Clara Schumann (senior Liz Maines) calms husband Robert (junior Nathan Van Til). The two leads are natives of Georgetown, KY.

Georgetown, KY – The world premiere of Georgetown College voice professor Heather Hunnicutt’s “art song musical” first makes the Hill Chapel stage Nov. 9. For a sneak preview, view this trailer.

Clara, My Love brings to life one of the most famous love stories of all time, surrounded by music written by the lovers themselves. Based on the life of composer/pianist Clara Wieck Schumann, 1819-1896, (as excerpted from letters and diaries), book and lyrics are by Heather Winter Hunnicutt and non-original music is by Robert Schumann, Clara Wieck Schumann and Johannes Brahms. 

Performances are at the John L. Hill Chapel on the Georgetown College campus: Nov. 9 (8 p.m.), Nov. 10 (3 p.m. and 8 p.m.) and Nov. 11 (8 p.m.).  Tickets are: $10 for adults; $5 for students with ID; children 10 and under are admitted free.  Purchase at the door, or in advance at the College’s bookstore (502-863-8134) starting Oct. 1, or through the website, www.claramylove.com.

Note: there is some mature subject matter; the director considers this production to be “PG13.”

Hunnicutt, Chair of the College’s Music department,  started Georgetown’s Lyric Theatre Society in Spring 2007 (her first year here). She received all three degrees (undergraduate, Master’s and PhD) from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.

Further Details / Contact

Dr. Heather Winter Hunnicutt –  phone: 502.863.8056; email – Heather_Hunnicutt@georgetowncollege.edu 

www.claramylove.com

Get to know the team for Clara, My Love:

The Creative Team:

Director/Producer: Heather Winter Hunnicutt
Conductor: H. M. Lewis
Designer: Robert Pickering
Assistant Director: Cheryl Brumley
Public Relations: Caitlin Knox

The Production Team:

Stage Manager: Abigail Cownie
Technical Director: Chuck Harris
Assistant Stage Manager: Shawn McPeek
Assistant Stage Manager: Shay McCleavy

Original Cast of Characters:
(in order of appearance)

Marie, the Schumann’s oldest child - Nikita Taggart
Eugenie, the Schumann’s youngest daughter - Sarah Cox
Johannes Brahms, a composer - Wes Moses
Clara Wieck, a pianist/composer - Elizabeth Maines
Friedrich Wieck, Clara’s father - Shakir Mackey
Nanny, the Wieck’s housekeeper - Cailyn Mitchell
Robert Schumann, a composer - Nathan Van Til
Marianne Bargiel, Clara’s mother - Sarah Smith
Berta, The Schumann’s Nanny - Brianna Gibson

Georgetown, KY – A committee that will recruit and recommend the 24th president of Georgetown College has been selected and will meet soon to determine the next steps in the search. It will report to the College’s trustees no later than January the process to be followed for identifying and selecting a replacement for William H. Crouch, Jr., who is retiring June 30, 2013.

The presidential search committee is being led by William J. Houston, former chair of the College’s board of trustees who now serves as board vice-chair. Other members of the committee representing a cross-section of alumni, faculty, students and staff are Holly Bartlett, Parents’ Advisory Council; Rev. Greg Barr ’86, Trustee; Dr. Yoli Carter, Dean of Education; Brian Evans, Vice President for Diversity and Athletic Director; Randy Fox ‘60, Trustee; Rev. Richard Gaines, Trustee; Melanie Ladd ’94, Alumni Advisory Board; Frank Penn ‘68, Trustee; Molly Shoulta, class of 2013, former Student Government Association President; Dr. Harold Tallant, Chair, Faculty Committee; and J. Guthrie True ’82, Trustee, and a former board chair.

In its charge to the presidential search committee, the board, by unanimous vote, emphasized by resolution the desire of the trustees to find a president who has a strong commitment to the Christian faith and academic freedom. The resolution stated: “Since its charter in 1829, Georgetown College has been focused on providing an excellent education built upon a solid foundation of Christian principles. As a board of trustees, we are committed to continuing that tradition. We direct the presidential search team to find a person of strong Christian faith; an effective leader who will maintain Georgetown’s commitment to faith and academic integrity and freedom.”

More information about the presidential search process with regular updates provided as warranted will be available on the College’s web site at http://www.georgetowncollege.edu.

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Contact:
H.K. Kingkade
502-863-8209
HK_Kingkade@georgetowncollege.edu

Seniors Ethan Smith and Meredith Cave play the leads in “The 39 Steps.”

Georgetown, KY – You have this one weekend (Oct. 26-28) left to see a gifted quartet of Georgetown College Maskrafters in “The 39 Steps,” and playing nearly 140 characters! First, check out this trailer that director Ed Smith put together.

Curtain time is 8 p.m. for the three remaining performances in the Ruth Pearce Wilson Lab Theatre. (Adult tickets are $7 and students $5. Tickets are still available in the College bookstore; reserve by calling 502-863-8134. Tickets are also on sale for a George McGee original musical, “Wonderboy,” which has been just scheduled for late November. See BELOW!)

This Hitchcock-based play is a comedy, romance-thriller filled with spies, chase scenes and lots of action. “It’s a mash-up of ‘Clue’ meets James Bond meets ‘Monty Python,’” Dr. Smith said.

And, the cast is a mash-up of majors, if you will. “One cool thing about the show is that it’s a reflection of the liberal arts in action,” Dr. Smith said. Sure enough: Female lead Meredith Cave is a senior Political Science and Theatre & Film double major; male lead Ethan Smith is a senior Psychology and Philosophy double major; Shay McCleavy is a junior Musical Theatre area major; and Jennifer Jordan is a Math major.

The lead character is Englishman Richard Hanay, played by Cynthiana native Ethan Smith, who leads a boring life until he is mistakenly accused of a crime. He works to clear his name, save his country and solve the mystery of the “39 Steps.” Along the way, he meets three women, all played by Meredith Cave and well over a hundred more characters – collectively played by Jennifer Jordan and Shay McCleavy.

Characters range from underwear salesmen to matronly women, with variations of English, Cockney and Scottish accents. Jordan and McCleavy are switching to a different character constantly, which is challenging for any actor.

“There is one scene where we play five characters in the same scene at the same time,” said McCleavy, who’s from Brandenburg. Besides the ever-changing costumes and roles, the accents have been an additional challenge.

“It’s hard to do a scene when someone is using a different accent than you,” Cave said. “It’s hard to not switch over to their accent.”

Accents aren’t the only thing being crossed in this play – there will be a great deal of gender-bending as well. Cincinnati native Jordan plays several manly characters and McCleavy plays numerous female roles, including the matronly Mrs. Higgins.

“I’ve never won a dress on stage, but if it gets a laugh, then I’m all for it,” McCleavy said.

“39 Steps” began with a book published by John Buchan in 1915. The book was an adventure novel, and one of the first to include spies. To this day, it has never gone out of print. Alfred Hitchcock adapted the story for film in 1935, which was one of his first big movies before coming to America. In 2005 a new form of “39 Steps” was created when a play was written inspired by Hitchcock’s film. It was written for four actors, and has quite a few references to past Hitchcock works.

Cave, a native of Nicholasville (but a graduate of Lexington Christian Academy), admits that it is “one of the hardest shows [she has] ever done.”

And director Smith agrees: “I tell my actors, ‘If you think this is really hard, then you’re not imagining it.’”

“39 Steps” is a physically and mentally demanding show, with high energy scenes like train chases,  plane crashes and the lead characters being chased through the Scottish highlands – while handcuffed together. “I’m hoping it will be like nothing the audience has ever seen,” Smith said.

NOW mark your calendar for “Wonderboy,”  an original 1950s Sci-Fi Rock Musical Comedy (for the whole family) by Director George McGee. 7:30 p.m., Nov. 30; 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Dec. 1 and 2. in the College’s Wilson Lab Theatre.  Tickets for this “short and hilarious show” are $5 for Adults, $3 for Students. (For tickets call the College bookstore, 502-863-8134; or for Larger Group Sales, call 502-863-8162.)

Winners of the 2013 Kentucky Teacher of the Year awards, from left to right: Heidi Givens, an elementary teacher in Daviess County; overall winner Kristal Doolin, a middle school teacher in Corbin; and Georgetown College graduate Allison Martin Hunt, a Social Studies teacher at duPont Manual High School in Louisville. Hunt also received a $3,000 cash prize.

Georgetown College graduate Allison Hunt ’99, a Social Studies teacher at Louisville’s DuPont Manual, was named 2013 Kentucky High School Teacher of the Year by Ashland Inc. and the Kentucky Department of Education at a ceremony Wednesday (Oct. 17) in Frankfort’s Capitol Rotunda.

The former Political Science and Business Administration area studies major may have been surprised, but Georgetown Business professor Scott Takacs wasn’t. “Allison Martin (Hunt) was a brilliant student,” Dr. Takacs recalled. “Her classmates and I knew she’d go on to great things, because she was the kind of young woman who was capable of anything.”

Takacs continued, “To be honest, I wasn’t sure if she’d make her mark in government, business, or education – she had gifts in all of these areas. For the sake of her students, I’m glad she went the education route.”

Takacs also has great memories of working with Allison in summer 2005 in the Kentucky Governor’s Scholars Program at Bellarmine College.  “She was as gifted as a teacher as she was as a student.  She cares for and about her students. She enables learning with a humility that makes her an incredible educator, but the last person to think of herself that way. I’m proud to call her a friend, but unsurprised at the award.  Kentucky is blessed to have her as a teacher.” 

President Crouch paid Allison a surprise visit Oct. 18 at duPont Manual High in Louisville.

Allison was also surprised the day after the Kentucky Teacher of the Year awards were announced when Georgetown College president Bill Crouch dropped by Manual to present her with a planter. “I got a call from the main office to come downstairs…and I recognized his face…but it took me a minute to realize it was President Crouch since this was so out of context,” she said.

“She was thrilled!,” Dr. Crouch said. “I told her we needed her to send us some good students – and (Allison) replied she had several she was pointing our way!”

Allison has plenty of good GC experiences to tell her students, too – even though she finished in two and a half years! One year she managed the Investment Team (when it did very well), she was Speaker Pro Tempore with AGS (forerunner to SGA), she competed on the Speech and Debate team, and she was a member of Phi Beta Lambda and Phi Mu.

The over-all 2013 Kentucky Teacher of the Year award went to Kristal Doolin, a language arts teacher at Corbin Middle School. Heidi Givens, a teacher of deaf and hard-of-hearing students at Tamarack Elementary in Daviess County, was named 2013 Elementary School Teacher of the Year.

Here’s what the KDE press release had to say about Allison:

Allison Hunt is a ten-year teaching veteran who has taught social studies at duPont Manual High for five years. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Georgetown College and a master’s degree at the University of Louisville.

Hunt mentors student teachers, implemented an AP Human Geography course, sponsors the school’s History Club and is a member of the School-Based Decision Making Council.

She has received WHAS-TV Excellence in Classroom and Educational Leadership, National Society of High School Scholars, Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction and Kentucky Outstanding Civic Education Leadership awards.

Hunt’s professional affiliations include the Foundation for Teaching Economics Professional Teaching Association, Global Association of Teachers of Economics, Kentucky Geography Alliance, National Council for Geographic Education, College Board, AP Human Geography, Kentucky Association for Teachers of History and the World Affairs Council of Kentucky and Southern Indiana.

Two other Georgetown College graduates were among the 24 who were honored in Frankfort on Wednesday (Oct. 17) at the 2013 Ashland Inc. Teacher Achievement Awards ceremony: Christi Elkins-Gabbard ‘95, Lexington Traditional Magnet School in Fayette County and Cheryl Nance ’95 (MA ’00), Collins Lane Elementary in Franklin County.

Kentucky Educational Television has set 17 airdates – starting with 10 p.m., Oct. 15 on KET – for Cassius Marcellus Clay: An Audacious American. This new, 60-minute PBS documentary in which Clay (played by Mel Hankla of Jamestown) takes the viewer with him as he boldly, purposely and fearlessly strides through the 19th-century landscape of bitter politics and duels, palatial homes and beautiful women, slavery and the Civil War and a diplomatic mission precipitating the purchase of Alaska, leaving the lasting imprint of his fiery emancipationist personality in his wake.

Watch for a number of characters with Georgetown College connections – starting with Ethan Smith, a senior from Cynthiana, who  plays a young Cassius Clay. His parents Betsy Brannock Smith ’86 and Ed Smith ’88 have the roles of Sally Lewis Clay, Cassius’ mother, and John G. Fee, who with Clay’s assistance, laid the foundation for Berea College.

Dr. Smith teaches in the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies at Georgetown, as does George McGee, who portrays Clay’s cousin, Henry Clay. Like most of the cast members, all of the above are performers with the Kentucky Humanities Council’s Chautauqua Programs.

Produced by Michael Breeding MEDIA and narrated by the world-famous Peter Thomas, the High Definition film was shot on location in Madison County at Clay’s stately Italianate-styled mansion, White Hall. This documentary portrays an 85-year-old Clay writing his autobiography—recollecting vividly the triumphs and tragedies of his life, sparing neither himself, family, friends nor enemies.

Here are the airdates along with the KET station the documentary will appear on:

• KET: Monday, October 15 at 10:00 pm EDT
• KETKY: Thursday, October 18 at 7:00 am EDT
• KETKY: Friday, October 19 at 3:00 am EDT
• KETKY: Sunday, October 21 at midnight EDT
• KET2: Sunday, October 21 at 5:00 pm EDT
• KET2: Sunday, October 21 at 5:00 pm EDT
• KETKY: Sunday, October 21 at 6:00 pm EDT
• KET: Tuesday, October 23 at 4:00 am EDT
• KETKY: Wednesday, October 24 at 7:00 am EDT
• KETKY: Wednesday, October 24 at 8:00 pm EDT
• KETKY: Friday, October 26 at 1:00 am EDT
• KETKY: Friday, October 26 at 6:00 pm EDT
• KETKY: Saturday, October 27 at noon EDT
• KETKY: Saturday, October 27 at 9:00 pm EDT
• KETKY: Monday, October 29 at 4:00 am EST
• KETKY: Monday, November 5 at 4:00 am EST
• KETKY: Thursday, November 8 at 4:00 pm EST