Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/35747
River Valley Players: Exciting Possibilities in New Season by ERINN CRIDER With the blossoming of a new summer, so too blossoms a new season for the local theatre community. One group in particular has some very exciting possibilities in store for the community. They are the River Valley Players. The River Valley Players are a local nonprofi t theatre troupe consisting entirely of volunteers who perform in order to support local charities. “We are striving to help other people that need help. Local charities that need an extra boost, and if we are able to help them in any way this is what we try to do,” says Gerry Cruse, founder and director of the Players. When asked about which charities they choose to support, Cruse responded with, “We just get together and our board decides which one we want. We try to keep it local. Occasionally something comes up, like maybe a cancer research, or something of that sort, because we have all been involved in one way or another with that kind of an incident. But mostly we try to keep everything local if we can.” Most recently the Players have supported Wounded Warriors with a musical tribute to the military, and are preparing to hold auditions for a performance to benefi t the Fayetteville Urban Ministries. Cruse describes the upcoming performance as, “a series of four short plays, all comedies, all very, very funny.” It will be preformed August 19-20 at the Haymont Grill. They also will have a Christmas performance, but that has yet to be decided upon. The River Valley Players started several years ago in response to the disaster in New Orleans caused by the infamous Hurricane Katrina. “I was working at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center at that time and we had a show group in there and we decided to do a show to raise funds for the children that had been displaced by Katrina, and we actually raised about $3,000 on that occasion,” said Cruse. The biggest new project Cruse has in the works however, is a permanent home for the players and a community theater. “There is an opportunity for the River Valley Players to obtain a building on Trade Street in Hope Mills that will make a perfect little community theatre,” says Cruse excitedly. “It will be a community theatre; there will be rooms that could be rented for functions. The theatre itself will be small but can be dressed up as a wedding chapel, and people can have receptions there. It’s just a good scheme, and we think it would do great. We would like to have, during the summer and continuing if necessary, theatre camps for young people. And also really involve the youth of Hope Mills in the performing arts, because there is nothing live in Hope Mills other than what’s in the schools,” Cruse explained. The River Valley Players face the same issues most non- profi t organizations face, however. They need support, and they need volunteers. When asked if she had enough volunteers, Cruse responded simply and fi rmly with a single word, “No.” With the opportunity of obtaining a building, the group needs support from the community more than ever. “If we could get that going I would be totally delighted. It’s two buildings; they are about a hundred years old. So they are going to have to have some work done to bring them up to code before we can even start to think of putting stuff in there, let alone a gathering place for people. So, we have to make sure all of that is correct, and compliant with ADA rules. But I’m hoping we can get enough support to do this,” said Cruse. Erinn Crider, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. Museum Launches Online Exhibit “A Change Is Gonna Come: Black, Indian and White Voices for Racial Equality” a STAFF REPORT The N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh launched the online exhibit A Change Is Gonna Come: Black, Indian and White Voices for Racial Equality on Friday, July 1. Accessible at www.nccivilrights.org, the exhibit highlights the experiences of courageous Tar Heels in the struggle for equal rights for all North Carolinians. Focusing mainly on the years 1865 to the 1980s, the exhibit gives voice to the individuals and communities who challenged a system of oppression based on race. “We believe this is the fi rst exhibit in the South to examine the Civil Rights movement through the personal stories of African Americans, American Indians, and white North Carolinians,” says Earl Ijames, Curator. “These different historical perspectives are essential to understanding the complexities of the movement.” Follow the history of civil rights as a movement of everyday people, rather than a political exercise by a well-known few. Find out how their actions had local and national impact. “This grassroots social effort changed how North Carolinians viewed civil disobedience and encouraged people to advocate for the rights of themselves and others who face discrimination,” adds Doris McLean Bates, exhibit project manager. To bring their stories to life, A Change Is Gonna Come features compelling historical information, images of individuals and artifacts, fi rst-person accounts by North Carolinians and video and audio clips of signifi cant events. The exhibit also has links to original documents, newspaper articles and other primary sources. For example, online visitors can hear an audio clip of Andrew Brooks recalling a racial incident in his Lumbee community in the late 1800s. Or they can see artifacts indicative of segregation laws, such as “white” WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM and “colored” signs used at drinking fountains in Kinston. A Change Is Gonna Come is presented in three sections titled “Trouble in My Way” (1830-1900), “People Get Ready” (1901-1947) and “Tear Down These Walls” (1948-1980s). Each section guides online visitors through obstacles and injustices that African Americans and American Indians faced in an oppressive system. However, the exhibit also showcases Tar Heels who initiated change and helped eradicate segregation practices in the state and nation. A Change Is Gonna Come highlights both major and lesser-known moments in the state’s civil rights history. The nationally recognized sit-in movement began in Greensboro in February 1960, when four black students were denied service at a whites-only lunch counter in the F.W. Woolworth store. The students from the Agricultural & Technical College of North Carolina (now North Carolina A&T State University) sat peacefully and refused to leave until the store closed. Not as well known, the “Save Old Main” campaign A protest in Chapel Hill, N.C., is only one of the many civil rights demonstrations featured in the online exhibit A Change Is Gonna Come. at Pembroke State University in 1972, centered on cultural recognition for the Lumbee community. The Lumbee considered the Old Main building a direct connection to the institution’s beginnings as a normal school for Indians in 1887. When the university proposed demolishing the building, the Lumbee and the Tuscarora communities protested. The Old Main campaign eventually became a political issue, drawing support from candidates for state public offi ces. For more information call 919-807-7900 or access ncmuseumofhistory.org or Facebook. The museum is located at 5 E. Edenton Street, across from the State Capitol. Parking is available in the lot across Wilmington Street. JULY 6-12, 2011 UCW 11