Spectrum - Volume 19 Issue 04 September 19, 1996 - Author Smith, Barter Theatre featured

A non-profit publication of the Office of the University Relations of Virginia Tech,
including The Conductor , a special section of the Spectrum printed 4 times a year

Author Smith, Barter Theatre featured

By Sally Harris

Spectrum Volume 19 Issue 04 - September 19, 1996

Author Lee Smith and the cast from the Barter Theatre production of the musical The Devil's Dream will perform together at Virginia Tech Monday, Sept. 30, at 8 p.m. in Squires Colonial Hall.

The cast will perform selected scenes and songs from the new musical, which is based on a novel by Smith and hailed by the Spectator Arts Magazine as one of the top 10 plays of 1995. Smith and the director and cast will discuss the creative process by which the novel evolved into a musical.

The performance is a benefit for Solitude, Virginia Tech's oldest building, to raise funds for its restoration into an Appalachian Culture Center. Solitude is a Virginia Cultural Landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Efforts are being made to make Solitude a regional gathering place for the study and celebration of Appalachian culture.

Smith, a native of Grundy, is the author of numerous novels, including Family Linen , Fair and Tender Ladies , Saving Grace , and Oral History.

The Devil's Dream is a narrative musical by Chapel Hill writer/director Paul Ferguson based on Smith's best-selling novel by the same name. The play and novel trace an inextinguishable artistic spirit as it passes through two families over 150 years of time. That spirit finally settles in Katie Cocker, who travels from the hills of Appalachia to Nashville, Tenn., pursuing her dream of becoming a country-music singer.

Smith will sign books at University Volume II Bookstore the following day, noon-1 p.m.

Admission is by donation; $5 suggested for students, $10 for non-students, with proceeds to the Virginia Tech Foundation for the restoration of Solitude. Advance tickets are available at Volume Two Bookstore beginning September 23. For more information, call 1-9593.