JACKSON, Tenn. — March 29, 2017 — The Art, Faith, and Service festival presented by 51社区鈥檚 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.
鈥淲e 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,鈥� said David Burke, director of Union鈥檚 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, 鈥淭heater ministry re-examined: Thinking outside the box and then exploding the box.鈥�
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.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to be a theater major or somebody who鈥檚 an actor to benefit from this,鈥� Klonowski said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a whole different way to look at theater rather than just thinking about it in terms of entertainment.鈥�
Key is the original writer for the play 鈥淐otton-Patch Gospel.鈥� 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.
鈥淲e鈥檝e done 鈥楥otton-Patch Gospel鈥� three times at Union,鈥� Burke said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 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.鈥�
Key鈥檚 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鈥檚 number one theater.
Key鈥檚 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.
鈥淟ast time he was here for chapel, he quoted from the book of Revelation,鈥� Burke said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 very gifted, and my guess is that it鈥檒l be one of the best chapels we鈥檒l have all year.鈥�
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 鈥淭heater for Real Life.鈥� The morning session will be geared toward improvisational situations, expanding on Savidge鈥檚 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 .