Beyond The Color Purple: Bring Anson Back!
Anson New Tech High School in Wadesboro, NC and EbzB Productions create a performance from the oral histories of the residents of Anson County, NC.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
First Rehearsal in the Ansonia Theatre
2.While Serena was working on the blocking, the others were studying their parts and making shadow puppets on the screen.
3.Serena finished she started talking to the actors about how there would be video clips playing throughout the whole preference.
4.She also said that Erin may be playing the flute during the show also.
5.After that they set up the first scene.
6.It started out with a video playing,then as soon as the video ended the actors came on stage, and it took place at the Ansonia Theater.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Monday, October 31, 2011
Beyond the Color Purple--The Ansonia Speaks
Friday, October 28, 2011
Performance: November 3, 2011, 7 p.m.
Our play will be performed at the newly renovated Ansonia Theater in Wadesboro on Thursday, November 3rd at 7pm. We invite the entire community to come and enjoy an evening of entertainment created by our talented students' hard work.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Reflection: Catherine Crandell - Anson County Arts Council
Thursday, October 20, 2011
First Read
First Read
First Read
::Erin.Spectacular.Tillman::
Acting Exercises
Lastly we practiced our vocal points. Also we did our “rock” “kcor” exercise which was very fun and entertaining. All the actors loved it along with Sarina and Mrs. Wint. We also did our “Oh” exercise, which I don’t have a video of but I wish I did. It was hilarious as well as everything else we did.
Script Writing
We also read a play about us really. In the play it contained our thoughts and feeling about Ansonia. Another section of the play was like Ansonia itself sharing it’s thoughts and concerns. I think the students enjoyed the discussion with Serena. We all learned something about Anson County which was very informative.
Ansonia
actors
Ansonia Peformance
I liked the war bonds play at the ansonia theratre. I thought it was very good and interesting on how they preformed it.
-Alyson Wint
Anson New Tech High School Teacher
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Everyday i wake up thinking about how will i go to college or what if i don’t get any grant money.
I pray that one day another teen girl will write about how Anson County is now and have more positive things to say.
Anson County is a nice place to come to if you have recently retired because of the beautiful country lands. Anson County has acres and acres of trees and open fields for farming or just building a home on. On the other hand I would not recommend you bringing your children here to gain an education. The school system is not what it use to be and education is not the main key anymore. The teachers and principles are mainly concerned about the uniforms instead of rather or not the child is learning the material needed to further their education. Anson County has some positive aspects to it such as the different high schools that kids in grades 9th-12th can choose from other than the traditional high school. You can choose from Anson Early College which is a high school where while taking high school courses you can also take college courses and gain your associates degree. The only catch to this school is that you won’t graduate with your class because you have to go an extra year in order to obtain your degree. Another alternative school is Anson New Technology High School, this is actually the school that I attend. This school is a great school also because the teachers here actually care if you succeed or not, they want everyone to be successful. At this school you can also take college courses and can actually graduate with your right class and go to college as a junior if you take a lot of college courses. If I was a uprising 9th grader I would choose one of these school because there you can actually learn. The traditional high school is not a place I would consider because out there the teachers and students have their priorities mixed up. Students would rather fight and clown around than learn and the teachers would rather let those who want to learn stay in class and those that try but get off task send them home. I feel like if the teacher showed every student that they care instead of showing favoritism then the traditional high school would be a better learning environment.
Anson County also has a high teen pregnancy rate, in 2007 there were 77 out of 1000 girls pregnant at the ages of 15-19 and 43.6 were white and 125.2 were black. Is this what you want for your children? Something need to be done before its too late. I love my hometown but it has some negative aspects to it also. I am glad that my family taught me well enough to the point where I didn’t have to become another statistic in the County. When I walk on the campus of the high school and see so many young pregnant bellies I just shake my head and thank god I was taught better. I really don’t understand what these girls go through but by me being friends with a pregnant teen I’ve heard about some of what they go through. I was talking with my friend one day and she got on the subject of how she didn’t know how she would provide for her baby seeing that the father wasn’t around. I looked up at her and said “rather or not the father is in the baby’s life you will still be able to provide with the help of your family.” One good thing that Anson County has is that the Partnership for Children has a teen mom program that allows the young mothers to be able to provide daycare, and necessities for their child. This program was designed to help the mothers to be able to provide for their children as well as continue to go to school and maintain good grades. The main thing about this program is that in order to stay in the program you must stay in school and maintain a “C” average and you also can not have another baby. If you don’t meet these stipulations you will no longer get the help or support of the teen mom program. I love my county but there are just somethings that need to change and I pray that one day another teen girl will write about how Anson County is now and have more positive things to say.
Bring Anson Back
Bring Anson Back
In a time where innovation is the key, and being a listening ear is more important than ever. Our home will not do such a thing. Anson County in its day was a place to call home. A place where business was booming and we were united. Now we’re far from it. As the world is moving along around us we are stuck in a precipice of failure, and self-demise. The economy is in a state of panic and we as a country and specifically this county are falling into a bottomless abyss of nothing. Poor educational systems, no teachers, no jobs, nothing to stimulate the youth mind which ultimately determine our future. And with nothing where will we go? As dark as that possibility may be their are two sides to this situation. The economy can be better due to more local business. We want Anson back. The steps t get there are right in our grasp but by us as a county being blinded by our foolish pride we don’t see it. Its time to leave the past behind. Leave racism, and division where it should be. Dr.Martin Luther King Jr once said, “ Let not us seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking form the cup of bitterness and hatred “. We must unite. We live in a time where the generation of the future are more accepting to other races and culture and in doing are creating a net of love, something we need much of. We must love each other and unite as a county to grow. A flower cant stand on just petals. It has a variety of parts .We need roots for support, our past generation, and our county will grow. Once that flower dies it leaves behind seeds, seeds which represent the youth and then they have the past knowledge of the generation before them as a reference to when contributing tho the county. We want Anson back.
Don’t we all miss the old environment, that we were able to enjoy. The ones our grandmother and grandfather experience. We were able to walk outside go anywhere with out worrying if someone would break into our house and steal everything we worked hard for. Back in those times the youth were engaged in the community and the adults set up standards for them to meet. They pushed the youth of the benefit of the future; We pushed them academically and socially, to excel in school, and to go somewhere in life and to meet new people and remember their roots. Remember where you came from so you can give back to the people who helped mold you into the well-rounded adult you became. We need that again. We need words of encouragement, teachers and people to care. Parents we need you to encourage your children, push them, turn off the television, get off facebook and get into the text books. That’s the problem, the parents have turned into the children trying to be their friends and keep them from being mad. It shouldn’t be like that, we should keep them in a environment where they learn from their surroundings. It doesn’t help if you take them around negative people that don’t really do anything with their life. Whether you know if or not the people you hang around tells a lot about your future. The great leaders before us didn’t work hard just for us to literally throw it down the drain. We should look up to them and say I want to leave here with people thinking positive of me and knowing that i helped a lot through out my life. When we look back 20 to 30 years from now we want be be able to say we as a county were able to grow. We got out of the stone age of nothingness and look where we are, look how far we’ve come. Its not when you get there that matters the most, but the journey. We stepped out of the darkness and are now on a precipice of greatness, and as one generation leaves this world, they will have planted the seeds for us to become more that a great county, but the best county we can be. “Life’s a climb, but the view is great” -Miley Cyrus, meaning it may be hard now but if we work hard everything will pay off. With that being said we will get Anson back!
I will be taking you through my opinion of how a teenagers life is in Anson County today.
When I was younger my mom use to always tell me, her and my 6 aunts had the most fun when they were younger. They partied every weekend all night long, without all the drugs, fights, and deaths. They didn’t have bully’s or cliques, they just went to school, learned what they were supposed to, came back home and did it again the next day.
In my time it’s totally different. Nowadays you are basically determined to be like the popular kids. From the hair styles, to the shoes, to the drugs, to the way they talk. Most kids spend hundreds of dollars just to “fit in”. You have to act a certain way or you’re considered weird. You have to agree with the “top notch chick” in order to be liked, and most importantly you have you meet your friends standards in order to be considered apart of the clique. You also have the weight problems with most females. Most girls that are even a pound bigger than their best friends go anorexic. I feel like even if you are over weight you’re friends shouldn’t judge you based on that or how you walk or talk. Also don’t judge based on clothing because your friends may not have as much money as you do so money shouldn’t mess up a friendship. Then you have girls ending friendships just because of a guy. There is plenty of time for someone different that would even think about you BFF so why would you waste your time fussing over a typical dog?
In todays time sex is the number one thing on teenagers minds. I’ve made my sexual mistake and it wasn’t worth it. Most girls are my age and are already on there second child! Anson County is so small that we teens should want to go out to water parks during the summer and having snowball fights during the winter, not having sex every weekend just because you parents don’t care. Back in the day parents didn’t have to worry about the kids having sex because they told they what and what not to do but now you see adults doing it with their kids, things like drugs!
Anson County had changed in a major way. I see it as a sad story. You can’t even go to a friends birthday party on a Saturday night without seeing a fight or people shooting the place up. I rarely go out because of these to things alone. My insecurities with my weight are also reason I don’t go out much. I may not be the fattest person in the world, but I can’t help but wonder are my friends saying im fat just because I a little bigger than them or when we’re out and we see cute guys, I don’t approach due to my insecurity.
I see mothers around dressing in smaller clothes than their daughters, smoking weed with them and hooking each other up with guys. Me and my mother never had the best relationship but we kept our relationship strictly on a mother daughter basis. She didn’t talk to me about her male problems because I'm her “Child” not her gossip friend and I never talked to her about my problems because I wasn’t ready. I see boys and girls cursing their mothers out and fist fighting them all because someone engraved it into their heads that “you do this to me so Ima do this to you” I disagree with this because I have a up-most respect for my mother and for me to disrespect her by raising my voice or putting my hand on her is way out of my character.
Basically I hate Anson County’s teenagers today because they have no home training.
This city was not always how it is now.
It was once a place where you never had to lock doors, lock windows.
A place where children could play at night without fear of being taken away.
This city has changed much over the past century.
We have more forms of entertainment.
We have two of the best public schools on the east coast.
This city also has fallen so much over time.
Crime Rates have risen and have destroyed our communities.
Teen pregnancy has caused there to be more children without fathers.
We have been affected by the economy so much.
Jobs have been reduced so much that too many people are unemployed.
we've also had more businesses come to this city.
Education has become so much better.
New ways of learning have appeared.
Allowing students to receive collage degrees and free passes to enter.
But I only have one wish for this city and its citizens.
I wish for us to come together and to work to build this city up to it's
past glory.
I wish that we join together to help end crime and to bring more jobs here.
But the only way this wish will be fulfilled is if the citizens come
together.
This is all I ask of you.
To come together and restore this city.
Day by day as the world turns 'round
So many tears trying to weigh me down
Family members leaving here and there
Trying to force more on me than I can bare
There are a lot of folks now more than ever
That are trying to get their hands on some cheddar
With the economy suffering like it is
No matter how hard we try, it' is what it is that's why some people steal
No more struggling, no more fear
In time the world will see what has come near
School is school and trusts are maybe's
That was so important we ain't have time for no babies
Now run along and get an education
'Cause from there that's where I got my dedication
Sometimes, we never know
Jobs, Jobs, It’s 1950 and we need jobs.
May I ask you questions
Do not find me shrud
How many years have collected upon you?
How old my dear doth thou think I am?
Twenty four, Twenty five?
Oh dear twenty three
Ohh I'm sorry I did not see.
Seventy four actually
Why did thou venture to this land?
Came here in 63
Taught things like math and history
Coached football for fun
From then the team won a ton
Is started wresting, track and field.
Sports was my thing,
You know the whole shpeal.
What about that place?
Theater of anson?
any memories of the place?
Don't you find it handsome?
I remember one thing
Mr.Wildamooth
We'd sit in the middle
For a comedy or two
He would laugh a lot
Sometimes out of the blue
He would laugh so loud
it was some times a shock
You could probably hear him for a block.
So what about money, jobs, work?
We had less shops more mills
West knitting, Cola, and toys
Racked in plenty of bills.
I like it here, less men more deer
No traffic, it's slow, peaceful
Theres very little fear.
But race, that was a problem back in they day.
Oh I never gave a hay
I taught the first team with both white and black
I also chose the mascot
A story right there.
They said rhinos and Mr.Wildamooth said no
I said the bearcats
Which no who would know
But anyway they agreed and here we are.
Anson bearcats near and far.
What about racial divides?
Oh from football I know of that
Klan members payed a visit to school one day.
They burnt down buildings and threw things at us.
Some in my team only young kids
Were part of this group the klan as it is
I told them one or another
is how it should be
There only in it because
"My parents made me"
Anything more on anson divides?
Not much but that makes me think of churches
They have gotten so small
from 400 to 70 my church has become
Thats all my questions I think I am done.
Ansonia theater what do you know?
Some say plays. Movies? Oh no!
Ansonia theater what noise is that?
Laughters so loud and actors so fat
Ansonia theater whats going on?
Rhythm and rhyme thats my favorite song
Ansonia theater what have you heard?
Color purple near by and not on a bird
Ansonia theater what have you seen?
Racial separation and hate crimes toward me.
Ansonia theater what did you cost?
Quarter a movie but no that is lost.
Ansonia theater, my dear your all new.
People you've affected and fire you knew.
Christmas to come a play we will do.
And with this poem we do honor you.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
The Interview And Editing Process To Create A Script
Monday, September 12, 2011
EbzB Productions Brings "War Bonds" to Ansonia Theatre
Students from Anson New Tech High School were treated to a performance
of WAR BONDS: THE SONGS AND LETTERS OF WORLD WAR II on Monday, September
12 at the Ansonia Theatre in downtown Wadesboro, NC. For many students,
it was the first time they attended a production in the restored
historic theater.
The performance featured actual veterans' letters and popular music from
the World War II era. Serena Ebhardt and David zum Brunnen of EbzB
Productions created the play from oral histories and collected letters.
After the performance, students had an opportunity to ask questions
about the production and the time period.
Artists from EbzB Productions will conduct an Arts-In-Education
residency at Anson New Tech High School this semester. Students will
create their own production based on oral histories from Anson County
residents. The Anson County Arts Council, who is sponsoring the
residency, is promoting the Ansonia Theatre as a centerpiece for the
topic of the students' production.