“Hear’s My Story: Senior Voices in Greensboro”
A UNCG Student Exhibit May 6-August 31, 2008
Exhibit Opening Celebration:
Tuesday, May 6, 2008 from 10:00-11:00 a.m.
Students Connect with History “Insiders”
Eight students from UNC Greensboro’s public history program are making sure that the stories of Greensboro’s seniors get heard. This spring the students conducted 25 interviews with seniors at the Greensboro Senior Center. The stories they gathered are the centerpieces of a new exhibition at the Greensboro Historical Museum: “Hear’s My Story: Senior Voices in Greensboro” and an accompanying publication. The exhibit, showcasing photographs, quotations, and audio excerpts, will be on display at the museum from May 6 through August 31. A free public program featuring the seniors and the students will celebrate the exhibit opening on Tuesday, May 6 from 10-11:00 a.m.
Every week the UNCG graduate students came to the Greensboro Senior Center to sit with seniors and hear stories about the events of their lifetimes—from the moon landing to their favorite Thanksgiving meal to their reflections on whether the dishwasher represents technological progress or just a frill for the lazy.
“It has been fascinating to develop relationships with people whose life experiences are so different from my own,” says student Lisa Zevorich. “It has been exciting to discover how much we share, despite our differences.”
The students devised three lines of questioning for the seniors. One group asked the seniors about their memories and the traditions they associate with food and cooking. A second group showed seniors famous historical photographs—of the flag-raising at Iwo Jima or Neil Armstrong on the moon—and asked for personal memories of those events. A third group talked to seniors about how new technologies—from cake mixes to washing machines to TVs—shaped the routines of everyday life.
Evelyn Dorsey marveled to student Leda Wilkins about the changes she has seen in her lifetime:
“I read Buck Rogers, which is a comic strip, as a little kid. All that was things of the future, you know. And the future’s kind of here”.
Talking with student Allyson Atwood took Mary Powers back to World War II, when her father served as a cook and her family coped with wartime rationing: “He used to send candy home and I would meet the mailman and I would get the candy and I would hide behind the house and I’d eat that candy until I got sick.”
The project was a collaboration between UNCG and Senior Resources of Guilford (which operates the Greensboro Senior Center) in partnership with the Historical Museum. Students planned the project; won a North Carolina Humanities Council grant to support it; and designed, built, and installed the exhibit. Says student Katherine Steiner, “Doing a hands-on project has given me great experience that I will be able to use as I go forward in my museum career.”
The work emerged from a class taught by Benjamin Filene, UNCG’s Director of Public History. “Students usually get trained to gain mastery of historical sources—to become experts,” says Filene, “but this project is about letting go. We wanted to value the seniors’ perspectives and give public audiences a chance to hear these stories.”
Renee Griffin, Assistant Director of Senior Resources of Guilford, welcomed the senior-student partnership. “We live in such a youth-centered society that we often neglect to think about what older adults have experienced and lived through. Some seniors have never had the chance to tell their stories. It’s an empowering thing to have their stories listened to by young people in the community.”
Museum director Fred Goss has been impressed with the students’ energy: “It’s great to see students so engaged in this partnership. We’re looking forward to seeing the project on exhibit during the bicentennial year.”
The Greensboro Historical Museum, located downtown at 130 Summit Ave., is open Tuesday-Friday from 10-5 and Sunday from 2-5; admission and parking are free. For more information about the Historical Museum, call 336.373.2043 or visit www.greensborohistory.org.
This project was made possible in part by the North Carolina Humanities Council, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, UNCG Office of Leadership and Service-Learning, UNCG Department of History, and the Greensboro Historical Museum.
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Lasting Impressions
Original play about Greensboro focuses on the city’s unknown past
April 2008
The city of Greensboro has a fascinating story, one that is worthy of taking center stage at the finest of theatres. Therefore, in celebration of the city’s bicentennial, the museum has commissioned Brenda Schleunes of the Touring Theatre of North Carolina to write an original play compiled from archival materials. The thought-provoking production, Lasting Impressions, will give insight into some of the city’s history that is not widely known. “This is a never before seen production, and we’re inviting everyone to come see the play to discover Greensboro’s history,” says museum director Fred Goss. The play is debuting at the museum on April 18 and running through April 27.
Based on actual quotes from newspapers, personal journals, recordings, and interviews, the play resonates with the voices and opinions of those from before Greensboro’s founding to the present day. Theatergoers will hear the colorful comments of Anne Royall, called America’s first woman journalist, who visited Greensboro in 1830; feel the emotional struggles Josephine Boyd endured as the first black student to attend Grimsley High School in the 1950s; laugh at the humorous perspective of Louise Wigfall, who worried about beaus and pretty shoes during wartime, and enter the life of James Evans, who came to a crossroads at age eighteen and took the road to a textile mill. Additional voices from more than thirty individuals will further accentuate Greensboro’s distinctive story.
“I didn’t realize Greensboro’s history was so interesting until I read the script,” comments Donna Bradby, actor. “I commend Brenda for accepting the challenge to adapt more than two hundred years of history into an eighty-minute play.”
If you ask Schleunes what it was like writing the script, she’ll tell you it wasn’t an easy task, but it was truly a journey she enjoyed.
“It was a daunting task trying to determine what was going into the storyline. Everyone owns a piece of Greensboro history and everyone has a different impression regarding the city,” says Schleunes.
Although Schleunes realizes she can’t write about every single event that took place in Greensboro’s history, she is hoping that the stories she chose to highlight, those impressions created by generations, will leave a lasting impression on all who attend the show.
Research and funding for the play is made possible through the John Floy Wicker Endowment and a grant from the Greensboro Bicentennial Commission.
Performance Dates:
Dates/Times: April 18, 19, 24, 25, 26 at 8 p.m. & April 19, 20, 26, and 27 at 3 p.m.
For tickets, please call 336.373.2043
$5 per-person, Tickets are currently on-sale
ABOUT TOURING THEATRE
Schleunes whom founded the touring theatre in 1981 has a Masters Degree in Speech Communication, with an emphasis in performance studies from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She has adapted and directed more than fifty plays including Letters from Leokidia, the story about a Polish woman who rescued a Jewish baby during the Holocaust; Let My People Go, based on court documents about slaves and slavery; Star-Spangled Girls, which celebrated the contributions of women who served in WWII; and The Life and Times of Fannie Lou Hamer, which brought to light the struggles of a powerful civil rights activist.
Her company has performed in 14 States, the District of Columbia, and more than sixty counties throughout North Carolina. Schleunes’ remarkable talents as a writer and producer have earned her the prestigious Literary Laurel award from the Greensboro Public Library in 2005 and the Women of Achievement for the Arts award from the Greensboro Commission on the Status of Women in 2005.
Production Information:
Compiled by Brenda Schleunes
Musical compositions by Wayne Seymour and lyrics by Brenda Schleunes
Performed by Touring Theatre of North Carolina
Commissioned by the Greensboro Historical Museum, Incorporated
ORIGINAL PLAY ABOUT GREENSBORO HISTORY IS TAKING CENTER STAGE — April 2008
The Greensboro Historical Museum announced it is commissioning the Touring Theatre of North Carolina to present a historical play for Greensboro's bicentennial celebration. Based on staff research for the Greensboro: A Crossroads for Many Voices exhibition, the play will span 300 years of local history and resonate with the voices of those of the past. Significant events which have contributed to the city's growth will also be highlighted, while period music will further underscore the emotions of the times.
The idea to present a play arose from conversations among museum staff while brainstorming programming ideas for Greensboro's 200th birthday. Therefore the museum approached Brenda Schleunes, the Producing and Artistic Director of Touring Theatre of North Carolina because of her expertise in creating new works from historical documents.
"She was absolutely thrilled by the idea," said Fred Goss, museum director.
Schleunes, who founded a touring theatre in 1981, has a Master's Degree in Speech Communication, with an emphasis in performance studies from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She has adapted and directed more than fifty plays including Letters from Leokidia, a story about a Polish woman who rescued a Jewish baby during the Holocaust; Let My People Go, based on court documents about slaves and slavery; Star-Spangled Girls, which celebrated the contributions of women who served in WWII; and The Life and Times of Fannie Lou Hamer, which brought to light the struggles of a powerful civil rights activist.
Her company has performed in twelve states, the District of Columbia, and more than sixty counties throughout North Carolina. Schleunes' remarkable talents as a writer and producer have earned her the prestigious Literary Laurel award from the Greensboro Public Library in 2005 and the Women of Achievement for the Arts award from the Greensboro Commission on the Status of Women in 2005.
Research and funding for the Greensboro: A Crossroads for Many Voices play is made possible through the Greensboro Historical Museum's John Floy Wicker Endowment and a grant from the Greensboro Bicentennial Commission.
Performance Dates:
2008—April 18, 19, 24, 25, 26 at 8 p.m. & April 19, 20, 26, & 27 at 3 p.m.
Location: Greensboro Historical Museum, 130 Summit Avenue and possibly other locations throughout Greensboro
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