“Higher Ground”
A brief snippet from Charlotte Nolan on the people behind the new community play “Higher Ground”
• Director, Jerry Stropnicky, is a Northwestern University School of Speech and Drama graduate and a current member of Pennsylvania’s Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, a group founded by America’s foremost drama teacher, Alvina Krause. Counted among her noted students have been Charlton Heston, Pat Neal, Tony Roberts, Richard Benjamin, Claude Akins of “Movin’ on” Bill Daniels of “St. Elsewhere,” and literally a host of others who have made nationwide significant contributions to theatre, television and to the teaching of speech and drama in high schools, colleges and universities.
• Choreographer Kevin Iega Jeff is an accomplished performer, a graduate of the New York Juilliard School of Performing Arts and founder of the JUBILATION DANCE COMPANY, N.Y. He has received countless awards and has been nominated for a New York “Bessie,” a dance equivalent of a Tony or an Oscar.
• Stage manager/assistant director is Jerry Matheny of Hagerstown, Md., also a product of a long association with the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble. He “walks softly but carries a big stick.”
• Lighting director is a woman, A.C. Hickox, of Brooklyn, N.Y. She, like the stage manager, has worked with the director before and is, therefore, on the same wave length with regards to the overall production concept. It will be her job to effectively light five acting areas of the “theatre in-the-round,”made up of multi-level platforms designed by Michael Corriston and a number of students and volunteer carpenters.
• Costumer Jamie Bullins teaches at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. The wardrobe department is currently on the lookout for vintage 1940s/’60s clothing suitable for men, women and children. The director announced on Saturday, “When Jamie gets here, you’ll be amazed at what will happen with costumes.”
• Musical direction is in the capable hands of Ann Schertz, well known for her Community Chorus’s annual Christmas and spring concerts, as well as her many years of excellent and dedicated work at the former Southeast Community College.
• House band is fronted by Orby Hundley. His group picks and sings under the name of Pine Mountain Grass. For the Oct. 22 performance, however, a band by the name of Kentucky Rain will fill in.
• Original songs have been written by Sally Rogers and Justin Taylor. Some old hymns and gospel singing also figure into the mix.
• The script, by Jo Carson, or what is known in theatre as the storyline, or “book,” has been adapted from a number or oral histories gathered from a host of Harlan Countians by students and staff of Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College under the guidance of Robert Gipe.
