Jas^
IliUtnij
il^rs Hill. N. C. 28754
Vol. LI., No. 9, March 2, 1978
SART to Present '‘The Belle of Amherst
in
■j. Southern Appalachian Repertory
jjj^^tre will present The Belle of Am-
Tuesday, March 7 and Wednesday,
b.||'ch 8 at Owen Theatre here at Mars
The curtain time is 8:00
'his delightful one-woman show which
Vividly depicts the humaness and
h sonahleness of the life of the poetess
'vill k ^inl^inson. Actress Susan King
he playing the part of Miss Dickin-
3s the somewhat shy, humorous,
j|^ 'y and vivacious young woman that
j|j ivas. Emily Dickinson was one of
p ivorld’s masters of the short lyric
hi. 7he subjects of her poems,
jjjPressed in intimate, domestic figures
. Speech, include love, death and
®'iire.
Sj!^®hied most of the comforts and
M pjj,jr3ctions that sustain humanity,
the seci ^nd marriage and a
religious faith, Emily lived in-
finding in her books, her garden
tgj 'he friends with whom she cor-
6)(p^°3ded the possibilities of rich
LOCA'1^1
Bell' H
Moor®
laz -0 'N ‘HJlj /
•Saiiop 111**
rience and fulfillment, though she
W*k her "Father’s ground to
dtj house or town." By the 1870’s, she
only in white and saw few of
Sl)g''Phers who came to the homestead,
frij, described then as a “soft
ijj'ened breathless childlike voice.”
iht® playwright, William Luce, has
y Woven dramatically workable
«ubti
anecdotes, poems, and exerpts from
Emily s letters in a conversational
manner, blending in his own words or
seamlessly as possible, and with the
cadence and color of Emily’s words. The
resulting work is a love affair with
language, and a celebration of all that
is beautiful and poignant in life.
Susan King, a 1976 graduate of Mars
Hill College, has appeared in such dif
fering shows as The Sea Gull, The Boy
Friend, and The Apollo of Belloc and
while with the Southern Appalachian
Repertory Theatre, Miss King played in
two shows which had their world pre
mieres there: Ark of Safety and Mondy
Lou. This past year. Miss King complet
ed a ten month session as Artist-in-
Residence for the North Carolina Arts
Council in Clay County where she di
rected a series of productions for high
school and community groups.
Admission is free to Mars Hill College
students, having been subsidized by the
Wren College Union, $2.00 for all other
students, and $3.00 for faculty and gen
eral admission.
Following the two performances on
the Mars Hill College campus, Miss
King, accompanied by Ken Wilson,
production manager, and Diana Mc
Williams, stage manager, will begin a
month’s tour to schools, art councils
and civic centers in North Carolina
and Georgia.
x
Susan King, as seen in a rehearsal scene
formed in Owen Theatre March 7-8 at
/
from “The Belle of Amherst" to be per-
Photo by John H. Campbell, Jr.
Student Earns Credit Without Classroom Study
Moor® J
Be'*' fA
Moor®
Moor®
Moor®^:
Be'^ p:
Moor®^(
Be"'
m Li
Hood, a junior elementary ed-
gfj *°ri major at Mars Hill College who
(if I Up in Thailand, has become the
o[ ' 3'udent to fulfill - without benefit
Colj Urses in the subject - one of the
(of^^®® seven competences required
® degree.
tn
'atfiL
drills
|I972 the Baptist-related school
its curriculum requirements in
*taH' competences as well as the
«mtii -
'"Us
CrM. uual list of required courses and
i„ hours. To earn a degree a student
5fj^' demonstrate competence in an
a specialization - comparable to
\
>f '®3tion skills, aesthetics, synoptics,
C(j|t°Ual knowledge, sciences, and
values.
'"cht *’"on of the competence state-
flejj,® introduced a high degree of
''>'0o°'^''y *uto the entire academic
Students who satisfactorily
®Ubi ^tu certain specified courses in a
tbgj ' are considered competent in
Pud but it is also possible for a
ifi^jj^ut who has not taken those spec-
fifjg bourses to prove his or her pro-
a n.*'"y by asking to be examined by a
and six general areas: corn-
awarded academic credit in that subject
area even though he or she has not
actually taken the classroom courses.
The theory behind this permitted flex
ibility is that some students may have
become competent in one or more of
the required seven areas by virtue of
their life experiences, through special
ized training or independent study, or
some other non-traditional means. Such
was the case with Miss Hood.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, she
moved to Thailand at the age of 8 when
her parents were appointed missionaries
there by the Southern Baptist Con
vention. Her father. Dr. Alton Hood, is
a native of Goldsboro and had just
finished his medical doctor’s degree at
the University of Tennessee. He now
practices at a Baptist-supported hospital
in the village of Bangala, approximately
two hours away from the capital of
Thailand, Bangkok. Her mother does
some missionary work through the
local church, although Lisa notes that
she has had her hands full teaching
Lisa’s four brothers and sisters.
As a result of her life in Southeast
Asia, Lisa felt that she possessed at
least minimum competence in Mars
Hill’s "Cultural Values” requirement.
She, therefore, petitioned to be examin
ed in that area.
The full competence statement is that
“A Mars Hill College graduate compre
hends the major values of his or her
own culture and one foreign culture
and can analyze the relationships of
values between the cultures as well as
appraise the influence of those values
on contemporary societal developments
in the two cultures.”
The assessment team which examined
Lisa included her academic advisor, Dr.
William J. Sears of the Education De
partment faculty; Dr. Evelyn Underwood,
professor and former chairman of the
History Department; and Rev. and Mrs.
Deaver Lawton of Ridgecrest, retired
missionaries to mainland China and
Thailand.
Lisa admitted to being nervous as the
examination began, but members of the
assessment team quickly put her at ease.
The two-hour session included basic
questions on the culture and customs of
Thailand, and she was also asked to
discuss comparisons between Thai
customs and customs in the U. S.
“I felt good about the session,”
Lisa said when it was over and she had
been certified competent. “Thailand
has been so much a part of my life that
I enjoyed sharing my experiences. Be
sides,” she added, “this was a lot better
than taking a course.”
Lisa’s quest for credit by examination
was not a means of avoiding difficulty
study. Earlier in the year she had de
cided to work toward a double, major in
her pursuit of a Bachelor of Arts degree
in 1979 in Mars Hill’s new program of
training teachers to work with gifted
and talented children. To become
certified in that field as well as in the
general field of elementary education
she will have to take an overload of
classes.
“I will simply need time in my sche
dule to work in those extra education
courses,” she explained, “so I decided
to try and pass the competence require
ment in cultural values without taking
the courses. This way, the time 1 would
have spent taking the culture courses
can be devoted to my extra education
courses.”
Dr. Underwood, who helped Lisa
draft her request for credit by examina
tion and served on the assessment
team, said that “Lisa is well acquainted
with the culture of Thailand and under
stands the values which help mold the
lives of the people there. It was a
pleasure to serve on her evaluation
committee and approve a part of her
education by non-traditional means.”