JOHNSON CITY – Johnson City author Jo Carson will give a workshop and presentation, "Liars, Thieves, and Other Sinners on the Bench," at East Tennessee State University on Saturday, Jan. 26, at 7 p.m. in 315 Warf-Pickel Hall.
In this presentation, the nationally known playwright and performance artist incorporates over eight years of work with the creation of performance pieces based on oral histories.
Carson's involvement in preserving the oral history of communities is a very special part of her work. She has written 26 community performance pieces for such areas as Colquitt, Ga.; Belle Glade, Fla.; Lancaster, Pa.; the Mennonite community in Newport News, Va.; and others, in addition to a local work, "Hidden Heroines of East Tennessee."
In writing one of these works, she studies the oral history collected by a community, visits and talks with members of the community, and follows up on stories she wants to know more about before writing an oral history for the stage that will be performed in the community by local amateur and professional actors.
Carson, an ETSU alumna, has published plays, short stories, children's books, essays and poems, winning a series of national awards for her growing body of work.
Her appearance at ETSU, sponsored by the university's Master's Degree Program in Storytelling, is free and open to the public.
For more information or for special assistance or seating for persons with disabilities, call Connie Gill at (423) 439-7678 or Dr. Joseph Sobol at 439-7863.