Eastern Kentucky University - Milestone Yearbook (Richmond, KY)

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Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander Well 1 thought 1 would just die ... exclaims a riled Lu Ann Hampton to a green-haired Billy Bob Whortman. She was a seventeen year old naive energetic bundle of vigor and cheerleader for Bradleyville High. He was a rather shy and awkward country boy and star of the basket- ball team. Yet best of all, he was the star of her heart. Bradleyville was a little spot in the road in West Texas; more like a dried up mud hole. This the setting for the University ' s first theatrical production of the season. Opening October 1 in Gifford Theatre under the direction of new faculty Jim Moreton, LuAnn Hampton La- verty Oberlander was greeted with much success. The play is from Preston Jones ' Texas Trilogy. The story of this dismal dried-up Texas town is told through the young idealistic eyes of a shrewdly funny Lu Ann. Over the thirty year span of the play one sees Lu Ann in many stages of her life from high school to middle age. Accurately por- trayed by Senior Sally Wilfert, she took her character graciously through the years as the audience watched her mature and age with every act. In the first act the audience saw ■■■■ ' If 1 fisy k L L nTi lit » Top: Skip Hampto n explains to Dale Laverty his beautiful sister Lu Ann. Above: Skip and Dale tell a young Lu Ann of Vietnam. Opposite Left: Red tells of his bloody experience with Skip. Opposite Right: A sassy Charmaine Laverty annoys her Un- cle Skip. Opposite Bottom: An aged Lu Ann visits with Billy Bob, her high school sweatheart. 16 Student Life

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» . ' ,l , t fev i I c A t w m !il i If l. h k 1 - fWS J ► H- : . 1 w I w j AJ Jl 1 • 4 ' JL T. .... .■ F ' J j - — Opposite Top: Seventeen performers are put on the line. Opposite Far Left: Sally Wilfert as Cas- sie. Opposite Middle: Christie Tate as a surgically enhanced Val. Opposite Right: Sheila played by Erica Miller. Left: Nick DeSantis as Richie. Bot- tom: The glitzy finale number in all its glory. Be- low: The line with their resume photos. rf! jf t IV r JK m A m, j m— L W w mM 1 91 iii ■ i m

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Lu Ann ready to graduate from high school. The year is 1953. She is full of life and aching to conquer the world. Senior Dwight Craft played Billy Bob Whortman. His in- nocence was refreshing. The second act took the audi- ence out of Lu Ann ' s home into 1963 and Red ' s Bar in Bradley ville. Lu Ann is a beauty technician with a young daughter. She was sepa- rated from her first husband Dale Laverty. Junior, Jeff Coatney gave his character, Red, a pure down- home country appeal. Senior Nick DeSantis ' character, Corky Ober- lander would soon become Lu Ann ' s second husband. DeSantis ' portrayal was harsh and rough; ap- propriately so and quite entertain- ing. Act three was placed back in the Hampton home in 1973. Lu Ann is widowed and left with her invalid mother, young daughter and crazed brother to care for. Senior Christie Tate gave Charmaine, Lu Ann ' s obnoxious teenage daughter a hysterically funny appeal. Uni- versity faculty Jeffrey Dills ' por- trayal of Skip Hampton, Lu Ann ' s older pathetic brother was sorrow- ful and yet humorous. Lu Ann is content with her rath- er average and dismal life. Howev- er, she has found an inner peace in her simple existence. Her human will has made her a hero in all of life ' s adverse fate. Lu Ann has be- come a hero of life, simply because she has survived in that dried-up mud hole. Photos by Chip Woodson Student Life 17