Seventh General Session
Friday, June 20 Honors Institute Reader’s Theatre
Continental Divide by Oliver Hailey
Directed by Laura Taggett
Performers:
Michelle Brown as Lucille
Ken Kerr as Mr. John
Larry Polk as Cullum
Laura Taggett as Mae
| Michelle Brown is an Associate Professor of English at Lone Star College-CyFair in Houston, Texas. She has co-sponsored the Creative Writing club, Inkpot, and co-chaired a popular Poetry Slam for the past four years. Brown received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Sam Houston State University and is ABD (all but dissertation) in both Poetry and Poetics and Modern Literature at Oklahoma State University. She has performed roles with the Cy-Fair Reader’s Theatre in “Nuts,” “The Laramie Project,” and “The Vagina Monologues.” |  |
| Ken Kerr is a Professor of English at Frederick Community College in Frederick, Maryland, where he is a frequent performer with the Maryland Ensemble Theater. These days, however, he is usually found in the orchestra pit. He is a freelance musician who has performed in over 80 theatrical productions. Kerr has a bachelor’s degree in Music from Hood College, a master’s degree in Writing from Towson University, and a doctorate in Leadership from Morgan State University. He is the advisor of Alpha Delta Sigma chapter, a 2008 Faculty Scholar, and the recipient of the Society’s Parnell Scholarship. |  |
| Larry Polk is a Professor of Human Development and Speech Communications at Richland College in Dallas, Texas, where he has taught for more than 35 years. He was a charter faculty member at Richland College and founded the Phi Theta Kappa chapter on campus. He is a graduate of Texas A & M University - Commerce and is a certified instructor of the Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Program. Polk is a former Chapter Advisor Representative on the Phi Theta Kappa Board of Directors. He was elected by fellow advisors to the office of Secretary of the Association of Chapter Advisors (ACA) for 2008-2009, and will advance to the offices of Vice Chair and Chair over the next several years. He has served as a facilitator for the International Advisor Education Conference and the Chapter Officer Leadership Academy, and has lectured at the International Honors Institute. Polk has frequently performed in Reader’s Theatre productions. |  |
| Laura Taggett is a Professor of English at LoneStar College-Cy-Fair where she also founded the Cy-Fair Reader’s Theatre. Prior to teaching at LSC-Cy-Fair, she taught at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls, Iowa, where she got involved with Phi Theta Kappa and brought the chapter out of hibernation. She is very pleased to see it thrive today. She received her master’s in English from Iowa State, her bachelor’s from Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan, and her associate’s degree from Delta College in Michigan, where she was also a member of Phi Theta Kappa. Taggett has performed such works as W;t, The Laramie Project, and The Foreigner for the Cy-Fair Reader’s Theatre. |  |
In Continental Divide, Lucille and Cullum have arranged for Mr. John and Mae to come to New York City from Arkansas before the wedding of their children. It becomes clear early on that the two couples couldn’t have less in common and that what separates them, the continental divide, more than anything else is money, having it and not. The paradox of affluence is best shown in how each of the couples approaches their everyday lives and how they leave. While their views don’t change - the poor want or resent what the rich have, the rich feel guilty for having it - it becomes clear to the audience that having money has very little to do with being happy. Misery has no dollar amount attached to it.
Continental Divide is also an excellent example of both the relative simplicity of Reader’s Theatre and its complexities, working with a lack of set and props and blocking while still maintaining the integrity of the text in performance.
