'Quilters' to be performed in Bud Frank Theatre
Issue date: 11/17/08 Section: The Scene
Most of those situations include some form of dance or song, as well, which Harker, a choreographer and dance professor at ETSU also likes. A five-piece band, directed by and including University School theatre and music instructor Dr. Joseph Borden, accompanies the performers. "The music is just wonderful thanks to Joseph Borden," Harker says. "I have really enjoyed the harmony, and the musical pieces link the stories together so nicely. This is really the glue that holds it all together."
The tight focus on old struggles has brought new insights to the actors of the ETSU production. "It wasn't just men who made history," Bethany Carper, a graduate of Bob Jones University and longtime performer. "The women who stayed home made the quilts, raised the children, carried the stress of the whole family and household."
"Instead of history as His Story," says 2007 Early Childhood Education graduate Audra Smith, who portrays the central and most consistent character of the show, Sarah, "this is history as Her Story. I like the fact that it's told from 'her' perspective …
"The women had to be the emotional stability of the family and the men, the brawn. She kept the children, kept the house. That's why women died so young, they were keeping care of everything but themselves."
As they have portrayed the challenges of the frontier, the actors have faced new personal and theatrical challenges as they've learned to tell the stories of challenging times and lives. "The most challenging aspect for me," Carper says, "is the amount of changing who you have to be and making each character so different. You see this one girl - me, but she's actually seven to 10 different characters. All of mine still have the same accent. I am still working on that."
Despite her years of experience in theatre, Smith has found portraying Sarah, the thread that connects all the women of the show, "a process." "Sarah is real because she is real in all of us," says Smith, a mother of two who performed most recently in Theatre Bristol's Into the Woods. "She is so multi-faceted. It has been quite a process to build and build and build her character, layer by layer … I have found some things about her that are like me, like my step-daughter, like my friends and my fellow cast members ... and I like her. "
The other characters of Quilters are portrayed by ETSU students Shannon Brown, Hannah Love, Kirstie Sensky, Sarah Shanks and Rebekah Shibao.
Many layers, many personalities, many life phases, many textures and colors - Quilters has so many facets of the human spirit to bring to its audiences, Harker says.
"The ensemble that has formed through the rehearsals is very exciting," she says. "It's such a pleasure to work with this group of ladies. They really do represent so many different types of women. They run the gamut. I really like that. It's just a joy to watch."
Quilters will run Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 20, 21 and 22, at 7:30 p.m. in ETSU's Bud Frank Theatre in Gilbreath Hall. A Sunday matinee starts at 2 p.m. For reservations call 423-439-7576.
The tight focus on old struggles has brought new insights to the actors of the ETSU production. "It wasn't just men who made history," Bethany Carper, a graduate of Bob Jones University and longtime performer. "The women who stayed home made the quilts, raised the children, carried the stress of the whole family and household."
"Instead of history as His Story," says 2007 Early Childhood Education graduate Audra Smith, who portrays the central and most consistent character of the show, Sarah, "this is history as Her Story. I like the fact that it's told from 'her' perspective …
"The women had to be the emotional stability of the family and the men, the brawn. She kept the children, kept the house. That's why women died so young, they were keeping care of everything but themselves."
As they have portrayed the challenges of the frontier, the actors have faced new personal and theatrical challenges as they've learned to tell the stories of challenging times and lives. "The most challenging aspect for me," Carper says, "is the amount of changing who you have to be and making each character so different. You see this one girl - me, but she's actually seven to 10 different characters. All of mine still have the same accent. I am still working on that."
Despite her years of experience in theatre, Smith has found portraying Sarah, the thread that connects all the women of the show, "a process." "Sarah is real because she is real in all of us," says Smith, a mother of two who performed most recently in Theatre Bristol's Into the Woods. "She is so multi-faceted. It has been quite a process to build and build and build her character, layer by layer … I have found some things about her that are like me, like my step-daughter, like my friends and my fellow cast members ... and I like her. "
The other characters of Quilters are portrayed by ETSU students Shannon Brown, Hannah Love, Kirstie Sensky, Sarah Shanks and Rebekah Shibao.
Many layers, many personalities, many life phases, many textures and colors - Quilters has so many facets of the human spirit to bring to its audiences, Harker says.
"The ensemble that has formed through the rehearsals is very exciting," she says. "It's such a pleasure to work with this group of ladies. They really do represent so many different types of women. They run the gamut. I really like that. It's just a joy to watch."
Quilters will run Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 20, 21 and 22, at 7:30 p.m. in ETSU's Bud Frank Theatre in Gilbreath Hall. A Sunday matinee starts at 2 p.m. For reservations call 423-439-7576.
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