Senator Sam Goes To School

Last Thursday the Blowing Rock Stage Company’s new Educational Theatre Tour made its first appearance off the mountain.  Professional actor, Gary Smith, performed the school version of Senator Sam for 75 honor’s students at the Richmond Senior High School located in Rockingham, NC. 
After the performance Mrs. Clewis, a teacher at Richmond said, “It was just wonderful!  When I received the brochure from the (Blowing Rock) Stage Company I thought, ‘what a great idea,’ and I decided it would be a real treat for the kids.  Now after watching the show and seeing how much the students enjoyed it, I can’t wait to have the Stage Company come back.” 
 Rockingham is located in the south central part of North Carolina near the South Carolina border and about a 3 hour drive from Blowing Rock, but BRSC Stage Manager, Lisa Lamont, said it was well worth the drive. 
“After the performance I spoke with a couple of teachers who said they come up to West Jefferson and Banner Elk for a few weeks during the summer and had no idea the Stage Company even existed.  They seemed very excited about the shows slated for the upcoming season and they looked forward to coming to the theatre.”  One of the goals of this new project is to let people know about all Blowing Rock Stage Company has to offer and get its name off the mountain.
 When asked how he felt the performance went, Gary said, “I think it went pretty well.  The kids seemed to enjoy the show and it was fun having them just a few feet away from me so I could really engage them during the performance.” 
Yet he seemed to be most excited about what happened after the performance. 
“I got a chance to spend about thirty minutes answering questions from the kids about the show, the Stage Company and theatre in general.” 
Gary went on to say he was a bit disheartened when he discovered no drama or theatre program was being offered in a school that has 1500 students. 
“When I asked one of the teachers about it they informed me there has never been a real interest from the students.  But most all the questions during the talk-back were about theatre and acting so maybe the show sparked a fire.”
 Stage Company theatergoers will remember the full-length version of Senator Sam from when Gary first performed the one-man show last August.  It was the premiere fair offered in the Stage Company’s new “Flying Solo” series. 
Since then Gary has performed the full-length version five times, twice at BRSC last October and three times in Kansas City, Mo. this past February.  Plus it will be representing the Blowing Rock Stage Company for five performances at the upcoming Stoneleaf Theatre Festival in Asheville.  However, last Thursday was the premiere for the shortened school version of the play, though a lot of work over the past six months has led up to this point. 
“Kim Kay has worked exhaustedly in promoting ‘Sam’ to the schools in our region,” Smith said. “Still, this is something new to the area so she’s running into some hesitation because of school schedules and lack of familiarity with this kind of project.” 
The school version of Senator Sam has been cut down to 45 minutes to better accommodate class schedules and focuses more on the educational aspects of the play. 
Gary concluded by saying, “We’re talking about real history coming to life, from the Scopes Monkey Trial to Joe McCarthy to Civil Rights to Watergate.  Sam Ervin played such an important role in all of those events and this play addresses each of them using mostly Senator Ervin’s own words.” 
One bright spot in this new endeavor is that BRSC was recently awarded nearly $5,000.00 in grant money from the locally administered Claybaugh Foundation to offset the cost of eight school performances.  Those eight performances will be offered to schools across Avery, Ashe, Watauga and Caldwell counties at greatly reduced rates.
 For more information about Senator Sam, or if you are interested in sponsoring a school performance you can contact the Stage Company at 828-295-9168.