N.C. ESSAY - PAGE 3
Features, etc
Toy box Success
Photo by Barcelona
Personal Encounter Groups
“It was groo-oo-oo-vy like the
rest of the play” - Danny Hicks,
Eden Intermediate School, Eden,
North Carolina
“Tales From the Toybox,” the
children’s show directed by Bill
Dreyer which has been on tour
for the last two weeks, was a
resounding success. Especially in
Eden, North Carolina. The NCSA
troupe hit the Eden Intermediate
(Elementary) School like the
Beatles did New York.
In fact, the show, which
features a series of skits with
characters such as the Frog and
the Unicorn and a vibrantmusical
score, was so popular that the
entire cast received fan letters
from the students at Eden.
As Mrs. Rose Matthews, a
teacher at Eden, said in her
letter to the school: “The
students were eager to express
their appreciation and pleasure
of the program, so I am sending
the letters as they wrote them -
mistakes and all.”
(The letters were all written by
one class, although Mrs. Mat
thews did not indicate in her
letter which grade she taught).
The letters are beautiful. They
convey a great sense of happiness
and appreciation, an innocent
fascination created by exposure
to a new and exciting world. You
can tell from the tone of these
letters that the kids in Eden will
remember the show for some
time to come.
You really should read each
letter individually (to get the full
effect of the handwriting,
spelling, etc.). But perhaps these
few can give you an idea of the
spirit in which the letters were
written (every letter was com
plimentary; we’ve tried to select
a few of toe “best”):
Dear Performers,
I really enjoyed having you
here at our school. Your per
formance was very exciting and
amusing. All the acts were done
especially well. I enjoyed most
the scene about the man who saw
the unicorn and his wife who
didn’t believe him. (“The boy
who played the husband was
cute”). I hope you come back
again.
Sincerely yours,
Joni Green
P.S. If it’s not too much trouble
please send the autographs of
those who were here.
Dear Performers,
I liked the performance you
gave. The best skit I liked was the
Enchanted Frog. I liked the
organist. I wish I was the worlds
famous organist.
Yours truly,
Charles Van Zandt
P.S. If you ever in Eden stop by
Mrs. Matthews room.
Dear (Student, Performers,
Artist),
I would like to congratulate you
for such a fine play, you put on at
the Intermediate School
February 1. The back ground
music from that organ or at less I
think its a organ, well know
mater it really turned me on and
each performer was at its peak. I
like the fable about the farm dog
and I still remember the morral
of the story (it is better to ask
questions sometimes than have
the answers all the time). If you
ever in Eden come over and talk
a bit.
Your friend,
Mike Sheehan
Dear Actors,
I really liked your play. You
might say I digged the groovy
sound. Especially the music.
The plays were really good
though. I really did enjoy it. I
would like to see you all again.
Yours truly,
Bobby Wrenn
Dear Artists,
We were glad that you came to
our school. We were so happy. We
all thought the performers were
good. We would like to see you
again. The best one I liked was
the frog he was so funny. I also
liked the one about the elephant
and the one about the tulips we
thought the girls were just good.
So please come and see us again.
We would like to see you. We all
thought you were just good. We
also liked the man on toe organ
we loved all toe instruments. We
enjoyed you for giving us toe play
we just loved it.
Your friend,
Lucy Mary Adkins
Dear Performers,
I enjoyed your play very much
is was Great! It was better ^n
any play around. I especially
liked toe man toat played toe frog
he was (cute). I especially liked
toe music it was toe “Greatest”!
I hope sometime if you are in
Eden to come and visit our room.
Thank You,
Love, Dottie Southard
Dear Performers,
I missed your show and I am
very sorry that I did, because all
my class mates said it was realy
farout. God hope toe program is
show again so I can see it.
Yours,
Wilford Cochran
Kind of makes it all worto it,
doesn’t it?
Panther Busts
Cent. From Page 2
second blasting at toe house.
Cornell said that no shots had
been fired from toe house and
toat no investigation to find a
shell or where the bullet finally
deposited was ever made).
Finally, after police tear-gassed
toe Pantoer stnicture, Fuller and
the 15 year old boy emerged,
were handuffed and taken to
police headquarters, where
Fuller was charged wito larceny.
As a footaote, Cornell stated toat
Fuller did not know how to drive.
According to Cornell, toe 15
year old boy was detained for
several days (he stated no actual
number), was not permitted to
see any relatives or friends, and
was not appointed an attorney
until toe time of toe hearing
(from which all spectators were
barred). Cornell said toat it was
obvious to him toat the boy was
being intimidated by toe police.
Little Busted
The following Tuesday, a week
after toe meat truck incident,
Cornell himself was busted by toe
police when he was evicted at
23rd & Jackson and charged wito
larceny, accessory to toe fact,
and receiving stolen goods. At toe
same time, Larry Little, head of
toe local Pantoers and toeir chief
spokesman, was arrested outside
the court room and charged wito
larceny and accessory. Anotoer
Panther, Nelson Malloy, was
arrested and charged with
forgery.
The bonds set for Cornell, Little
and Malloy were originally $6,000
and $5,000 respectively; all have
since been dropped to $1,000. Two
of the charges against Cornell
have been dropped (altoough he
didn’t indicate which ones).
Cornell also said that on
January 19, all Pantoer records,
materials, etc. were confiscated
from toe 23rd & Jackson dwelling
and to date have not been
returned.
On Wednesday morning,
February 10, toe High Point
incident exploded into violence.
The incident concerned a seven-
room house which the Pantoers
had rented on December 25 and
were evicted from on December
28. Legal hassles followed for
several weeks, toe result being
toat toe Pantoers were supposed
to have vacated by February 10.
Cornell told toe Essay that the
Panthers would defend toeir
rights “wito our lives.”
On the morning of toe lOto,
police approached toe house wito
an eviction notice. They were
reportedly met wito gunfire and
toen retaliated wito a two-minute
volley into toe house. Police
followed that wito tear gas and
Cont. On Page 4
Are you sometimes fed up wito
toe “games people play?” Or a
little unsure about what games
you have been playing lately?
If so, toen a basic encounter
group may be an experience toat
could be of use to you. For what
may appear to be a game is often
the serious struggle of a person in
toe development of his or her
style of life. The Encounter (or
Personal Growth or Sensitivity
Training) group is for healtoy
persons who want to maximize
toe resources of interpersonal
relationships in order (1) to
become more spontaneous and
creative in their own style of life,
(2) to enrich toeir relationships
wito friends, family or otoers, (3)
to sharpen their ability to express
genuine feeling and to receive
such from otoers ... in short, to
expand toeir potential as human
beings.
In toe words of Carl Rogers:
“The encounter group usually
consists of ten to fifteen persons
and a facilitator or leader. It is
relatively unstructured,
providing a climate of maximum
freedom for personal expression,
exploration of feelings and in-
terpresonal communication.
Emphasis is upon the in-
tereactions among toe group
members, in an atmosphere
which encourages each to drop
his defenses and facades and tous
enables him to relate directly and
openly to otoer members of toe
group - toe basic encounter.
Individuals come to know
toemselves and each otoer more
fully toan is possible in toe usual
social or working relationships;
the climate of openness, risk-
taking and honesty generates
trust, which enables toe person to
recognize and change self-
defeating attitudes, test out and
adopt more innovative and
constructive behaviors and
subsequently to relate more
adequately and effectively to
others in his everyday life
situation.”
You may have heard about
differences among such groups.
Some have a heavily analytic
climate; in otoers, not much is
said. Some have professional
leaders, otoers operate witoout
designated leadership. In otoers,
persons seem bent on tearing
away all bits and pieces of
defenses and facades from each
otoer; this kind of group has a
sadistic or tyrannical quality
about it.
Cranford Johnson and Dave
Belnap of toe Student Affairs
Staff, along wito some interested
students, plan to begin a personal
encounter group on campus. It
will not be group psychotoerapy,
nor will it be intended to deal
with deep personal difficulties.
They have been in encounter
groups before and found toat
growtoful toings happened. The
intent of tois coming group will
be to try to share tois kind of
experience.
A brochure of some sort wito
specifics - time, place, date, etc. -
will be in all mailboxes in the
near future. Watch for it.
Keeler's Kornflakes ‘’v Edwin schioss
side they are on from toe very but eventually restore faito in one
beginning. anotoer before the finale.
Hello, Dolly! left Broadway
just in time to make way for
another frothy extravaganza,
tois time in a revival at toe 46to
Street Theatre of toe 1925 musical
hit. No, No, Nanette starring toe
indomitable Ruby Keeler. What
makes tois different from Dames
At Sea is toe difference between
imitation jewelry and toe real
toing itself, and here Ruby is no
imitation but a solid gem.
Wisely enough, Burt Shevelove
who adapted the book from toe
earlier version, was able to retain
much of toe humor by ‘playing it
straight’ ratoer toan camping it
up for modern day audiences.
There is a tenuous balance
between making fun of something
and making a joke out of it. And it
is to toe credit of toe entire
production that we know what
Where Dames At Sea dispenses
wito a story line almost im
mediately, No, No, Nanette is
told within a structured
framework no matter how slight
and uneventful toe whole toing is,
toey keep a straight face. But in
its own way it works just as ef
fectively. Here toe plot is a
springboard for colorful
characters and stock situations,
and doesn’t rely on extraneous
toeatricality for its own sake. It
tells of an affluent Bible
salesman played by Jack Gilford,
who has a penchant for flappers
when his wife isn’t checking up on
him, while his daughter, Nanette,
is engaged to a young business
executive. Both generations
battle out their false convictions
What speeds the proceedings
along at a reasonable rate is toe
music by Vincent Youman and
toe lyrics by Irving Caesar and
Otto Harbach. It is far from one
of toe most distinguished scores
of all time but it has a mellow
insouciance toat gives it a new
life of its own under^alph Burns’
lively orchestrations. Tea For
Two and I Want To Be Happy are
still two of toe best numbers
around, and registers a par
ticularly strong reaction from
older members of toe audience.
Too Many Rings Around Rosie
and You Can Dance With Any
Girl arc also fine musical
numbers, filled with more
exuberance and drive than most
of toe musicals currently playing
on Broadway. Helen Gallagher,
who plays Ruby’s best friend,
Lucille, comes on strong in toese
two numbers as well as in Where-
Has-My- Hubby-Gone Blues;
unfortunately, toe torch song
falls short of Youman’s
lachrymose More Than You
Know (which should have been
used in its place) and weakens
what should have been a stronger
moment for her in toe third act.
But toe music and lyrics stand up
fairly well nevertoeless.
The choreography by Donald
Saddler, supervised by Busby
Berkeley is energetic if not
always on target. I Want To Be
Happy is Ruby Keeler’s tour de
force but it is also a personal
triumph for Saddler, who has
directed toe number wito great
skill, making sure toat toe chorus
doesn’t take away from Keeler’s
big dance number. Tea For Two
seemed ratoer lukewarm and
heavy-handed in comparison, but
in general he has done a first-rate
job. And one must not fail to
mention Raoul Pene du Bois'
radiant costumes and scenery,
which look as toough Easter egg
dye has been splashed across the
stage wito an egg beater.
All in all, a good evenings
entertainment with a delightful
cast highlighted by Ruby
Keeler’s tap dancing. Jack
Gilford’s gentle good humor,
Helen Gallagher’s buoyant
vivacity, Bobby Vans’ footwork
and last, but not least, Patsy
Kelley’s characterization as
Pauline the overworked maid of
toe house. No, No, Nanette is toe
kind of musical that almost
makes you forget you are living
in 1971. Almost.