Catawba College’s Blue Masque will induct three theatre professionals and a beloved Catawba professor into its 2017 Hall of Fame. This 10th anniversary celebration will be held in the Robertson College-Community Center’s Hedrick Little Theatre at 8 p.m. on Friday, October 13, during the College’s Homecoming Weekend activities.
The event is open to the public and tickets, which include a reception following on the Keppel Auditorium stage, are available for purchase online or through the Catawba College Alumni Office at (704) 637-4394 or homecoming@catawba.edu.
Those being inducted by the Theatre Arts Department include the late Ralph Leonard Roberts, Broadway, off-Broadway, regional theatre, film, and television actor; John Daniel Harris, theatre management professional for over 30 years; Craig Grigg, designer and fabricator of specialty props for Broadway, off-Broadway, regional theatre, television, film, and dance; and Janice Fuller, poet, long-time Catawba Writer-in-Residence, and English professor.
Roberts
Ralph Leonard Roberts was born in Salisbury and attended Catawba College in the late 1930s. Roberts’ began his long running professional acting career when he made his Broadway debut in the 1948 revival of Angel Street. To help finance his acting passion, Roberts also became a masseur, with a clientele largely made up of actors and actresses. Marilyn Monroe was a client and close friend.
John Daniel Harris received his Catawba theatre arts degree in 1982. Afterward graduation, he moved professionally from production technical director to stage director of musicals and operas. Harris was the former CEO of Virginia Scenic, one of the premier scenic studios for opera, until he sold that business, and has served as chief operations officer at the Castleton Festival in Virginia.
Fuller
Grigg
Craig Grigg, a proud member of the Honors program while at Catawba, earned his B.A. degree in theatre with minors in English and German. His Broadway designs have been seen in more than 60 productions, beginning in 1997. These include Finding Neverland, Cabaret, Bullets Over Broadway, Big Fish, Kinky Boots, The Addams Family, Harvey, Cripple of Inishmaan, and Blithe Spirit, among many others.
Janice Fuller grew up in Salisbury, before earning degrees in English at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Recently retired from the Catawba English Department, Fuller’s work as a poet has brought her wide acclaim. An avid supporter of the Blue Masque, several of Fuller’s plays were first produced at Catawba in collaboration with Theatre Arts faculty and students.
Tickets to this year’s Blue Masque Hall of Fame ceremony and reception are $30 each. At 7:30 p.m., immediately preceding the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, current and former Catawba College Theatre Arts students will present a talent showcase. Admission includes this showcase.
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