Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 6, 1995 TAG: 9501060072
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
When he was 10, he kept dead mice and birds in his bureau drawer. He had an intense interest in nature studies.
When he was 18, he was reprimanded by his natural history professor at Harvard University for asking too many questions.
When he was 42, he became president of the United States.
Theodore Roosevelt - better known as "Teddy" - was the youngest man ever to serve as the nation's chief executive. He succeeded President William McKinley after McKinley was assassinated in 1901. In 1904, Roosevelt was elected to a second presidential term.
He was an author, explorer, soldier, naturalist and versatile leader. He spent his leisure time horseback riding, swimming, hunting, hiking and boxing.
Unlike the stuffed animals that were named for him, Roosevelt was not a teddy bear.
When it came to foreign policy, his motto was, "Speak softly and carry a big stick."
Frustrated over McKinley's reluctance to go to war with Spain, he once complained privately that the president "had no more backbone than a chocolate eclair." When war was declared in 1898, he led the famous "Rough Riders" against Spanish soldiers.
His trademark was one word: "Bully!"
Playmakers & Company, the New River Valley's community theater troupe, will bring Teddy Roosevelt's spirit to life this weekend with its latest production, a play appropriately titled "Bully!"
The one-man play by Jerome H. Alden features actor Steve Brown as Roosevelt. You may have seen Brown in other locally produced shows such as "Guilty Conscience," "The Jury Room" and "Oklahoma!" Brown also wrote and directed his own musical, "Road to Paradise," last year.
In this play, Brown takes the audience on a journey through Roosevelt's life of triumph and tragedy.
"Bully!" opens tonight and runs for three weekends at Playmakers' Playhouse in Blacksburg's University Mall. Curtain times are at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday. The last show will be Jan. 21.
Tickets, available at the Weight Club in University Mall, are $6 for adults or $4 for students and senior citizens.
SAVE YOUR NICKEL: The Nickelodeon films at Radford University don't even cost a nickel. Admission is free to see some of the great films of yesteryear.
Three films will be shown Saturday, starting at 7 p.m. in 108 Russell Hall. The evening features two westerns, "Ambush Trail" starring Bob Steele and "Western Jamboree" starring Gene Autry. You'll also see a classic Andy Griffith movie, "Pray for the Wildcats."
The Nickelodeon film series is a monthly feature at the university. It's always open to the public, too.
EMOTIONAL PUZZLES: That's how artist Romana Gennaro describes her work.
"Perspective is an illusion created by color and space, not by formal rules," she says. "My goal is to find new color combinations and to create new elusive, illusive and allusive emotional puzzles."
Gennaro, an Italian painter, is in the United States on a cultural visa. For the past year, she has been exhibiting her work in the Southeast. She will bring her show to the Fine Arts Center for the New River Valley this month.
The exhibit opens Sunday with an artist's reception from 2 to 4 p.m. Gennaro will be available to discuss her work and share her insight.
Many of Gennaro's paintings are done on very large canvases. Art critic Salvatore Maugeri says her work reveals "everything her eyes have observed and registered."
Before retiring to devote herself to a full-time career as a painter, Gennaro taught art for 20 years. Now, her work is a popular draw at many galleries in northern Italy.
The show at the Fine Arts Center will remain on display this month. Sunday's reception is open to everyone.
The center is at 21 West Main St. in Pulaski. Admission is free.
PIECES OF LOVE AND THEATRE: That's the subtitle for the Floyd Theatre Guild's newest production, "Impassioned Embraces." The play by John Pielmeier, a collection of skits dealing with the foibles of acting and the foibles of relationships, opens Wednesday and continues through Feb. 4 with shows at the Pine Tavern Restaurant and the Mill Coffeehouse in Floyd.
Katie Gwinn is producing and directing the show. She's also one of the actors in the 10-member cast.
"The actors range from age 14 to people who don't tell their age," Gwinn said.
Gwinn compares "Impassioned Embraces" to the "Saturday Night Live" TV burlesque. The show is filled with fast-moving, offbeat humor, she said.
"A lot of humor doesn't hold up after several readings," she noted, "but we're still laughing after several weeks of rehearsal. I think that's a good sign."
Gwinn said many of the sketches in this production deal with the assorted aspects of love - from the sublime to the ridiculous.
"There's the scene with the bridegroom who discovers he really loves the bridesmaid rather than the bride," she pointed out as an example.
"Impassioned Embraces" starts Wednesday at the Pine Tavern Restaurant. It continues Jan. 18 and 25. Admission is $5 with dinner or $6 for the play only. Call 745-4482 for reservations.
Opening night at the new Mill Coffeehouse in Floyd is Jan. 21. Shows there continue Jan. 28 and Feb. 4, and admission for all performances is $6. Call 745-4979.
All shows begin at 8 p.m.
by CNB