Four Catawba College theatre arts alumni recently participated in a reading of a stage adaptation of William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying at Ragdale, an artist colony in Lake Forest, Illinois. Allison Barnes (2005), Jen Short (2009), Jordan Danz (2008), and Taylor Edwards (2007) all live in the Chicago area and work in theatre there.
The reading marked the conclusion of a two-week residency at Ragdale by Catawba College professors, playwright Dr. Janice Fuller and director Dr. Elizabeth Homan. During the two weeks, the two faculty members reworked the adaptation script and developed its staging.
In the past, Ragdale has hosted such honored writers as Audrey Niffenegger (The Time Traveler's Wife), Alice Sebold (The Lovely Bones), Jane Hamilton (The Book of Ruth, A Map of the World), Elizabeth Strout (Olive Kitteridge), Wally Lamb (She's Come Undone), Andre Dubus III (The House of Sand and Fog), and Elizabeth Berg (Open House).
Dr. Homan will direct a staged reading of the play in Salisbury during the fall. Dr. Fuller will revise the script based on feedback from the reading during a ten-day residency in December at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. VCCA is one of the nation's largest year-round artists' communities. VCCA Fellows have received worldwide attention through Pulitzer Prizes, Guggenheim Fellowships, National Book Awards, Broadway productions, and Academy Award nominations.
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