Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 6, 1992 TAG: 9203060041
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Paula Larke, Ann Kilkelly and Elise Witt are three performing artists of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds with one big thing in common: muliebrity.
Whoa! Before you head for the library, muliebrity means "womanhood."
The women are all members of Alternate ROOTS (Regional Organization of Theatres South), which serves as a catalyst for exchanging work, ideas and information among Southern performers and arts organizations.
Larke, a native North Carolinian, has performed on Broadway with the New York Shakespeare Festival and as a visiting artist around her home state. She is self-taught, with a great interest in African-American history and folklore from all over the world. She's a musician, a storyteller and an interpreter of human nature.
Kilkelly is Virginia Tech's coordinator of women's studies and an associate professor in the theater department. She's also a top-notch jazz tap dancer, a writer and a feminist critic. Her recent work includes "Blue Muse," a jazz tap dance piece for 12 dancers, and "Of Corset," a comic piece on the way women's undergarments have restricted them throughout history.
Witt, a singer and guitarist, was born in Switzerland, raised in North Carolina and has lived in Atlanta for the past 11 years. She has five recordings with her band, The Small Family Orchestra, and frequently travels and performs as a solo artist with other musicians. She uses the community and social orientation of her music in the work she does for such groups as Radio Free Georgia, Men Stopping Violence and the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.
"Larke, Kilkelly and Witt: Her Places, Her Stories" is the title of the trio's performance this evening at 5:30 in Virginia Tech's Squires Studio Theatre. Original stories, songs and dances are part of this show about the experiences of black and white women as they approach middle age.
The free performance is one of the highlights of Women's Week 1992 at the university. The weeklong observance, celebrating the achievements, concerns and diversity of women, ends today.
\ BREATHE IN: Did you catch that enticing aroma?
They're cooking "Stone Stew" at the Wilderness Road Regional Museum in Newbern this weekend. Savory spices, vitamin-packed veggies and, of course, the mythical magic stone make this a stew fit for you.
As part of the annual Founder's Day celebration, the stew will be served from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday. It comes with fresh corn bread, a homemade dessert and a drink. The cost is $3.50 per meal.
Other events at the museum this weekend include the Civil War Re-enactors boot camp Saturday and Sunday. Participants from Carroll County, Blacksburg and Roanoke will pitch camp on the museum grounds and train new enlistees. People interested in joining in (or just watching) are invited to meet the re-enactors.
The museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. The current display is "Heritage Highlights of Pulaski County." Conway Smith's book, "The Land That Is Pulaski County" and "The Carroll County Allen Story," a collection of weekly columns by Lloyd Mathews, will be available for sale, with proceeds benefiting the museum.
Admission to the museum is free. For more information, call 674-4835.
\ SOLID GOLD: Playmakers & Company is celebrating its golden show anniversary. Since it was formed 12 years ago, the theater troupe has provided the New River Valley with an entertaining assortment of comedies, dramas, musicals and farces.
These playmakers are literally too legit to quit.
"The Shadow Box," a two-act drama by Michael Cristofer, is the group's latest undertaking. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1977, the play was written in the early days of the hospice movement and deals with our attitudes about dying. Set on the grounds of a large hospital where terminally ill patients receive medical care and emotional support from their families, the play is, in a word, intense. It is not recommended for children.
Barbara Simpson is the director and Mary Taylor is the stage manager for the production. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday and resume Thursday through March 14. Shows are at the New River Valley Mall in the space next to Hofheimer Shoes.
Admission is $5 for adults and $2 for senior citizens. Tickets will be available at the door.
An additional note about the community theater troupe: Kids Create Theatre, a division of Playmakers & Company devoted to local children, has been nominated for recognition as one of President Bush's "Daily Points of Light." The group recently received a certificate of merit from the White House and is awaiting a decision from the Office of National Service.
\ WHAT'S FOR SUPPER? Spaghetti!
The Christiansburg Rescue Squad is having its annual spaghetti supper tonight from 5 to 7:30 at the Christiansburg Middle School cafeteria. Spaghetti, salad, fruit, rolls and beverages (coffee, tea and milk) will be available. Plates are $4 for adults and $2.50 for children.
On Thursday, it's spaghetti again.
The Parent and Teacher associations at Christiansburg Primary and Elementary schools will dish it out from 5:30 to 7:30 in the multipurpose room at the Elementary School. Take-out trays will be available, or you may eat at the school.
The cost is $1.50 for adults and $1 for children 5 to 12. Younger children eat free.
The PTA will have a bake sale table with plenty of dessert items for sale, too.
\ GENTLE PEOPLE, START YOUR ENGINES: There's lots of raucous racing at Dad's Day Off Model Speedway each weekend.
The New River Valley RC Racers have built two radio-control race tracks near Blacksburg. One is a carpeted "Daytona" banked track and the other is a "Mickey Thompson" off-road dirt track. Both offer fast fun.
Practice runs are held Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 10 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon. Racing competitions for beginner, novice and expert classes are held on Saturdays from noon to 6 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 6 p.m.
The model speedway is in a warehouse off U.S. 460. To get there, turn between Holiday Ford and Special Interest Cars. Look for the third warehouse on the right, just after Carpet Man. Call Dave Schuh at Dad's Day Off, 633-0236.
Donna Alvis-Banks is an editorial assistant in the Roanoke Times & World-News' New River Valley bureau.
by CNB