PROJECT KNOWLEDGE- Day 18

Destination: Blacksburg, VA and Farmville, VA

Today we got on the road at 7:30 a.m. to get to our 9:00 a.m. meeting with Bob Leonard in Blacksburg, VA. Bob and his wife, Dora, so graciously invited us over to their beautiful home for a home-cooked breakfast of eggs, potatoes, toast, and fried apples! They invited Junior to come inside and make friends with their dog, Dave.

Bob works for the Department of Theatre Arts at Virginia Tech. He teaches directing and performance skills, with a particular focus on ensemble processes, collaborative creation of new work, and community partnerships. Our conversation centered on the collaborative process of ensembles and the challenges and advantages of maintaining a resident company of artists. Bob also shared his experiences in founding his own company, The Road Company, which was an improvisational theatre company active from 1972-1998.

Bob is committed to the development of strong networks of community-based professional performing organizations through his affiliation with Alternate ROOTS , the Network of Ensemble Theatres (NET) , and Community Arts Network (CAN). It was great to learn about the function of these organizations and the resources that are currently available to us in the field of community arts.

We had a wonderful breakfast, but at noon, it was time to part ways as Bob had to get to class and we had to get on the road to Farmville. Many thanks to Bob and Dora for their incredible hospitality!

About 3 hours later we pulled up to a parking lot on the Hampden-Sydney College campus where we were meeting with Claire Deal and her students.

Claire was actually Amy's High School Drama Teacher in Cincinnati, Ohio! Claire, the Chair of The Department of Rhetoric, is currently teaching an "Art and Activism" class at Hampden-Sydney. We met with her students and members of Hampden-Sydney's fine arts department for a lively discussion regarding the role theatre played in each of their lives. It was an incredibly inspiring and thought provoking conversation as we delved deeply into the reasons why theatre has or has not played a significant role in their lives.

After our talk, we joined Claire and her wife Bev for a delicious dinner at the beautiful Maxine's Restaurant in Farmville. We spent the night sharing funny high school theatre stories and philosophizing about the big dream! It was the perfect evening! Tomorrow we depart for Baltimore to get ready for our Baltimore Benefit and our meeting with Single Carrot Theatre.








It was Claire who truly instilled the love of theatre within Amy. If it wasn't for Claire's incredible and positive influence, Amy never would have pursued a career in theatre. And just for old times sake, lets look at a cute picture from our high school theatre days!