By Jordan Clifton
Catawba College class of 2014
A piece of classic Southern literature, adapted for the stage by Catawba College Writer-in-Residence and Professor of English Dr. Janice Moore Fuller, kicks off Catawba’s theatre season. Fuller’s adaptation of William Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying” will be offered in Hedrick Theatre on campus at 6:55 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 27 and 28, and at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29 through Saturday, Oct. 1.
Directed by Dr. Beth Homan, associate professor of theatre arts, the play takes audiences into the lives of the dysfunctional Bundren family as they struggle to remain together while taking an arduous journey to fulfill their mother’s last wish. The play is set in Mississippi during the 1930s and tells a heart-wrenching story familiar to everyone — of loss, love, and living inside a family that is dealing with life in its own ways.
Faulkner’s novel, Fuller says, “shows the mind of each Bundren turning itself inside out, struggling to understand the world in his or her own exceptional but distorted way.”
Cast members include Aaron Alderman, Sydney Berk, Jodye Carroll, junior John Millbank, junior Jeffrey Salerno, Rayshaun Sandlin, Jered Shults, Jessie Siak, Donna Steele, Greg Stoughton, Robin Tynes and Blue Masque guest artist and 2011 Catawba alumnus, Chris Herring of Oakboro.
Faculty designers include David Pulliam, set design; Christopher Zink, lighting design; and Erin Dougherty, hair and make-up design. Other crew members include Maggie Truxell, stage manager; Aaron Alderman, assistant set designer; Sydney Berk, co-lighting design; junior Jeffrey Salerno., sound design/engineering; Donna Steele, co-hair and make-up design; and Katie Johnson , assistant stage manager.
Tickets for “As I Lay Dying” are $10 for adults and $8 for senior citizens and non-Catawba students. For more details, contact the Catawba College theatre box office at 704-637-4481, or buy tickets online at www.showtix4u.com.