Radford University - Beehive Yearbook (Radford, VA)

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Liz -emmon. o senior ort moor, portrays Mary Draper Ingles in the outckxy drama The Long Way Home. Liz Lemmon recrecles Mary Ingles suffering white a caplive of the Shawnee ’rdicns. Long Way Home 23

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Amazing journey recreated For the oast six years. Radford Theater Department Chairman Jarhes Hawes has d rected Virginia's only outdoor historical d'cma, The Long Way Home. which completed its 12th season in Radford Sept. 5. The play re-lives 18th-century pioneer Ma'y Draoer ’ngles'journey from Kentucky to southwest Virginia to warn settlers in Drapers Meadows of an Indian attack. Ingles and her two children were captured by the Shawnee Indians in a massacre at the Radford settlement in 1755. During her four-month captivity, she was separated from her children and beaten into servitude While the Shawnees were traveling through the salt springs at Big Bone Lick in Kentucky. Ingles overheard them planning another, more devastating attack on the southwest Virginia settlements. Fleeing her captors on foot. Ingles struggled through the dense, cold forest, dragging herself, from fatigue, along the banks of the rivers leading back to Virginia in order to warn the settlers. In his production Hawes has been able to utilize an inherited atmosphere. The theatre, located next to Ingleside. the ancestral home of the original settlers, is only a few feet from where Mary Ingles is buried Mary Lewis Ingles Jeffries, who lives at Ingleside, has played her great-great-great-great grandmother Elenor Draper, mother of Mary Ingles, for the 12 seasons the show has run. During a performance two years ago, Jeffries recalls that the spirit of one of her pioneer relatives appeared in the form of “a floating hand which landed lightly on my shoulder but didn't frighten me. On the contrary, she said, I felt very peaceful. It was a warm hand, and it made me feel very close to the entire Ingles family. Elizabeth Lemmon, who played Mary Ingles this season, said she also felt an un-explainable presence at the amphitheatre Sometimes, when I'm alone onstage, I somehow know Mary Ingles is around and watching, and I feel good because I know she must approve. Ingles was a uniquely demanding role for Lemmon, a senior art major at Radford. She cppeared on stage from the first line until the very end of the play. To create the mood for Ingles' long, agonizing journey. Hawes utilized surrealistic scenes and images throughout the play. Blacklights fiasned and deathly dancers contorted around Ingles as her movements slowed to a crawl ’he play has become a community effort; many local businesses donate to the project. By the end of the season you really get the feeling of a long run. Everyone's formed fast friendships or fast animosities as the case may be. Hawes said lightheartedly. but it's a lot of fun that way. He noted that interest has revived in Mary Draper Ingles across the nation since the release of James Alexander Thom's novel Fol'ow tne River early last year Hawes attrioutes the increasea touris audience this pasf summer to Tnom's novel, based on The Long Way Home. When the season ended. Hawes returned to chairmanship duties in the RU thectre deportment ir addition to teaching. directing and acting on ccmpus. In October, he played the lead role in tne R.U. Theatre production of Neel Coward. Theatre is theatre, whether indoor or outdoor, commercial or college. Broadway or Radford. he said. The thrill you get is the inspiration to always give your creative best. Karon Covory chars with Or. James Hawes, thcatro deoartrrenr chairman, before a pxodcct on. 22 Student Life

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Computers move in In the spring of 1982, Radford students pre-regis'ered for fall quarter using cam-outers for The first time. According to Dr Ed Gibbon, registrar, the change had oeen olanned for nearly two years. He also said student and faculty reaction has been good. Gibbon says the computer system nas many advantages over the old arena” system. It allows for better management, advising and scheduling, and it allows the registrar's office to compi e information from the computer that wed previously done by hand. Laura Robertson, a senior math stat major. says she likes the system better because it means less standing in lines. David Patrick, a finance major, said he thought the system is better than what he nad experienced at Virginia Tech because he was able to force-add impor- tant classes. He added that the terminal operators helped to make the system work because they had been so helpful. Several students who said computer registration wasn't whet they expected offered suggestions on how to improve it. Robertson suggested a system of priority so students can register for classes required in their mejor. Gibbon, however, said no such system is planned because who woud determine who should have prior.ty. Shari Bumstein sugges’ed that students be allowed to reserve sequence classes. Although some changes have been proposed, and they are trying to improve the system, the present budget won't allow for many changes. But, Gibbon added, hopefully as the need chenges we can change with it. Although there ore still a few kinks to be worked out. most students agree they like the rev , computer registration system better than the former one. Be ng o student and a mother is tough at times, but it's especially hard to do both dun ng the otd registre tion system. 24 Student Life