In 1955, Emma “Grandma” Gatewood, a 67-year-old Ohio woman in Keds, carrying her things in a homemade sack, walked the entire Appalachian Trail. She hiked nearly 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine. She was the first woman to complete a solo thru-hike and later did it again twice.
Her story is about grit, stubborn hope, and that deep Appalachian knowing that if you keep putting one foot in front of the other, you’ll get where you’re meant to go. Grandma Gatewood Took a Walk by Catherine Bush brings this true story to the stage. It offers a reminder that it’s never too late to start over, chase freedom, or answer the call of the trail. If these mountains mean something to you, come walk a while with Grandma Gatewood.
Performances February 20 and 21 at 7 p.m., February 22 at 2 p.m. An optional pre-show dinner is served on Saturday at 5:30 and Sunday at 12:30.
Directed by Emily Blankenship-Tucker, with visiting performer Becky Prophet as Grandma Gatewood and Rebecca Crocker performing thirteen supporting roles.
Produced with permission of the playwright.
The play has adult themes and is not intended for children. It is based on a true story, as told in the nonfiction book Grandma Gatewood’s Walk by Ben Montgomery (2014), and in Gatewood’s diaries and interviews.
www.ferrum.edu/theatre-tickets
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Ferrum College’s 103rd commencement speaker is Rev. Bruce Hitchcock, an advocate for inclusion within the United Methodist Church. He is pictured here with his wife, Melissa.
Advocate for inclusion, Rev. Bruce Hitchcock, believes all are welcome within the United Methodist church. He will address Ferrum College’s 103rd graduating class as commencement speaker on Saturday, May 11, 2019, at 10 a.m. in Hart International Plaza on the College’s campus. Over 200 seniors are expected to walk the commencement stage to receive their undergraduate degrees.
Hitchcock, who currently serves as Ohio Valley District superintendent, believes “a Christian [can be] a brother and a sister of someone who has a different thought. We have to discover God within, in other people, and all around us, and the more we do that, the more human, the more decent, the more compassionate we become.”
United Methodist Church Bishop Tracy Malone described Hitchcock as “a visionary leader, a strategic thinker, and one who brings many learnings and experiences from serving in a variety of ministry settings. He has a deep faith and has demonstrated throughout his ministry a strong commitment to discipleship, evangelism, and mission.”
President David Johns met Rev. Hitchcock during their college days and the two remained in contact throughout the years. “I am pleased Bruce Hitchcock will join us for this year’s commencement ceremony,” said Johns. “We both grew up in Ohio and I am eager to introduce him to Virginia’s Blue Ridge and to the fine people of Ferrum College.”
Read more about Rev. Bruce Hitchcock in this East Ohio Conference announcement and in this Herald-Star article.
More about Rev. Bruce Hitchcock: Hitchcock was ordained a deacon in 1987 and then an elder in 1989. While serving as pastor of Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church in Carroll County, Ohio, he obtained his bachelor’s degree from Malone College, and then his Masters of Divinity from United Theological Seminary while pastoring State Road United Methodist Church in Germantown, Ohio. Additionally, he has served other Methodist churches: East Rochester-Bayard UMC (1989-1993), East Sparta UMC (1993-1996), and Huron UMC (1996-2002). Hitchcock worked as executive director of Urban Mission for nine years before pastoring at Geneva UMC in the Western Reserve District from 2011 to 2018. Hitchcock currently resides in Ohio with his wife, Melissa. They have two sons and one daughter.
The fourth annual Moonshine Heritage Car Show will take place at Ferrum College on Saturday, April 27, from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. This unique car show will showcase vehicles that were actual transporters of moonshine or the type of vehicle that was used for the hauling of illegal spirits. Admission is free so bring the family for a day of fun!
There will be plenty of storytelling and bragging about the exploits and history of these special cars and trucks from the actual drivers. After the show, participants will cruise down to Twin Creeks Distillery in Rocky Mount for a moonshine tasting. Also visit the special moonshine souvenir tent with models of stills, mash sticks, and Virginia is for Moonshine Lovers hats, t-shirts, and bumper stickers.
Food will be available onsite from the legendary Bowling’s Hotdogs of Waidsboro.
This event is sponsored by the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum of Ferrum College with the assistance of the Outlaw Cruisers Car Club of Franklin County, VA.
For more information, call the Blue Ridge Institute at 540-365-4416 or email bri@ferrum.edu. To register a car for the car show, please complete a registration form here: https://ferrumcollege.wufoo.com/forms/m17zr5tu1d37fh6/.
To learn more about the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum, visit: http://www.ferrum.edu/blueridgeinstitute/.
Ferrum College Theatre Arts will present Beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart April 24 – 26, at 7 p.m., in the Black Box Theatre in Schoolfield Hall on campus. Entrance is free for Ferrum College students and faculty; $5 for non-Ferrum College students; and $10 for adults. Reserve tickets here. This production contains adult language and situations.
Set in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, three sisters, each with unique life circumstances including spinsterhood, a failed career, and the possibility of jail time, await their grandfather’s death in the local hospital. Through hilarious yet touching twists and turns, the sisters escape their pasts and make strides toward their futures. A New York Times review remarked: “While this play overflows with infectious high spirits, it is also, unmistakably, the tale of a very troubled family. Such is Miss Henley’s prodigious talent that she can serve us pain as though it were a piece of cake.”
The play, which won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, has been described by the New York Post as having “heart, wit, and a surprisingly zany passion that must carry all before it…it would certainly be a crime for anyone interested in the theatre not to see this play.”
Learn more about Ferrum College Theatre Arts here.
More about Beth Henley: Henley’s plays have been translated into over ten languages. Broadway productions include Crimes of the Heart and The Wake of Jamey Foster. Off-Broadway productions include: The Miss Firecracker Contest; Am I Blue; The Lucky Spot; The Debutante Ball; Abundance; Impossible Marriage; and Family Week. Her additional works have premiered at the McCarter Theatre and South Coast Repertory Theatre (Ridiculous Fraud); the Geffen Theatre (The Jacksonian, 2012); and Studio Theatre (Laugh, 2015). Awards include: the Pulitzer Prize in Drama and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play (Crimes of the Heart); American Theatre Wing 1998 Award for Distinguished Achievement in Playwriting and Susan Smith Blackburn Finalist (Crimes of the Heart and Ridiculous Fraud); Richard Wright Literary Excellence Award (2000); New York Stage and Film Honoree (2007); and ATHE Career Achievement Award (2010). Henley hails from Jackson, Mississippi; serves as a theatre arts presidential professor at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles; and is a member of The Fellowship of Southern Writers, the Dramatist Guild and the Academy of Arts and Science.
