The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, June 22, 1978, Page Page 4, Image 4

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Reader By Doug Jolley Gamecock Staff Writer USC. The place where ideas are born? Well, maybe some of them. It all began on a cold night last December. "I was looking for a new direction for the project, and one mgni wnen i was reading an enormous buzzer went off in my head, because I knew I had found what I was really looking for." And so was born a unique pilot program which may have national implications if successful. The speaker is Patti Gillespie, chairman of the Department of Thaofra or*^ C?\/w\/?U x>ivuv uiiu opvv,vil| dllU MIC WitS talking about the department's use of a reader's theatre to reach drug and alcohol abusers. The project will attempt to reach teenagers and senior citizens as primary target audiences. It will not focus on current users because it's f#?lt thppp u;r>nlH Ko ?a -w ~ V??vav fTVUAU MV liv/ HIOJUl impact on this group, Gillespie said. INSTEAD, IT will try to reach people who are currently experimenting with drugs and alcohol and those who have not yet experimented with them. The project will try to suggest reasons why experimentation turns into addiction, and suggest alternative responses to the stresses which lead to experimentation and addiction. "We will not be preaching," Gillespie said. "Drug and alcohol abuse is a very, very complex problem and there are no simple solutions. You can't sav. 'Hpv ? ? I "" } that's not good for you,' and expect them to stop. We want to use the theatre to explore the complexity of the problem and suggest there are no simple solutions." The theatre will consist of a writer-director, five paid actors, a technician receiving half pay, and two persons who are on in dependent study or receiving some kind of academic credit for their work. 200 freshmei By Mary Jean Baxle; Gamecock Staff Writer Nearly 200 freshmen will enter th< at USC this fall, according to Marsha of admissions. "We want to keep the acader student in South Carolina. In the past small prestige colleges in other sta cases aid not return to our state af Winn said. One of the major goals of the Hoi cording to Winn, is to be able to offe image with large-college benefits. Winn said most students in the Ho their own way without any spc Although the students in the Honors < great deal of individual attention, th tuition as other students. "PERSONALLY, I get to know ea program. It's good to watch a strong stronger,, and this program offei portunities," Winn said. Upon completion of Horseshi students in the Honors College wil Horseshoe. This fall only 40 honor ? it . . _ t A. t._ A* nousea mere, duc in me iuiure ou seshoe vacancies will be filled by students. The other vacancies will b< come, first-served basis, according 's theatre use tr, THE WRITER-direcfcor is VAnMfifk PnmAnAn iwiuivui vaiuciuil, WllVJ UlUU^Il I1UI a permanent member of the USC faculty, is no stranger to USC. He came to USC on an NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities) grant through a program called "Writers in Residence." While here, he wrote four original scripts for the university, one of which is being held and produced this weekend in Hilton Head and Fripp' Islands. Cameron will work full time with the program, writing most of the scripts, directing it in the beginning, and leading the troupe when they first begin touring. Another possible consultant on the project is a current inmate at the Central Correctional Institute who is a former drug addict himself. Notwithstanding an eighth giauc cuutanuu anu it UltUK 1116 in prison, he has proceeded to complete his college education, become an ordained minister and a published author. THE PROJECT will be federally funded, and the university will provide matching funds through its community service commitment, with a combined total budget of more than $48,000. The federal funding is received through Program IMPACT under Title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965, and administered by the S.C. Commission on Higher Education through the U.S. Commission of Education. It is designed to strengthen community service projects of colleges and universities. In reader's theatre the cast does not memorize lines, but use;? scripts when on stage. Elaborate stage sets and costumes are also absent in this theatrical form. Because of this, reader's theatre is ideally suited for the grant project, Gillespie said. "Using reader's theatre limits excessive costs of production and CUtS snarp limitfltinnc " cho -r ? onv oaiu. This curtailing of space limitations is particularly important bccause a to enter Hor y "I'm extremely We have some vei and I think it w ; Honors College President James ill Winn, director "WE ARE abl nically talented and we match the ; they went to the professors in mak ites and in most have an opportun ter graduation/' educated people,' nors College, ac- we have had sc r a small-college *n Honor time teaching 15 s nors College pay will b? teaching 1 icial assistance. trade-off somew College receive a academically U icy pay the same possible,' Winn s Each professor College is promin cn student in the school, according student get even s excellent op- MORE THAN ? honor program, V ae renovations, 200-member fresh 1 move onto the time to be offeree students will be percent of Hor- Upon successfi Hnnnrs rniiw students receivft t 5 filled on a first- of Science degree [ to Winn. College. r * iupe hopes to rea the grant productions will not be sutgeu in regular ineatres. "OFTEN WE can't describe or discuss a problem as well as we can display it/' Gillespie said. "Theatre is a means of displaying complex ideas and demonstrating the consequences to various lines of action, even when we don't understand the ideas well enough tn lncrinnllv rlicruicc fhom " vv VUUVUO0 U1VIII* The troupe is planning to rehearse most of the fall semester, beginning in four eight-hour sessions just before registration. Once classes begin, they will practice approximately 20 hours a week and will begin to tour from late fall semester through spring semester exclusively in South Carolina and focusing primarily on the Columbia area. An interesting problem concerns work with senior citizens, according to Gillespie. "The whole problem with this group, particularly the abuse of alcohol but also other substances, is just now comine to liffht in snmp mninr ways," she said. "APPARENTLY, loneliness among the elderly leads some of them to begin alcohol abuse when they never used to before. I believe that many of the people we will be dealing with are not addicted right now, but are currently turning to alcohol, or at least the abuse of alcohol as the solution to their problems," she said. "This is currently being studied for the first time as a recognized major health problem in this country, and I have no reason to believe Columbia is an exception." Ortemallv written into federal grant was the concept of entering prisons to reach one of the prime populations reader's theatre is concerned about. Two years ago the theatre department produced a film on drug abuse in prison that the inmates had written them selves as a result of an internal therapy group. Gillespie and other faculty iors College excited about the Honors College, y talented students and a fine staff ill be good for the university," B. Holderman said. e to provide a small-class setting, brighter students with USC's better ing this a place where students will ity to leave this institution as truly ' Winn said. ime complaints concerning the fact s College, we tie up a professor's students, whereas other professors 50. We feel that there has to be a here in order to give these ilented students every chance aid. ' chosen to teach in the Honors ent in his field and an asset to the to Holderman. 100 students are enrolled in USC's /inn said, but the Honors College's man class will be the first in a long j this study. il completion of the curriculum, he Bachelor of Arts or the Bachelor i with Honors from South Carolina ch drug9 alcohol members became interested in this area and wrote it in as one of the prime target areas of the project. However, funds were cut on the project and the prison project was eliminated. "I BELIEVE that it is a fertile field and one that needs covering somehow," Gillespie said, "but unfortunately it's one that we are not currently funded to do. Interestingly enough, the prisoners we talked to two years ago and the Nursing cour The Central South Carolina Chap Cross, in coooeratinn with IISC's f!n hour home nursing course at 1100 Shi 27-29. Junior nursing students at USC ui home-nursing instructor will partic strations concerning basic home ca peratures and keeping patients con TTtv>n nnmnlotinn vyj/v?? VV1I1|/AVV1\/A1 VI UlV V.UUI GC |/dl nurses. The course is open to the pub] For information contact the Cent Red Cross, 256-2301. CAROLINA WOfl _a_ n w i icre rityin | Freeflbortic Confidentia Pregnancy blooc) test b (.all 256-0128 2C Columbia, S FAM( COGBURI 1317 Sumter St. iSMlKfii OPEN MOfs 6:30 a.m. t< L> "TTT"**"* A Open 1 1 (1 1 p.m. Lunch Specials Dail I 783-067?) I I? A 4JT Z11 * ni?^ I l iin l v,i\I\IV I UU I 8400 Dei in Cedar Terrace S experimenters inmates we are talking to now said that they did not start taking drugs and become addicted until after they entered prison. It's an ap2/ 21 1? - * A paiiuig tad, 11 n is a xaci. so apparently the inmates have access to these substances for abuse while in prison. "It's an exciting and interesting project, and as far as I know unique. If we succeed, it could very well serve as a pilot project for many other groups like it across the nation." OU OWICUUICU ter of the American National Red liege of Nursing, will sponsor a 12rley St. from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. June nder the supervision of a certified ipate in presentations and demonre techniques such as taking temifortable. rticipants will be certified as home lie at no charge. ral S.C. 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