Sixth annual EMU Walk for Hope raises awareness for mental health

A quilt hangs inside the counseling center at EMU, sharing the message: “Let hope light a fire that no one can put out; I am here to help; stay strong.” The quilt is a collaborative effort created over the first years by participants of Walk for Hope, an annual event of solidarity in the face of depression and suicide on college campuses.

That solidarity is shown by the joining, and joint hosting, of four higher education communities in the region: EMU, James Madison University, Blue Ridge Community College and Bridgewater College. The event averages between 700 and 800 attendees each year.

The message of the walk is that mental illness “is real, you’re not alone, there is hope, and it’s okay to ask for help,” said Pam Comer, EMU’s director of counseling services.The sixth annual Walk for Hope will be Saturday, March 25. Walkers will meet at Yoder Arena in the University Commons. The walk begins at noon with a loop around the Park View neighborhood. Post-walk festivities include snacks, food trucks, collaborative art projects, games for kids, and keynote speaker Dave Romano, a mental health advocate from Minnesota who works for the nonprofit Active Minds. Two years ago, Romano biked across the United States to raise awareness for mental health.

The theme this year is “sunflowers,” thanks to the event’s primary sponsor, the Austin Frazier Memorial Fund. The Frazier family opened their sunflower field  to the community last fall as a fundraiser for the walk. The field of flowers is memorialized in the t-shirts that all participants will receive.

Comer especially loves the art-making part of the event, such as the quilt squares. A second quilt, which is about halfway complete, will be finished at the end of this event.

“It’s a sense of expression without words, as they’re all sitting together, working together,” she says. “We’re all in this together.”

Comer has been on the planning committee since the walk’s inception through the CoachLink program. CoachLink, which connects EMU students with mentors, was initiated by the Frazier family after their son, Austin, passed away in 2009.

A group from all four schools got together to brainstorm – “how do we gather more schools together and make a statement in the community?” The Walk for Hope was born, and has been sponsored by the Austin Frazier Memorial Fund since the first walk in 2012.

“Without that family’s commitment, we wouldn’t have a Walk for Hope,” says Comer. The original planners were intentional about not asking participants to raise funds for the event, which might distract from their purpose. “It’s for students gathering and getting some inspiration and hope.”

Story by Randi B. Hagi

Lime Kiln Theater announces 2017 Summer Concert Series

Lime Kiln Theater has announced its Summer 2017 concert schedule. The concert series will run from Saturday, May 20 through Saturday, Aug. 26 and will feature seven shows.

Tickets are on sale now at www.limekilntheater.org. Season passes are available for $122, and individual concert tickets are also on sale. Here is the full schedule:

• Saturday, May 20 – Larry Keel Experience with The Honey Dewdrops
• Saturday, June 3 – Will Lee, Danny Knicely & John Flower (CD Release) with Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley
• Friday, June 16 – Steep Canyon Rangers
• Saturday, June 24 – Turnpike Troubadours with special guest Charley Crockett
• Saturday, July 1 – Love Canon
• Friday, July 21 – The Festy Presents: The Infamous Stringdusters
• Saturday, Aug. 26 – Robin & Linda Williams (with one set of Stonewall Country songs)

Lime Kiln Theater’s summer concert series is sponsored by Devils Backbone Brewing Company and Orrison Tree & Landscape Services. Devils Backbone beer, Kind Roots Café food, and local wine will be available for purchase at all shows.

Lime Kiln Arts, Inc. is a non-profit (501c3), operating at Lime Kiln Theater in Lexington. It opened in 1984 and is rooted in and inspired by the magic of a natural, outdoor theater. After a brief hiatus that started in 2012, Lime Kiln Theater is thrilled to begin its fourth straight summer season of live music featuring local, regional and national acts.

For more information, visit Lime Kiln on the web at www.limekilntheater.org, or check out our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/LimeKilnTheater.

Graeme of Thrones comes to Wayne Theatre

The critically-acclaimed Graeme of Thrones is coming to the Wayne Theatre on Monday, March 27, at 7 p.m.

Direct from a four-star, sold-out run in London’s West End, this hilarious parody received the Critics Choice award from both the London Evening Standard and The Times, who called it “charming, funny” and “spot on.”

“This is an exciting addition to the Wayne Theatre schedule. For fans of Game of Thrones, this is a must-see,” said Tracy Straight, the executive director of the Wayne Theatre.

Avid Thrones fan Graeme just wants to recreate his favourite fantasy saga on stage aided and abetted by his best friend Paul and the woman he used to like in school, Bryony. While he does not quite have the same budget as the TV show, or as many cast members, or the performance skill required, he is sure George RR Martin would approve and that is what matters.

When news reaches them that an influential theatrical producer is in the building, Graeme decides that this could be his big break – as long as nothing goes wrong.

Original cast members Ali Brice (Graeme) and Libby Northedge (Bryony) are joined by Canadian-born Michael Condron (Paul), who has appeared in Seasons 5 and 6 of Game of Thrones as Bowen Marsh.

He doesn’t quite have the same budget as the TV show, or as many cast members, or the performance skill required, but he’s sure George RR Martin would approve – and that’s what matters. But when news reaches them that an influential theatrical producer is in the building, Graeme decides that this could be his big break – as long as nothing goes wrong.

Created by the UK’s top comedy writers including Jon Brittain, Andrew Doyle and Dan Evans, Graeme of Thrones is an original and unauthorized parody on the international phenomenon that is Game of Thrones, a treat for fans and an introduction for the unenlightened.

Tickets are $35/$28 and can be purchased online at WayneTheatre.org.

Hashtag: #GraemeTO
Instagram: @graemetheshow
Twitter: @Graemetheshow
Facebook: Graeme The Show
Website: graemeofthrones.com

W&L hosts 13th National Symposium of Theater and Performance Arts in Academe

Washington and Lee University will welcome visitors from around the world to its 13th National Symposium of Theater and Performance Arts in Academe on March 30.

This year’s symposium, “Home, Borders and the Immigrant Experience in Theater and the Performing Arts,” was organized by Domnica Radulescu, founding director of the symposium and the Edwin A. Morris Professor of Comparative Literature at W&L.

“This year’s symposium is particularly important and relevant given the current issues of immigration, as it addresses precisely how theater, film and the performing arts are responding to such urgent problems of our time,” said Radulescu.

The conference will feature live performances and lectures, including a pared-down version of Radulescu’s play “Exile is My Home: A Sci-fi Immigrant Fairy Tale.” The award-winning production appeared on the New York stage off, off Broadway last spring.

All events will take place in the Stackhouse Theater in Elrod Commons and are free and open to the public. The symposium is co-sponsored by the Office of the Dean of the College and the Center for Global Learning. It also received support from the Mellon Foundation as part of the “Borders and Their Human Impact” series. Generous funding was also provided by the Glasgow Endowment for the Arts and the Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies at W&L.

11:30 a.m.   
Welcoming address: Marc Connor, Jo M. and James Ballengee Professor of English and provost of W&L.
Opening remarks: Domnica Radulescu, the Edwin A. Morris Professor of Comparative Literature.

11:50 a.m.   
“Rhinoceros” and “Ficelle.” Short scenes by Eugene Ionesco and Matei Visniec, performed by students in French 342.

12-1 p.m.   
“African Migration in the Mind of Italy: ‘Noise in the Waters.’ ” Tom Simpson, associate professor of Italian, Northwestern University. The lecture covers the 2010 Italian play “Rumore di acque” (“Noise in the Waters”), which dramatizes not only the ongoing tragedy of those who die at sea in the attempt to cross the Mediterranean from the shores of Africa into Italy, but also the grotesque ways people in the ex-colonial powers rationalize and normalize their own culpability.

1:30-2:30 p.m.
“New Romanian Cinema: Crossing National Borders Through Irony and Reflexivity.” Dominique Nasta, professor of film studies, Université Libre de Bruxelles. A bright spot on the map of world cinema, Romania unexpectedly produced one of the few coherent New Waves, having garnered important international recognition during the last 10 years. Essential films by Cristian Mungiu, Corneliu Porumboiu, Cristi Puiu or Radu Muntean set forth a new way of confronting historical or ideological facts and moral dilemmas and led to a rhetorical reshaping of the grammar of cinema.

3-4 p.m.
“Re-performed Traditions and the Immigrant Experience: The Indian Theater of Roots in the United States.” Maria-Sabina Draga Alexandru, associate professor of American Studies, University of Bucharest. The talk will examine some of the uses of the aesthetics of traditional Indian theater, derived from the Natya Sastra and adapted to the requirements of modern times, in stagings of theater of roots plays in the U.S. for the benefit of U.S.-located South Asian communities.

4:15-5 p.m.  
“Precarious Temporalities: Neoliberalism, Sexual Citizenship and the Global Deportation Regime.” Rachel Lewis, assistant professor in the Women and Gender Studies Program, George Mason University. Lewis will discuss how feminist and queer refugee narratives across a variety of media platforms, including photography, painting and performance art, recast migrant precarity as a question of temporality, along with the ways in which immigrant re-appropriations of temporality through performance can facilitate refugee healing and resistance.

5-6 p.m. 
“Vulnerable Bodies in Transformation.” A selection of readings from the performance series, “The Goddess Diaries.” Carol Campbell, George Mason University. Campbell will discuss the theoretical framework around gender issues and performs selections from her work that include true stories of fiercely courageous women.

7:30 p.m.      
“Exile Is My Home: A Sci-fi Immigrant Fairy Tale,” by Domnica Radulescu. Directed by Andreas Robertz. Performed by Nikaury Rodriguez, Florinda Ruiz, Mirandy Rodriguez, Mario Golden, A.B. Lugo, Vivienne Jurado and David Van Lesteen. Music composed by Alexander Tanson. “Exile Is My Home” won the 2016 HOLA Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast Award. This performance is done in collaboration with OneHeart Productions in New York City and is supported with funds from the dean of the College at Washington and Lee University.

“Exile is My Home”

Billed as a “sci-fi immigrant tale,” “Exile is My Home” is the story of Mina and Lina, a refugee couple from the Balkans traveling through the galaxy in search of a planet to call home.

“The play combines absurdist comedy, irony and suspense to raise consciousness about the current international refugee crisis and the complexity of issues related to it,” said playwright Domnica Radulescu, the Edwin A. Morris Professor of Comparative Literature at W&L

“I would describe it as a tragic-comic play with a lot of dark humor. It’s an intergalactic story, with fairy tale motifs and constant references to wars and genocides, but the main theme is about the wrenching search for home. Where does one belong? Where is home? It can be many places and also nowhere and that great confusion is the constant tension that moves the action of the play.”

A review by RG Magazine described the work as “playful and creative, but also painfully true to the realities faced by millions every day. A place called home is what we are searching for, not just for the play’s main characters, but for all of us as well. ‘Exile is my Home’ emanates a powerful story with a creative edge.”

For the March 30 staging, the play will feature all but one member of the original cast, whose role will be filled by Florinda Ruiz, visiting associate professor of writing at W&L. In addition, the production will feature the original music and will include video clips from the New York City production. You can read an interview with Radulescu on the New York Theater Review website.

Radulescu, who has written, edited or co-authored 13 books, has also written and directed numerous plays. A full production of “Naturalized Woman: A Quilting, Surrealist Project about Immigrant Women” was staged for the first time at the Thespis Theater Festival, off off Broadway, in New York City, in 2012. Her plays “The Town with Very Nice People” and “Exile Is My Home” received second prize (2013) and, respectively Honorable Mention (2014) from the Jane Chambers Playwriting Competition. Radulescu directed both “4:48. Psychosis” by Sarah Kane and “Nine Parts of Desire” by Heather Raffo at Cluj National Theater, Romania, in 2008.

Radulescu joined the W&L faculty in 1992. In addition to teaching courses in French language and literature and in Italian Renaissance literature, she is the co-founder of W&L’s Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Program. She received the 2011 Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.

Virginia Tech 3.2-Mile Run in Remembrance scheduled for April 15

Virginia Tech’s 3.2-Mile Run in Remembrance, an annual event that honors and remembers the 32 individuals who lost their lives on April 16, 2007, will be held April 15 starting at 10 a.m. on the Virginia Tech campus.

Now in its ninth year, the event will start on the Drillfield near War Memorial Gym and finish near the April 16 Memorial across from Burruss Hall. It will be held rain or shine.

In the event of severe weather, the status of the run will be posted to the university homepage.

The event is free and open to the public, and individuals may run, walk, or push a stroller on the 3.2-mile course. Participants are asked to preregister for the event at the Department of Recreational Sports website.

Last year, more than 11,000 people participated in the event.

The route for the 3.2-Mile Run in Remembrance will take participants throughout campus, around the Duckpond, and through the home team tunnel used to enter Lane Stadium before returning to the Drillfield via Kent Street.

Individuals are required to check in for the run either April 14, from 4 to 8 p.m., or April 15, from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m., in 125 War Memorial Gym (basketball gym). Those registered must bring their confirmation email that includes their QR code printed on paper or on an electronic device.

Participants can request a new confirmation email by going to the Virginia Tech Recreational Sports website.

3.2-Mile Run in Remembrance participants will receive a free T-shirt. Any shirts that have not been picked up by 8:30 a.m. on Saturday will be given away on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Run bibs will be distributed at check in. Bibs will be used if participants wish to leave a bag at the bag drop on the Drillfield. For alumni and others who plan to run in a 3.2-mile event in their community may download one.

Participants will be organized in three waves at the start of the event. The first wave will be for those who will run; the second wave will be for those who will jog or walk fast; the third wave is for those who will walk or those individuals with a stroller. Volunteers will be holding signs indicating each wave so runners and walkers will know where to go.

At 10 a.m., the run will begin with a moment of silence lasting 32 seconds, followed by the start of each wave separated by a few minutes.

An aerial photo will be taken on the Drillfield prior to the run at 9:45 a.m. Participants are asked to wear the maroon event T-shirt or other maroon Hokie shirt.

Following the event, all participants and members of the broader New River Valley community are invited to attend the community picnic on the Drillfield, sponsored by the Virginia Tech Student Government Association. Some food and beverage will be provided.

Should there be inclement weather, the picnic will be in Commonwealth Ballroom.

Free parking is available for the 3.2-Mile Run in Remembrance in all Perry Street lots and the Perry Street parking garage located off Prices Fork Road.

More information about the activities planned for the Day of Remembrance on April 16 is available online.

Staunton honored as a Tree City USA

Staunton has earned the city national recognition from the Arbor Day Foundation as a 2016 Tree City USA. It’s the 21st year the city has received this recognition.

Staunton has achieved the Tree City USA distinction by meeting the program’s four requirements: a tree board or department, a tree-care ordinance, an annual community forestry budget of at least $2 per capita and an Arbor Day observance and proclamation.

“Tree City USA communities see the impact an urban forest has in a community first hand,” said Dan Lambe, president of the Arbor Day Foundation. “Additionally, recognition brings residents together and creates a sense of community pride, whether it’s through volunteer engagement or public education.”

Trees provide multiple benefits to a community when properly planted and maintained. They help to improve the visual appeal of a neighborhood, increase property values, reduce home cooling costs, remove air pollutants and provide wildlife habitat, among many other benefits.

The city will host an Arbor Day celebration from 2 to 6 p.m., Friday, April 14, at Montgomery Hall Park.

About the Tree City USA Program

The Tree City USA program was started in 1976 and is sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters. This year, the program marks its 40th year.

Crozet Tunnel tours set for April 1-2

The Blue Ridge Tunnel Foundation has partnered with some of the area’s best wineries, cideries and breweries to offer the first ever Hops & Headlamps tour on April 1 & 2.

Comfortable shuttles will whisk you and your guests from one of our libation partners to the eastern trailhead of the tunnel. From there it is a flat, scenic walk (about 0.6 mile) to the tunnel entrance where you will be greeted by our knowledgeable historians to answer all your questions about this historical landmark.

After you’ve explored the damp and shadowy tunnel, we will chauffeur you back to your chosen venue for tastings.

Foundation President Allen Hale notes, “What a great way to spend a few hours on a weekend? This will be the last time the tunnel is open for tours until after the restoration of the historic landmark and trails are complete.”

Tours are on April 1 & 2 and will last approximately two hours, not including tastings after the tour. Departure times and tour sizes vary by location. Tour locations include Afton Mountain Vineyards, Basic City Brewery, Blue Mountain Brewery, Bold Rock Cidery, Cardinal Point Winery and Veritas Winery. The Hops & Headlamps experience is $32 per person and includes transportation, customized tunnel tour and tastings at the participating venues. Tours are expected to sell out quickly so register early!

Register at www.blueridgetunnel.org. You can register a maximum of 4 people for each time slot. Tour is recommended for adults 21 and older; there is no discounted priced for anyone under 21. You must present proper ID and have your ticket at each venue in order to receive a tasting. Because this is a fundraising event, no refunds will be issued.

For more information, call 434-263-7130.

Bridgewater Civil War Institute to focus on aftermath of war

The often turbulent years following the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox and how the nation adjusted to a post-war footing is the topic of the 10th Annual Bridgewater College Civil War Institute, to be held Saturday, March 18, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.

The one-day institute, which is free and open to the public, will be in the Spoerlein Lecture Hall (Room 100) of the college’s McKinney Center for Science and Mathematics.

Exploring the theme of “The Aftermath of the Civil War” are:

Dr. Edward L. Ayers, president emeritus of the University of Richmond where he now serves as Tucker-Boatwright Professor of the Humanities. The topic of Ayres’ address is “Virginia Between Appomattox and Radical Reconstruction.”

“Those years of 1865, 1866 and early 1867 were some of the most chaotic and controversial in American history,” Ayres said. “Virginia, late to secede but the scene of so much fighting in the war, navigated its own path through that treacherous terrain.”

Ayers has written and edited 10 books. The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In the Presence of Mine Enemies: Civil War in the Heart of America won the Bancroft Prize for distinguished writing in American history and the Beveridge Prize for the best book in English on the history of the Americas since 1492. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2013.

Dr. Caroline E. Janney is a professor of history at Purdue University and assistant head of the department of history. The topic of her address at the BC Civil War Institute is “After Appomattox: Lee’s Army in the Wake of Surrender.”

Janney’s research focuses on the Civil War and how the war generation remembered the nation’s bloodiest war. Her first book, Burying the Dead but Not the Past: Ladies’ Memorial Associations and the Lost Cause (2008) explores the role of white southern women as the creators and purveyors of Confederate tradition in the immediate post-Civil War South.

Her second book, Remembering the Civil War: Reunion and the Limits of Reconciliation is a volume in the Littlefield History of the Civil War Era and examines how the Civil War has been remembered between 1865 and the 1930s by northerners and southerners, men and women, white and black.

Janney also serves as a co-editor of the University of North Carolina Press’s Civil War America Series and is the in-coming president of the Society of Civil War Historians.

Dr. Terry Alford is professor of history emeritus at Northern Virginia Community College. Alford will speak on “John Wilkes Booth: A Life Considered.”

Alford is a founding board member of the Abraham Lincoln Institute of Washington, D.C., and is an internationally recognized authority on John Wilkes Booth and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. He is a member of the Ford’s Theater Advisory Council.

Alford is also the author of Prince Among Slaves, which was made into a PBS documentary in 2007. The book tells the story of Abdul Rahman, an 18th century Muslim prince from what is now Guinea who was captured and forced into slavery in the Old South. Prince Among Slaves was made into an award-winning documentary shown on public television in the United States in 2008 to an audience of more than four million viewers. The book, republished in 2007 to mark its 30th anniversary in print, was recently translated into Turkish.

In 2010, Alford received the Outstanding Faculty of Virginia Award from the State Council on Higher Education. This is the highest teaching honor given to college and university faculty in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Dr. Adam Zucconi is an associate professor of history at the Richard Bland College of William and Mary, and a 2009 Bridgewater College alumnus. His topic for the Civil War Institute will be “‘Some’ Mountaineers Are Always Free,” a play on the motto of West Virginia, which is “Mountaineers Are Always Free.” His presentation will focus on how the politics of slavery influenced what became West Virginia before, during and after the Civil War.

Zucconi’s research interests include 19th century politics and political culture, slavery, and West Virginia and Virginia history. He is currently revising his dissertation, which focused on slavery, sectionalism and statehood in western Virginia.

“We are excited to have this extraordinary group of accomplished and well-respected Civil War historians present at our annual Civil War Institute,” said co-founder Nick Picerno. “The institute’s growth in respect and reputation makes it possible for us to attract historians from academia within and outside the commonwealth. This affords our attendees diverse perspectives from some of the nation’s foremost authorities of American Civil War history.”

Bridgewater College is a private, four-year liberal arts college located in the Central Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Founded in 1880, it was the state’s first private, coeducational college. Today, Bridgewater College is home to nearly 1,900 undergraduate students.