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The Story of Us
April 16, 2023 @ 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
The Process Series
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Joseph Megel | 919-843-5666 | uncprocessseries@gmail.com
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—March 23, 2023
The UNC Process Series and the Carolina Pride Alum Network (CPAN), in partnership with the Southern Oral History Program, Wilson Library, and the Department of Communication, in association with StreetSigns Center for Literature and Performance present:
The Story of Us
Oral Histories of LGBTQIA+ Alumni, Directed by Joseph Megel
Saturday, April 15, at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, April 16, at 2:00 p.m. at the FedEx Global Education Center on the UNC Campus
A performance woven from an overwhelming wealth of oral histories of LGBTQIA+ alumni, brought to life by a distinguished cast, The Story of Us is a tapestry of first person accounts from 27 of the oral histories continuously being added to The Story of Us project.
Elisabeth Lewis Corley, who assembled the script for the performance, asks, “How can you do justice to so many remarkable stories—there were 43 when I started—when each one could be a one-person show all on its own? And the stories keep coming. This is only a small sampling of the wealth that is this archive, and it cannot be representative. But it is full-throated and heartfelt. I fell in love with all of them.”
Director and Artistic Director Joseph Megel adds, “It is an honor to explore these stories through performance and to allow these important voices to light up the stage. With this rich collection of oral histories, we could continue to make new and compelling performance work indefinitely. And it is an incredible opportunity to do this work with this distinguished cast. It isn’t often a director gets to work with large casts, and we are deeply grateful for the generosity of the amazing artists who have agreed to be a part of this exploration.”
Hogan Medlin (Iormer Vtudent Eody president) is a Durham resident and current president of CPAN. “I am excited for the launch of The Story of Us because it represents our legacy,” says Medlin. “LGBTQIA+ people have been a part of the fabric of this university for decades, if not centuries. Now is the time to recognize those experiences and honor that history.”
The UNC alumni whose stories are touched upon in this work include: E. Patrick Johnson, Janora McDuffie, Cecil Wooten, Tony Kearney, Sara Isaacson, Henry Clayton Jackson, Terri Phoenix, Larry Alford, Ken Sherrill, Robert Reid-Pharr, Jeremy Crouthamel, Cedric Brown, Elliott Kozuch, Mark Kleinschmidt, Dick Allen, Katie Hultquist, Joseph Herzenberg, Tom Carr, Amanda Maris, Maia Bar Am, P. Allen Gray Jr., Emmy Johnson, Michael Lau, Will Thomason, Blake Huffman, Christina Fisher and Sherri Zann Rosenthal.
A handful of these distinguished alums have also agreed to join the star-studded, 1- member company bringing these stories to life. The cast includes: David Adamson*, Vivienne Benesch*, Cedric Brown, Andrew Carlberg, Thurston Cherry*, Chris Chiron, Elisabeth Lewis Corley*, Steven Dobbins, E. Patrick Johnson, Thomas King (TeKay), Philip McAdoo,* Janora McDuffie*, Naveed Moeed, Sam Peterson, Eric Rosen*, David Terry, Max Von Essen*, Donna Wood aQG Leah Ai Ling Woehr.
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
Music interludes spun by DJ V S P R T N.
About CPAN
Carolina Pride Alum Network (CPAN) is an alumni affinity group WKaW seeks to foster community among LGBTQIA+ alumni, faculty, staff, and students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Our purpose is to engage the LGBTQIA+ constituency to increase involvement and drive progress for our community at Carolina. We are deeply committed to amplifying the voices of LGBTQIA+ experiences, and we have a unique opportunity now to tell our story and document our legacy at Carolina. Proudly, CPAN is supporting The Story of Us, a ground-breaking collaboration with Wilson Library, the Southern Oral History Program, and the Department of Communication and committed to preserving—and sharing—our voices. The project will include a permanent collection in Wilson Library, giving a broader and richer understanding of our history, not only to the LGBTQIA+ community but to the Carolina community as a whole.
About the Process Series
Dedicated to the development of new and significant works in the performing arts, The Process Series features professionally mounted, developmental presentations of new works in progress. The mission of the series is to illuminate the ways in which artistic ideas take form, to examine the creative process, to offer audiences the opportunity to follow artists and performers as they explore and discover, and by so doing to enrich the development process for artists with the ultimate goal of better art and a closer relationship between artists and audiences. Immediately following each performance, we ask our audiences to join in the creative process, providing feedback critical to the development of the work as it moves forward. All performances are free and open to the public. Now in its 15th season, the Process Series has supported over 60 artist residencies since its inception, with many projects going on to significant future lives nationally and internationally. In this Reckoning and Reconciliation season, we are paying close attention to the artists who help us chart a course through a divided world facing intractable global difficulties.
Donors to The Story of Us Project
Larry Alford, Ariyah Aprils and Chanel Chambers, Terry Bowman, Larry Brady, Rei Caravellas, Russell Clarke, Josh Clinard, Donald Cooley, Ashley Davidson and Emily Roberts, Carrie Dobbins, Edwin Farthing, Justin Flexen, Howard Fradkin, Stanley Gaddy, Ellen Gerber, Jeremy Glover, Shawne Grabs, Chip Graves, Glenn Grossman, .Hrn +airVtRn, John Hammond, Connie Hiatt, David Howell, Tony Kearney, Janora McDuffie-Ryan, Phillip Parkerson, Kent Parks, Kedrick Perry, David Robie, Jerry Salak, Billy and Meagan Scott, Ken Smith, Scott Taylor, Laurie and John Thomas, Mackenzie Thomas, Rebecca Tillet, Jesse White, Bert Woodward and Justin Young
Sponsors
For The Process Series’ 15th season, Reckoning and Reconciliation, we are based in the Department of Communication and producing in partnership with StreetSigns Center for Literature and Performance. The season is co-sponsored by The College of Arts and Sciences, Institute for the Arts and Humanities, Arts Everywhere, Carolina Latinx Center, The Asian American Center, Carolina Pride Alum Network (CPAN), and these UNC Departments: African, African American, and Giaspora studies; American studies; art and art Kistory; Fommunication; Gramatic art; English and Fomparative Oiterature; German and Slavic Oanguages; and Pusic. This project was supported by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural & Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Chatham Arts Council and the Manbites Dog Theater Fund.
More details: https://www.processseries.unc.edu/storyofus
