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WCU students to stage play about Cherokee culture at fairgrounds
Students from Western Carolina University’s Theatre in Education program return this month for an encore performance of “Young Cherokee” at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19, at the Cherokee Fairgrounds Pavilion. The event, which is free and open to the public, also features Cherokee artists, storytellers and performers.
The dramatic production closes a year in which WCU students hosted theater workshops for Cherokee students and produced “Young Cherokee,” an educational play that WCU students adapted to better reflect the stories and beliefs of the members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and then performed for school-age audiences.
Western Carolina University student Rachel All portrays the sun in Western Carolina University’s encore performance of the educational play, “Young Cherokee.” The play was developed to increase awareness of the tribe’s beliefs and cultural heritage.
Their goal was to promote cultural understanding through performing the story of a young Cherokee boy who accepts responsibility, overcomes fear and shows respect for all things as he battles an underwater panther and a thunderbird.
The goal of the program, which was designed by Glenda Hensley and Claire Eye, visiting assistant professors, is to help WCU students create and perform high-quality productions that also are educationally relevant.
Western Carolina University student Kendris Myers, in her role of a young Cherokee boy named Chosen One, hunts a deer, played by Elena Pisano, in the educational play “Young Cherokee.” The play, which was developed by WCU’s Theatre in Education Project, will be staged in Cherokee at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19, at the Cherokee Fairgrounds Pavilion. The event, which is free and open to the public, also features Cherokee artists, storytellers and performers.
The program combines arts-based learning, service to the community, and the need for cultural and environmental literacy. Hensley and Eye have spoken about the program at multiple conferences, including the American Alliance for Theatre and Education conference this summer in Washington, D.C. Their next presentation will be today (Thursday) at a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning conference at N.C. State University.
“The final performance in Cherokee will create the bridge to this year’s program as we integrate new class members and launch a new year of arts and educational learning, service and creative partnerships,” Hensley said. “Our many partners and friends in Cherokee helped bring this program to life.”
For more information, contact Hensley at 227-2469 or ghensley@wcu.edu or Eye at 227-3961 or eye@wcu.edu.
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