Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
                                           publicinfo@selu.edu
                                           
    Date: 11/8/96
      Contact:                           Christina Chapple  126

Editors: Photo accompanies release -- Please note local interest
FRIENDS ENJOY ATMOSPHERE, ADRENALIN OF THEATRE
     HAMMOND -- There's no doubt that Ronda Powell, Tom Stephens and Greg Carpenter
are having fun. They just love the camaraderie, the atmosphere and the adrenalin of theater.
     Powell, a recent Southeastern graduate; Stephens, a  graduate students six hours away
from his master's degree, and Carpenter, a senior social studies education major, are starring in
the Southeastern Theatre's Nov. 19-23 production of "The Trip to Bountiful" by Pulitzer Prize
winner Horton Foote. They each have their reasons for dedicating extracurricular time to director
Charley Vance's production, which will be performed in SLU's Vonnie Borden Theatre.
     Powell, a Hammond resident and Greensburg native, was in several Southeastern
Theatre productions, including Vance's "The Miss Firecracker Contest," while studying for her
bachelor's degree in English. In "The Trip to Bountiful," she has the lead  role of "Mrs. Watts" --
a role made famous by Geraldine Page in the movie version. Despite the demands made on her
time by two-and-a-half year old son, Powell auditioned for the play because she loves author
Horton Foote and "I couldn't pass up the chance to work with Charley again," she said. 
     She thinks audiences will love Foote's "beautifully written, touching" play. "The thing
that makes the play so wonderful," she said, "is the way it's written. It's Southern, it speaks to
anybody who has lived in the South. The language is beautiful and what's not said is also
beautiful."
     "I have two grandmothers that I'm drawing from with my character," Powell said. "I have
always been close to them, but this experience has brought me even closer."
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THEATER FRIENDS --  Add One
     Carpenter, who lives in Holden, is also a Southeastern Theatre veteran. He has been in
productions of "Lovers" and "Museum" and co-directed last summers "Lone Star and Bourbon."
Asked what attracted a teacher-in-training to the theater, he answers, poker-faced, "Fear!"
     Carpenter explained that he discovered "fear" when he took a required speech class. "I
would have my speech prepared and I was ready to go, but I was shaking in my boots," he said.
"I thought, 'This is ridiculous if I want to be a teacher. What is teaching, if it isn't acting? I've got
to stand in front of the class and act like I know what I'm talking about, act like I'm in control.
I've got to get over that fear thing!'"
     He decided to conquer his fear by getting through an audition. "And then I got the part,
which amplified the fear quite a bit!" he laughed. 
     Carpenter discovered, however, that theater is a lot of fun and that fear is universal. "I'm
still scared when I walk out on stage," he said, "but if you're prepared, you know your character,
your lines, then you just start doing it. Then the fear is over because you are doing it."
     "The hardest line is the first line," said Stephens. "Once you get it out, you can do it.
Your adrenalin's pumping and the character takes over."
     Stephens, a Bogalusa native who earned  two bachelor's degrees from Southeastern in
history and government and theater in the early 1980s, has returned to his alma mater after more
than a decade in California. "I left Southeastern for California," he smiled, "to run a summer
camp and to seek fame and fortune as an actor. And I did okay with it for about the first six
years."
     He was in more than 40 commercials, two episodes of the television program "Miami
Vice" and an episode of "Equal Justice." He also taught fourth grade in a private school in Los
Angeles. "I had a great life in California, but it was time to make that future life decision and I
always knew I wanted to come home and be close to family and friends," he said. "Southeastern
has always been home."
     Stephens has almost completed a master's degree in Student Affairs Counseling. "I saw
this play years ago and though, "Wow! I'd love to direct it!'" he said. "So when I saw that
Southeastern was doing it, I just thought that I'd go audition. I got cast and I'm just loving it. I
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THEATER FRIENDS -- Add two
don't think I'll catch the theater bug forever," he added, "but it's therapeutic to be back."
     "This is the most fun that I've had working on a show in a long time," Stephens said.
"Last night we hung around for two and a half hours after rehearsal, just running lines, laughing,
really enjoying the theater and each other."
     Also cast in "The Trip to Bountiful" are Brook Patterson and Robert Stratton of Baton
Rouge, Dina Alleman of Ferriday, John Deshotel of Pride, Belford Carver of Hammond,
Shannon Sharpe of Slidell, Dan Brown of Ponchatoula, Anita Landry of Carencro and Todd
Nebeker of Mandeville.                   
     Curtain time for "The Trip to Bountiful" is 7:30 p.m. Tickets, available at the theatre box
office in D Vickers Hall lobby and at the door, are $5 general admission and $3 non-SLU
students and senior citizens. SLU students are admitted free with their university I.D. For
additional information, call the Communication and Theatre Department, 549-2105.
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