CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

Carpet Bag Theatre is hosting the annual meeting of the National Performance Network during the week of Sunday, Dec. 6-Sunday Dec. 13.  They are seeking student volunteers to help with crew work for showcases and gofers/assistants with administering the conference.  This is an opportunity to meet performance artists from around the country.

If you are interested in crewing the showcases, the comitment is Thursday, Dec. 10-Saturday, Dec. 12.   Volunteers to assist with conference operations are needed throughout the week.  If you are interested, please contact the appropriate person as listed below:

Showcase Volunteers Contact:
Tramaine Brathwaite
MRP Production Assistant
NPN Annual Meeting Showcase 2009
[Event now over — contact information removed]

Conference Volunteers Contact:
[Event now over — contact information removed]

Playwright Linda Parris-Bailey, executive artistic director and principal writer-in-residence for Knoxville’s internationally celebrated The Carpetbag Theatre, Inc., will be reading scenes from her new commissioned work, Giants of Lehigh Valley, in the UT Commons, on the second floor of Hodges Library, Saturday, February 2, 1-4 pm.

The play, commissioned by Touchstone Theatre and featuring the music by Ysaye Barnwell of Sweet Honey in the Rock, grew out of oral histories collected by students from Muhlenberg College and Kutztown University and story circles conducted by Peggy Pettitt. The piece is a powerful tapestry of theatre and song highlighting a century of the African American experience in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania. Also participating in the reading (via videoconference) will be director Mark McKenna, producing artistic director of Touchstone Theatre, and select cast members. The public is welcome to attend the reading, which is being co-sponsored by the UT Department of Theatre, and to join in the question-and-answer session that follows.

Linda Parris-Bailey has written several touring works for The Carpetbag Theatre, Inc. including, Cric? Crac!; Ce Nitram Sacul; Nothin’ Nice; and the ensemble company’s signature work, Dark Cowgirls & Prairie Queens. She has served as Adjunct Associate Professor of Acting at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Program Director of the Summer Youth Workshop at the Highlander Research & Education Center; and Workshop Facilitator designing workshops for the MIRA (Managing Information in Rural America) Project, a program of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

A highly sought-after writer, she actively participates in the International Women Playwrights Conference, and has developed numerous commissioned projects. She recently completed a new work for The Carpetbag Theatre entitled Between a Ballad and a Blues, which will have its world premier at the University of Tennessee’s Ula Love Doughty Carousel Theatre in March.

This program is also made possible with the support of the University of Tennessee’s Office of Information Technology and Lehigh University.

For more information about The Carpetbag Theatre, call 865-544-0447 or visit www.carpetbag.org.