JACKSON, Tenn. — March 29, 2017 — The Art, Faith, and Service festival presented by Union University’s Lyceum Committee will bring three speakers and performers to campus March 30-April 1.
Each day one of the speakers will host an interactive alternative theater talk focused on the way talent and faith can come together in acts of service. The speakers include Dale Savidge, Tom Key and Tenika Dye.
“We want to inspire people to find other avenues that they can take their giftedness in the theatre and apply it to out of the box issues,” said David Burke, director of Union’s theater.
Savidge, the executive director and co-founder of Christians in Theater Arts and the Applied Theater Center, is in the process of becoming one of the few certified drama therapists in America. His talk on March 30 at 7:30 p.m. in the W.D. Powell Theatre is entitled, “Theater ministry re-examined: Thinking outside the box and then exploding the box.”
John Klonowski, assistant professor of theater at Union, said that although the speakers are focusing on theater, the event is for the community as a whole.
“You don’t have to be a theater major or somebody who’s an actor to benefit from this,” Klonowski said. “It’s a whole different way to look at theater rather than just thinking about it in terms of entertainment.”
Key is the original writer for the play “Cotton-Patch Gospel.” He performed it as a one-man show off Broadway in New York and then collaborated with 1960s rocker Harry Chapin to adapt the play into a musical.
“We’ve done ‘Cotton-Patch Gospel’ three times at Union,” Burke said. “It’s based upon the works of Clarence Jordan. He put the gospel in the southern vernacular. He was racial reconciliation long before the civil rights movement.”
Key’s work focuses on combining the white and black communities together in theater. He owns his own theater company in Atlanta called Theatrical Outfitters and was previously the leading actor of Atlanta’s number one theater.
Key’s talk will take place March 31 at 7:30 p.m. in the W.D. Powell Theatre. He will also be speaking in chapel that morning at 10 a.m.
“Last time he was here for chapel, he quoted from the book of Revelation,” Burke said. “He’s very gifted, and my guess is that it’ll be one of the best chapels we’ll have all year.”
Dye, who previously worked for the Salvation Army in Chattanooga, Tennessee, will hold an April 1 workshop at 10 a.m. in the W.D. Powell Theatre entitled “Theater for Real Life.” The morning session will be geared toward improvisational situations, expanding on Savidge’s hands-on presentation.
The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited to 200 inside the theater. Registration is available at www.uu.edu/events/lyceum.