JOHNSON CITY – Edgar Lee Masters' "Spoon River Anthology" will be presented by the East Tennessee State University Division of Theatre Jan. 31-Feb. 3. The performance was originally scheduled for later in February.
This work, adapted to the stage by Charles Aidman and directed by Bobby Funk, director of the Division of Theatre, will feature on-stage, "theatre in the round" seating in the Bud Frank Theatre in Gilbreath Hall at ETSU. Performances will be held at 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday.
In the play, the dead in an Illinois cemetery relay to the audience, through monologues and song, details from their lives and their thoughts on life in general. These characters and their experiences were created by Masters from his memories of actual residents of two Illinois towns, Lewistown and Petersburg.
Written in 1914-15, the Anthology was, and continues to be, original, provocative and influential, and its literary significance has been compared with Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. Scholar William Marion Reedy said that Masters "wrote the life of man everywhere, or at least everywhere in America." The play is faithful to Masters' book of poems, using the people in one small-town graveyard to paint a broader picture of America and its people.
Cast members include James Andes, Ashley Beasley, Kristy Beidleman, James Cronin, Katie Harrison, Nathan Moffett, Roger Carson Price, Jenny Savery, Carrie Smith, Amy Tallmadge, E.T. Tarlton and Molly Tatum. Crew members include production stage manager Holley Housewright, musical director Anne Cook and lighting designer Anna Koch. The play also includes folk music by Naomi Caryl Hirshorn.
Admission is $6 for the general public and $3 for students with valid I.D. The "theatre in the round" seating is limited, so reservations are strongly encouraged.
For reservations, more information, or special assistance for persons with disabilities, call the Division of Theatre box office at (423) 439-7576.