'Just So Stories' Opens As Rose Center's 20th Summer Players Show

I have the best summers, thanks to Rose Center in Morristown and their annual theatrical education program, the Summer Players. Next weekend the program marks it's 20th year with the production of Rudyard Kipling's classic collection of children's stories, the "Just So Stories."

This year marks my 4th as director of the Summer Players, and the talent of the young students - from 6th through 12th grade - has been an astonishing thing to witness and help cultivate. They are fearless, curious, adventurous creators, as they not only play the roles of characters, but create the costumes, help build the set, sell advertising - and this year, a group of four young ladies have created and arranged several songs just for this production.

Most of the cast play four to five roles as they act out all the wild and exotic animals from the imaginary and sometimes real wilderness world's of Kipling's tales - like "How The Elephant Got His Trunk" and "How The Rhinoceros Got His Skin".

As with other shows I have directed for the Summer Players, one of the reasons I picked these stories are because they are also classic works of literature, which can be mind-boggling to read and speak no matter what your age. 2012 will mark the 100th anniversary of the publication of the stories, which you can read online here.

I likewise marvel at the constant work of the parents involved too, as they fit in rehearsals, ad sales and costume-making along with all the other dozens of summer activities they already have planned. And as always, the entire staff of Rose Center works so hard to make sure the show has all it needs and the community can see what young students in the arts can accomplish (and they run programs almost all year long dedicated to that for young and old alike).

And still, for all the work that is done, the cast and myself have a most entertaining summer of laughter and worry and hope and silliness and, too, we all learn from each other and I do my best to make sure this creation is also a celebration of childhood and youth, possibility and courage.

Tickets are only $5, all performances are in the Perk Prater Hall at Rose Center starting Friday July 29th at 7 pm, Saturday July 30th at 2 pm and 7 pm and Sunday July 31 at 2 pm. If you'd like more information, or wish to help support the program by purchasing an ad in the program, call Rose Center at 423-581-4330.

The cast includes:

Emma Harris - Judith
Carli Rick - Amanda
Graham Christophel - The Parsee, The Python, The First Man
Marissa Horton - Dog, Kangaroo, Giraffe, Wild Horse
Madison Lamb - Horse, Dingo, Baboon, The Cat
Georgi Lamb - Ostrich, The Baby
Madi Phillips - Camel, Little Nqa, Kolokolo Bird, Wild Dog
Skyler Plasencia - The Man, The Elephant's Child, The Bat
Page Winstead - The Djinn, Nqong, The Crocodile, The First Woman
Elizabeth Young - The Ox, The Rhinoceros, Nquing, The Hippo, The Cow

Musicians -
Freya Cartwright
Anna Helms
Matisse Rick
Sarah Roper

Morristown Documentary Goes Online and Interactive

"Morristown: In The Air and Sun", a documentary on migration of industrial capital and the arrival of immigrant labor in the town of Morristown by award-winner Anne Lewis is now online in a unique multimedia format which makes it very easy to explore. It's called Going South, Coming North: Migration and Union Organizing in Morristown, Tennessee.

First released in 2007, the documentary tracks not just changes in industrial development, but also the often perceptions of local officials and residents in Tennessee, the rugged traveling life of migrant workers and the social impact on all involved. It's a fascinating, on-the-ground perspective which becomes even more amazing as we see the efforts of migrant workers to organize and protect their rights at the workplace.

Created by Lewis and Fran Ansley with the University of Tennessee, this new web page on the Southern Spaces web journal, offers the story of the film in smaller sections of videos and facts, some newly updated, and makes it very easy to navigate and explore the film. I highly recommend you visit the site.

"After years of working on Morristown and walking with the movements that it traces, we remain convinced that labor rights and immigrants’ rights are mutually dependent and inextricably intertwined. Campaigns and organizations that integrate both kinds of claims create spaces where workers can learn from each other and identify shared interests.44 However, serious obstacles to building class solidarity across divides of race and nation remain. Exclusionary whiteness runs deep, as does an exclusionary kind of Americanism. Anti-immigrant backlash is alive and well around the United States, and that backlash can be found among working class people and union members as among other segments of the population. But as Morristown documents, there are also working class southerners, both black and white, who can and do respond differently to immigration and to the question of immigrants’ rights, workers who express solidarity and see a basis for common ground. Shirley Reinhardt suggested something like this when she spoke with us before the Koch Foods election about what a victory would mean:

You’re saying to all the others from Mexico, they don’t have to treat you worse than anybody else. You can organize. That’s exactly what you’re saying. Not only are you saying that to the people from Mexico but you’re saying that to the people of Hamblen County, too.

I Hate Hamlet- Zany Farce Back for One Final Weekend

When your real estate agent, your girlfriend and your talent agent all demand to hold a seance to contact the legendary actor John Barrymore - then a seance will be held. Poor Andrew, the one-time TV star now facing a chance to play Hamlet in Central Park, has little say in the matter in the opening scenes from "I Hate Hamlet" which has only 3 performances left at Rose Center in Morristown this weekend.

While ghosts and glory and all the other challenges of the characters of Shakespeare are a part of this newest production, the first of the the current 76th season of the Morristown Theatre Guild, the show is first and last a comedy of epic proportions.

An expert ensemble cast brings much talent and much laughter to the show -- which pokes fun at live theater itself, at television, at fame, at the 'slings and arrows' of romance, at sword fights, at what happens when male actors have to perform without wearing pants, and so much more. And "I Hate Hamlet" is not just 'in-jokes' for actors - zany farce may be the best description for the show -- a show I have reluctantly dubbed "The Best Show You Never Saw!!"

Only three shows are left - Friday and Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 2pm at Rose Center in Morristown. Tickets are available at the door or you can order them online at LakewayTickets.com

Don't miss your last chance to see the funniest live production of 2010 here in Morristown. Drive any distance, bring many friends, and be prepared to laugh from start to finish -- yes, even the curtain call is a once-in-a-lifetime event you'll never see anywhere else.

As director for the show, I prefer to stay in the background often, but I'm breaking a basic rule for this post -- some images from the show taken by photographer Roger Fleenor include a shot of me (Number 234 in the list), your humble narrator, and so here I am, putting my own image online. (it's a shot of me thinking or something during rehearsal)

I'm proud beyond description of this show. Drama is easy, dear readers, while doing comedy is the toughest work of all and which must never appear for one moment to be like work at all.

Many more photos of the cast and show, all taken by Roger Fleenor, can been seen online http://Luxworkphoto.zenfolio.com/hamlet

So turn off the TV, come to Prater Hall at Rose Center, leave the dull world of reality behind and enjoy a world without bailouts or recessions or scandals (well, there are a few scandalous moments here) and just revel in the comedy and the laughter.

And I must offer my tremendous thanks to the board of the Morristown Theatre Guild, to the tireless work of Rose Center and to all the volunteers both on-stage and off who have worked so hard to make magic happen at "I Hate Hamlet."

Few Vote, Sales Tax Hike Approved

With little to no news coverage of the event, city officials won approval of a sales tax increase in Morristown on Tuesday. A of 1,504 voted in the special election. Some 979 voted yes on the measure with 525 voting no. The referendum wins approval, but could not get even 15% of city voters to come to the polls.

Does one vote matter? A few hundred certainly does.

The vote means property taxes will drop 15 cents from a recent 40 cent increase. How long until that amount increases? With ever-rising city government costs and an a community unconcerned with voting, I'd say the increase will happen as soon as possible with no fear of repercussion.

No Debate On Morristown Sales Tax Referendum

City residents in Morristown have a sales tax increase referendum on the ballot for their vote on Tuesday, but there is pretty much zero information about the ballot. A county-wide vote was defeated earlier this year, despite much huffing and puffing to promote it in the local press. Most in the public just won't vote to increase taxes. All those temporary measure taxes, like for a wheel tax, voted for in county after county were really votes for a permanent tax. Voters learn quickly from such experiences.

For Tuesday - not even the city's web site has one word about the upcoming vote. The only listed event for Tuesday June 3rd is a city council meeting. Is the measure more likely to pass if fewer people vote? Until the vote is counted Tuesday, we won't know. It sure seems like a low turnout is being hoped for.

Blogger Linda Noe has reported on the mass mailed letters to "property owners" asking them to support the tax increase, an effort paid for by tax dollars. Has the city decided the less said about the sales tax increase the better?

Part of the push from City Hall is that their recent massive 40-cent property tax increase would be rolled back some 15 cents if this vote passes. But given the budget mess they have on their hands, how long before that 15 cents gets added back in again? Or 25 cents? Or more? The sales tax increase is permanent.

Ben Cunningham at Taxing Tennessee writes about the city's registering itself as a committee to promote the proposed increase:

"I wish I could find words to describe the arrogance of these Morristown officials."

I am not a city resident and will have no vote on Tuesday. However, I can and do vote by deciding where I go to spend money, as do so many others in the area. Knowing I could travel into the city limits to make a purchase at a higher price or travel about the same distance to Jefferson County and Jefferson City ... well, with everything costing more and more, I look for savings wherever I can. Some folks can't afford to pay for the extra cost of gas to travel outside the city for a small savings on sales tax, but I wonder how many non-city residents will decide to not make a purchase while in Morristown?

Whether or not the city needs an increase in sales taxes, needs to cut spending, needs to reconfigure their operations - all that is a topic for debate, certainly.

But I hear no debate at all.

"Morristown" The Movie

“We don’t make anything in this country anymore. If they closed the ports, we’d be naked and barefoot.”
- Shirley Reinhardt, former GE worker, Morristown, TN

The quote comes from a new documentary about Morristown and immigration, currently making the rounds at festivals and is also now available on DVD. Filmmaker Anne Lewis spent years on the project, which examines how immigration has changed the city and the city has changed the immigrants.

Lewis began her career as an associate director on the Oscar-winning "Harlan County U.S.A." and has been actively exploriing the lives and the worlds of working men and women ever since. Some info about her is here and here, where she explains her creative vision as a documentary filmmaker.



The movie, "Morristown" is described as:

"Working-class people in Mexico and eastern Tenessee are caught in the throes of massive economic change, which challenges their assumptions about work, family, nation and community. This film chronicles nearly a decade of change in Morristown, Tennessee through interviews with displaced or low-wage Southern workers, Mexican immigrants, and workers and families impacted by globalization."

A short clip can seen here via the Austin, TX university website.

The movie was made with the assistance from both the Highlander Center (where you can order a DVD copy of "Morristown Video Letters", an early spin off of the project) in New Market, TN and the Appalshop in Kentucky, where you can pre-order copies of the movie and should have them available for sale in the very near future. Thanks to Anne for the details about the availability of her film.

Part of the movie examines the recent efforts of workers at the Koch Foods chicken processing plant to form a union. Workers overwhelming approved the move to unionize and cameras take you into the plant to witness working conditions there.

And while the movie hasn't gotten much attention in Tennesssee, audiences from Albuquerque to Minnesota are watching the story unfold.

(photo taken from the movie, shows Alfredo and Silvia Perez and their children in Juarez, Mexico)