions become genuine magic 在查塔姆米尔斯 as challenges prompt creativity and less becomes more. 观众们渴望入场，渴望更多.
这是2003年以来的情况, 当艾伦·布兰德, 中央卡罗莱纳社区学院 humanities and theater instructor, 导演了“工厂工人.” The cast and crew consisted of 10 of her readers’ theater class students and several community actors and musicians.
Bland and former student Drew Lasater created the play from “Like a Family: The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill Worker,” a volume of Southern oral history stories gathered by students at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1988. The show chronicled in word and music the everyday struggles and hopes of residents in a North Carolina mill town during the Depression.
演员和工作人员在未完工的地方找到了一个表演场地, 没有暖气的, 没有空调的查塔姆米尔斯, 位于匹兹堡的一座旧磨坊. 他们创造并引进了自己的风景, 照明, 和声音, 并对非剧院空间进行了创造性的调整, 在磨坊的一角搭建一个简陋的舞台.
然后奇迹发生了.
这个剧团预计观众不多. To their surprise and delight, the initial audience was more than 400. 罗利正规买球app十佳排行 & Observer acclaimed “Millworker” as one of the top 10 shows of 2003 in the Triangle. Bland and the group went on to do a year-long show tour to former mill towns across the state.
N.C. 艺术博物馆, 在罗利, selected “Millworker” as its inaugural theater production and more than 600 came to see it. The show eventually returned to Chatham Mills and performed for a total of 4,000 people. 《正规买球app十佳排行》获得了著名的N.C. 社区剧院国家剧院奖.
“I love the theater you take to people and it’s about their lives,” Bland said. “人们会产生共鸣. The shows we do are grassroots community endeavors in a grassroots space.”
因为“工厂工人,” Bland and her theater classes have established an impressive reputation for contribution to the arts.
“当我看到《正规买球app十佳排行》,这句话使我感动得流下了眼泪,莫利·马特洛克说, 查塔姆县艺术委员会的执行董事. “艾伦所做的是如此强大. All her productions have been specific to the individuals and community that live here, but have also raised Chatham’s visibility for cultural experiences off the beaten path.”
The grassroots theater model works well for Bland because she never knows who is going to be in her classes until a semester begins. She uses the students in her acting and production classes as the core for each show. The material is selected to fit the strengths and create challenges for the diverse populations who enroll in the classes, 以及向不同的社区观众讲话. Then community members join in and another show is brought to the stage.
“I love seeing the transformation of the students and community folks through the process,布兰德说。, 谁在这所大学教书18年了. “因为空间, 因为我们选择节目是基于我们拥有的人, we are faced with a great sense of immediacy which forces greater imagination and demands more investment from everyone involved as they literally ‘build’ not only all aspects of the show, 而是剧院本身.”
Bland has created one success after another since “Millworker”: “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”; “Dreamland,” a musical adaptation based on Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”; “We Regret to Inform You,” a theater piece incorporating letters written by soldiers in Iraq as well as other source material; “Back County Crimes”; and the latest, “野葛, 南方音乐剧.所有的演出都赢得了座无虚席和好评. Lasater has continued to collaborate with Bland on these shows as writer, 表演者, 或者助理导演.
““野葛’ was particularly a labor of love for all involved,” Bland said. “With 40 people involved from the college’s theater courses and the community, 这个节目引起了观众的共鸣.”
“野葛,” is based on the comic strip created by Doug Marlette, who died in 2007. 他与杰克·赫里克和布兰德·辛普森合作制作了这部音乐剧, 北卡罗莱纳同胞和红土漫步者的成员. “野葛” captures the dilemma of retaining the identity of the “old South” while trying to embrace the changes brought with development and time.
More than 900 people came to see it during its seven performances in April and May. 每一场演出都获得了观众的起立鼓掌和好评. 演出的票很快就卖光了, so Bland and music director Creighton Irons added an additional show that also quickly sold out.
“Arts have a welcome here 在少不了,” said Tom Vanderbeck, Chatham County commissioner. “Healthy arts attract businesses and residents to move here and stay here. “它们是一个健康社区的标志. 这所大学获得了许多荣誉, 艾伦平淡, 她的学生, 汤姆·罗伯茨, 以及让这些戏剧作品成为可能的社区.”
罗伯茨, 查塔姆磨坊的老板, 查塔姆米尔斯发展公司的负责人, 允许布兰德继续在米尔的大舞台上演出, unfinished front space that once housed heavy looms for weaving labels for designer garments. 学生们搭建了一个更大的舞台, 为观众创造了质朴的立管, and provided a space that other community non-profit groups use for their events as well. 罗伯茨 plans to improve the mill and create a Chatham Mills Performing Art Center.
For more information on the college’s theater classes, go online to www.预备.edu/studentlife/arts/performing.php
“野葛, 的音乐,令人愉快的, 关于老南方的身份和变化的深刻展示, sold out repeatedly 在查塔姆米尔斯 during its seven-performance run in April and May. The show was the latest by 中央卡罗莱纳社区学院 theater instructor and show director 艾伦平淡, 她的学生和社区成员. They have been entertaining audiences 在查塔姆米尔斯 and around the state since 2003. For more information on the college’s theater classes, go online to www.预备.edu/studentlife/arts/performing.php
In 2003, 中央卡罗莱纳社区学院 theater instructor 艾伦平淡 and 她的学生 garnered applause and awards for their production of ‘Millworker,这是布兰德和他以前的学生德鲁·拉萨特的原创戏剧. The show depicted life in a North Carolina mill town, capturing its struggles in word and music. ‘Millworker’ was acclaimed as one of the top 10 shows of 2003 in the Triangle and went on a year-long tour across the state. 它获得了著名的N.C. 社区剧院国家剧院奖. This was the start of annual ‘grassroots theater’ productions presented by Bland and 她的学生, 有强大的社区支持, 在查塔姆米尔斯, 在少不了. For more information on the college’s theater classes, go online to www.预备.edu/studentlife/arts/performing.php
In 2003, 中央卡罗莱纳社区学院 theater instructor 艾伦平淡 and 她的学生 garnered applause and awards for their production of ‘Millworker,这是布兰德和他以前的学生德鲁·拉萨特的原创戏剧. The show depicted life in a North Carolina mill town, capturing its struggles in word and music. ‘Millworker’ was acclaimed as one of the top 10 shows of 2003 in the Triangle and went on a year-long tour across the state. 该节目获得了著名的N.C. 社区剧院国家剧院奖. This was the start of annual ‘grassroots theater’ productions presented by Bland and 她的学生, 有强大的社区支持, 在查塔姆米尔斯, 在少不了. For more information on the college’s theater classes, go online to www.预备.edu/studentlife/arts/performing.php