The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 21, 1979, Page Page 5, Image 5
Playwrit
By Janet Gibson
Wtf? Editor
Playwright and director Ken
Cameron believes the best way to
aid the serious problem of alcohol
and drug abuse is to take a comic
annrnaph
-rrCameron
said comedy and satire
work best with a variety of
audiences. The massive anti-drug
movement of the 1960's was actually
counterproductive, according
to Cameron. "It only
turned people on to drugs more,"
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Cameron came to USC's
Department of Theatre and Speech
on a residence grant in 1977. He
began writing and directing plays
concerning alcohol and drug abuse
for a traveling troupe of actors last
year.
ANSTIE'S LIMIT consists of
two graduate siuaenis in me
department, a teaching associate
and an undergraduate specializing
in theatre, according to Patti
Gillespie, head of the Department
of Theatre and Speech.
Cameron derived the name of
the troupe after reading an article
in the New York Times about a
Civil War doctor named Anstie
who devised a figure that's still
considered safe and valid today one
ounce of alcohol a day.
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"It's a shockingly low figure if
you drink at all," he added.
Anstie's Limit has been very
successful in the theatrical sense
"as far as applause, response and
Vis far as ao
m
plause, response
and letters go, we
bring school
audiences in
South Carolina
what they are
starved for.'
Ken Cameron
letters go," he said. "We bring
school audiences in South Carolina
what they are starved for."
THE ACTORS travel to junior
and senior high schools in the
state. The group has appeared in
parks, prisons, recreation centers
and for senior citizens' groups.
They will be performing
Cameron's adaptation of Joyce R.
Burditt's, "The Cracker Factory,"
ai a conference in irmo tor drug
abuse counselors this month.
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Nov. 26-27
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In "The Funniest Joke in the
World," one of Cameron's plays,
the actors talk to the audience and
tell drunk jokes. "It's a very
simple little show," Cameron said.
"Maybe that's why it's so successful."
A VARIETY OF paper mache
and plastic masks are used by the
lour actors to portray 16 parts, he
said. 1
The actors in Anstie's Limit have *
a very demanding schedule. "We t
travel on Mondays, Wednesdays
and Fridays, and more often than
not, we're up and on the road ~~Z
before 6 a.m.," Cameron said.
The actors receive a salary. No
academic credit is earned, with the
exception of the undergraduate
actor who receives an established
salary and amount of credit hours,
he added.
In another of Cameron's plays,
"Edge of Death," everyone in town
is on some kind of drug. According
to Gillespie, the play is similar to a
soap opera. ;
"THE COMMENTATOR in the I
play is a heroin addict who's
worried about his daughter - he
thinks she's too healthy," Cameron
said. Two people are "murdered,"
sexual impotence is suggested and
"hi7flrrp rfrilt* llohniinr'' nronnilr.
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in the 35-minute production, he I
added.
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Cameron said the play ends with 1
all the characters experiencing C
forms of withdrawal. n
In addition to writing plays, P
Cameron is a novelist. Seven of his 8
novels have been published.
Cameron's play series, formally
called Substance Abuse Education n
Through Theatre, is funded by the f(
S.C. Commission on Higher ^
Education, Gillespie said. Support
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Mcohol and Drug Abuse has also "
3een received. n
w
JACKIE SLIGH, prevention and a
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ntervention consultant at SC!ADA,
said although the comlission
offers no financial suport,
but much moral support is
iven.
Sligh said SCCADA previewed
le program in a general staff
leeting before the first perjrmance
of "The Funniest Joke in
le World."
Theatre is a great instrument for
hange in a society. Ansties Limit
as succeeded because they
ealized "regular plays just don't
ork" when dealing with alcohol
nd drug abuse, Gillespie said.
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