YORKTOWN,
VA-- Tony Pica, a 2003 Ferrum College graduate, will be directing the
world premier of Jack Tales, Too the fourth published collection
of Jack Tale stories for children written by his former mentor Rex Stephenson,
Professor of Drama at Ferrum College. Pica will present the play in
a small tour of the Virginia peninsula including stops at Magruder Elementary
on Thursday, May 27 at 1:15pm and Waller Mill Elementary on Friday,
May 28 at 10:00am. Upcoming shows include Yorktown Middle School, Queens
Lake Middle School and Bruton High School. The shows will be performed
by high school students in the Bruton Players of Yorktown, VA. Jack
Tales, Too will be published by Encore Performance Publishing this
summer.
“It is a great honor and challenge for me to
be directing Dr. Stephenson’s newly published play, ‘The Jack Tales
Too.’ As a former student of Dr. Stephenson, I learned a great deal
of his stylized approach to these unique plays. I intend to pass the
tradition on to my students through his work as he did with me,” said
director Tony Pica.
Jack Tales, Too features the popular
Jack Tales stories for children, collected by the Blue Ridge Institute
of Ferrum College and adapted for the stage. Stephenson has collected
and dramatized a variety of tales about the folk hero Jack, as well
as other stories based on the folklore and history of the Appalachian
region. In 1991, six of his scripts were published by I. E. Clark in
The Jack Tales: Folk Stories from the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Stephenson has written over 20 published plays
and was the 1993 winner of The American Alliance for Theatre and Education
for "Too Free for Me" and the IUPUI National Youth Theatre
Playwrighting Competition award for "Excellence in Playwrighting"
for "Jack's Adventures with the King's Girl," in 1996. Stephenson
received the Appalachian College Association's "Faculty Research
Fellowship" to research and write "The World is My Parish."
For more information about Jack Tales, Too or the Jack Tales
Players, contact Rex Stephenson (540) 365-4335.
Ferrum College is a four-year, private, co-educational,
liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Ferrum
offers a choice of nationally recognized bachelor’s degree programs
at a cost well below the national average for private colleges. For
more information on Ferrum, visit www.ferrum.edu. ###
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