Lipscomb Department of Theatre Is Recruiting by Rebecca Pierce | photography by Scott Ellis
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ocal high school performers will get a taste of the red carpet in spring 2014 as Lipscomb University holds its first Nashville High School Musical Theater Awards, hosted by Chuck Wagner, a Middle Tennessee native and Broadway star of Beauty and the Beast and Into the Woods. Lipscomb’s Department of Theatre is currently recruiting Middle Tennessee high schools to participate in the program, which will kick off in November with a Les Miserables talk-back, held exclusively for participating high school students.
Lwala girls huddle over a lesson.
Daughters of Lwala by Rebecca Pierce
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n Lwala, Kenya, educating girls means advancing the life of the whole community. The positive effects include higher wages, better farm productivity, and family nutrition, marrying later in life, smaller family size, lower infant and maternal mortality rates, higher rates of school enrollment for future children, and a reduction of HIV rates. Harpeth Hall understands the power of an educated girl. Alumnae from the school have become neonatal surgeons, singers, authors, scientists, Olympic swimmers, and teachers. Katherine Falk, Development and Communications Coordinator for the Lwala Community Alliance and a graduate of Harpeth Hall, saw the shared focus on girls' education as an excellent opportunity for Lwala to partner with her alma mater. In 2011, Harpeth Hall and the Lwala Community Alliance began a formal partnership centered on Lwala’s girls' education programs. After a group of Harpeth Hall seniors and Head of the School Ann Teaff traveled to Lwala for their Winterim program this February, Harpeth Hall made a formal commitment to fund the Girls’ Uniform Initiative for the next three years, which will provide uniforms to 1,100 girls in the community as incentives to stay in school.
Lipscomb’s goal is to have ten schools from the Greater Nashville area participate, which will involve 300 to 500 students. From November to March, evaluators Lipscomb Academy's spring 2013 production including Lipscomb Theatre faculty, a of The Sound of Music Lipscomb directing student, and local theater professionals, will attend performances at participating schools and write evaluations. These evaluations will be used to determine the first set of awards in 2014. The Lipscomb Department of Theatre will award a $1,000 scholarship to attend Lipscomb to two outstanding students. Lipscomb officials hope to eventually tie the Nashville High School Musical Theater Awards into the National High School Musical Theater Awards, or the Jimmy Awards. For more information or to become involved in the Nashville High School Musical Theater Awards contact Deb Holloway at deb.holloway@lipscomb.edu.
Learn more about the inspirational work of the Lwala Community Alliance and these remarkable girls by viewing Daughters of Lwala, a photography exhibit presented by the Marnie Sheridan Gallery at Harpeth Hall. The show opens with a reception on Sunday, September 8, from 3 to 5 p.m. and continues through October 25. The Harpeth Hall School is located at 3801 Hobbs Road. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.harpethhall.org.
Lwala girl is measured for a new uniform.
Lipscomb Academy's spring 2013 production of The Sound of Music NashvilleArts.com
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