September 12, 2005

Readings at Troy campuses to benefit Katrina victims

TROY—A play written about a hurricane that hit New Orleans 40 years ago and the lives it affected will help raise funds for those driven from their homes by Hurricane Katrina.

Readings of the play “An Evening with Betsy, Voices from the Storm,” will be held at three Troy University campuses. Donations will be collected at the door and the proceeds will benefit area evacuees, according to Dr. Maryjo Cochran, dean of the College of Communication and Fine Arts. Troy University theater students and faculty will perform the readings.

The schedule for the readings is:

* Sunday, Sept. 25, 3 p.m. at the Rosa Parks Museum Theatre on the Montgomery Campus;
* Monday, Sept. 26, 7 p.m. at the Claudia Crosby Theater on the Troy Campus; and
* Tuesday, Sept. 27, 7 p.m. at Sony Hall on the Dothan Campus.

The playwright, Barry Lemoine, is a Katrina evacuee who has settled in Troy. An Evening with Betsy, Voices From the Storm, was nominated as best original play in 2001 by the Big Easy Award committee. This multi-media production tells first-hand accounts of those that survived Hurricane Betsy, the infamous storm that devastated the New Orleans area 40 years ago.

For 15 years, Lemoine taught English, journalism and theater arts in New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish. He now serves as the writer and producer for PEN-TV, the educational television network for St. Bernard Public School System.

“We are greatly indebted to Barry Lemoine for sharing his talent with us to help those whose lives were changed by Katrina,” Dr. Cochran said. “At a time when he could focus only on returning his life to normal, Barry is helping others get their lives back to normal.”

Contact: Tom Davis or Clif Lusk @ 334-670-3196.