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The Magnolia Avenue Campus Drama Club of Pellissippi State Community College presents two performances of A. R. Gurney’s “The Dining Room,” the first one Nov. 30 and the second Dec. 2.

Written in 1982, the play was a 1985 nominee for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The story centers on family dynamics and is set entirely in a dining room, once the focal point of American family interaction.

In keeping with a tradition established by its previous productions, the Drama Club is using a minimal number of actors to fill multiple roles: eight cast members portray 24 characters. Students, faculty and staff from the Magnolia Avenue Campus make up the cast.

Although a Pulitzer nominee in the Drama category, the play “is very much a comedy, as well,” according to Rick Patton, an associate professor of English at the college and the play’s director.

Both performances are free and open to the public. However, donations will be accepted, with all proceeds going to the Pellissippi State Foundation on behalf of the Magnolia Avenue Campus Drama Club.

Both are in the Community Room of the Magnolia Avenue Campus, 1610 Magnolia Ave. The Nov. 30 presentation is at 7 p.m., and the Dec. 2 is at 2 p.m.

For additional information, contact Patton at (865) 329-3134 or rpatton@pstcc.edu.

A permanent exhibit at the University of Tennessee’s Frank H. McClung Museum tells the story of 14,000 years of human culture. The entire collection of “Archaeology and the Native Peoples of Tennessee” boasts several million artifacts assembled by archaeologists beginning in the 1930s.

Pellissippi State Community College is hosting a discussion and presentation of the exhibit by Joan Markel, McClung’s outreach educator, on Nov. 17. The one-hour event takes place at 12:30 p.m. in the Community Room of the Magnolia Avenue Campus, 1610 E. Magnolia Ave. The event is free and open to the public.

The presentation is part of the college’s Common Academic Experience, a program in which one book is chosen each academic year to serve as a common denominator in developing curricular and co-curricular activities.

The 2009-2010 Common Book, “Storming Heaven,” by Denise Giardina, is required reading for many students. The novel is the centerpiece for activities ranging from author presentations to art exhibits to film showings. Both the book and the McClung exhibit examine the native peoples of the South.

The collection, which includes genuine artifacts as well as visual images, grew out of UT’s involvement with the Tennessee Valley Authority in protecting the remains of Native American sites inundated by reservoirs. The archaeological agreement started in 1934.

For additional information, contact Rosalyn Tillman, assistant dean of the Magnolia Avenue Campus, at (865) 329-3100 or rtillman@pstcc.edu.

The College Democrats student organization on the Magnolia Avenue Campus of Pellissippi State Technical Community College will host a political forum on Tuesday, March 31, noon-1:30 in the Community Room.

The public is invited to attend the free event, and free parking is available behind the building.

“This event affords students and the public an opportunity to meet their elected officials, discuss issues and concerns they may have and get their questions answered,” said Joseph Williams, the club president and an education student.

“Local Government and You” will feature commissioners Sam McKenzie, District 1; Amy Broyles, District 2; Richard Briggs, District 5; and Greg ‘Lumpy’ Lambert, District 6. The event will be moderated by David Foulk, news director of the “Hallerin Hilton Hill” radio show.

For more information, contact Rosalyn Tillman, assistant dean of the campus, at (865) 329-3101, or David Jones, the club’s sponsor, 329-3100.

Feb. 16, 2009

Pellissippi State Technical Community College’s Magnolia Avenue Campus invites the public to a free presentation by The Word Players, a Knoxville-based theatre troupe, noon-1 on Feb. 20.

“Walk, Don’t Ride: A Celebration of the Fight for Equality” is part of the college’s annual celebration of Black History Month. Visitors may park free behind the campus, 1610 E. Magnolia Ave.

“This one-act play by Peter Manos is a presentation in drama and song of three major events in the American Civil Rights Movement,” said Rosalyn Tillman, assistant dean of the Magnolia Avenue Campus. The events are the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott; the Nashville lunch counter sit-ins; and the Greyhound/Trailways freedom rides.

“Walk, Don’t Ride” chronicles the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955-56. The play shares the words of the famous and lesser-known figures who took part—Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Claudette Colvin.

The presentation punctuates the events by integrating many of the songs that heartened participants of the boycott: “Oh, What a Beautiful City,” “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize,” “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

The second segment is the story of the 1960 lunch counter sit-ins in Nashville. “I’m Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table” is the song that adds power and poignancy to the presentation.

Finally, the play dramatizes the events related to the Greyhound/Trailways freedom rides of 1961. “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen” is the song chosen for this section of the play.
For more information, contact Rosalyn Tillman at (865) 329-3101.