GRANT WILL HELP IN WRITING OF PLAY ABOUT FAMOUS SHIP

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 15, 1993                   TAG: 9301150243
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
GRANT WILL HELP IN WRITING OF PLAY ABOUT FAMOUS SHIP
The Mellon Grant Committee of the Appalachian College Association has awarded a research grant to the Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre of Ferrum College.
It will enable Ferrum professor and theater director Rex Stephenson and Joey Stanley, a senior drama major, to research and write a play about the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Franklin.
The most decorated ship in World War II, the Franklin nearly sank under enemy fire off the coast of Kobe, Japan. The working title of the play is "O'Callahan: The Man Who Saved `The Ship that Wouldn't Die.' " The Rev. Joseph O'Callahan, the only naval chaplain to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor, will be the pivotal character.
The Mellon grant will provide for research in the Library of Congress and the Navy Department, plus personal interviews with 50 of the ship's survivors.
The play will run July 14-24. Anyone with connections to the Franklin may call Stephenson or Stanley at 365-4335.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB