Writers Voice » dramatic reading http://www.writersvoice.net A national radio show and podcast featuring author interviews, readings, and reviews. Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:40:39 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 A radio book show and podcast featuring interviews with authors, poets, playwrights and more Francesca Rheannon clean Francesca Rheannon rheannon05@gmail.com rheannon05@gmail.com (Francesca Rheannon) 2006-2010 A national radio show and podcast featuring author interviews, readings, and reviews. interview, author, editors, publishing, book, literature, tips, fiction,poetry, nonfiction Writers Voice » dramatic reading http://www.writersvoice.net/wp-content/images/writersvoiceweb-rss.jpg http://www.writersvoice.net What Do We Learn About History From Novels? http://www.writersvoice.net/2009/11/what-do-we-learn-about-history-from-novels/ http://www.writersvoice.net/2009/11/what-do-we-learn-about-history-from-novels/#comments Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:27:52 +0000 Francesca Rheannon http://www.writersvoice.net/?p=2137 Thad Carhart

Thad Carhart

We hear excerpts from a dramatic reading of Ernest J. Gaines’ novel, A LESSON BEFORE DYING by Enchanted Circle Theater actors. It’s about a young black man in Jim Crow Louisiana who is condemned to death. And we interview Thad Carhart about his new historical novel, ACROSS THE ENDLESS RIVER. It’s about Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, the son of Sacagawea who was a guide on the Lewis and Clark expedition and who lived both in the United States and Europe.

A Dramatic Reading

One in seven people sentenced to die are later proven innocent, according to studies cited by the ACLU. This terrible injustice is one of the themes of Ernest J. Gaines powerful novel, . Another is the dignity of all human beings, no matter what their situation is. Gaines, who is probably best known as the author of DRIVING MISS DAISY, explores these themes through the story of Jefferson, a young black man who is sentenced to death for his role in a botched robbery, even though he is not the killer. The action takes place in rural Louisiana during the 1950’s, when Jim Crow was still alive and well.

Published in 1997–and an Oprah favorite–”A Lesson Before Dying” was chosen as this year’s selection for One Book Holyoke, a community project based on the idea of the Big Read, a program by the National Endowment for the Arts to encourage reading. When I interviewed the founder of the Big Read, Dana Gioia, back in 2005, he asked me why there were no Big Read programs in Massachusetts. There are some now, and One Book Holyoke has gotten support from the Big Read. The idea is simple, Holyoke residents read a selected book during a set period of time. They then get together for a variety of activities planned around the book.

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One activity was a dramatic reading by the Holyoke based company, Enchanted Circle Theater. They compressed the action of the book into a dramatic script of about an hour and a half. Writers Voice went to a reading at Holyoke City Hall for an audience of local high school students.

You can listen to the entire reading on the Web Extra, but we air excerpts on the show.

The actors are Gilbert McCauley as Jefferson, James Lightfoot as Grant Wiggins, L’Kuicha Parks as Jefferson’s godmother Miss Emma, and James Emery in the roles of the book’s white characters, the defense lawyer and Mr. Henri Pichot.

You can get the Oprah Book Club edition of the audio book on Audible.com

The son of Sacagawea

Thad Carhart’s first book was the memoir, , in which he chronicled finding a piano shop tucked away on a little street that helped him rediscover his love of playing the piano. An American citizen with an Irish passport who lives in Paris, Carhart is an expatriate like the protagonist of his new book, . It’s an historical novel about the fascinating life of Jean Baptiste Charbonneau.

“you had this extraordinary story of survival and determination and…by anybody’s lights and in anybody’s culture that’s a remarkable life’s beginning.”

Charbonneau was the son of the Indian Sacagawea and a French Canadian voyageur. He was born while his parents were accompanying the explorers Lewis and Clark on their famous expedition of 1804 to 1806, was adopted by William Clark after his mother died, and lived for years in Europe as the assistant of Duke Friedrich Paul Wilhelm von Württemberg before returning to his native land.

Read an Excerpt from ACROSS THE ENDLESS RIVER

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]]> http://www.writersvoice.net/2009/11/what-do-we-learn-about-history-from-novels/feed/ 1 dramatic reading,Enchanted Circle Theater,history,novel,Thad Carhart We hear excerpts from a dramatic reading of Ernest J. Gaines’ novel, A LESSON BEFORE DYING by Enchanted Circle Theater actors. It’s about a young black man in Jim Crow Louisiana who is condemned to death. We hear excerpts from a dramatic reading of Ernest J. Gaines’ novel, A LESSON BEFORE DYING by Enchanted Circle Theater actors. It’s about a young black man in Jim Crow Louisiana who is condemned to death. And we interview Thad Carhart about his new historical novel, ACROSS THE ENDLESS RIVER. It’s about Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, the son of Sacagawea who was a guide on the Lewis and Clark expedition and who lived both in the United States and Europe. Francesca Rheannon clean 59:00 Web Extra: A Dramatic Reading By Enchanted Circle Theater http://www.writersvoice.net/2009/11/web-extra-a-dramatic-reading-by-enchanted-circle-theater/ http://www.writersvoice.net/2009/11/web-extra-a-dramatic-reading-by-enchanted-circle-theater/#comments Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:25:55 +0000 Francesca Rheannon http://www.writersvoice.net/?p=2146 Published in 1997–and an Oprah favorite– was chosen as this year’s selection for One Book Holyoke, a community project based on the idea of the Big Read, a program by the National Endowment for the Arts to encourage reading.

One activity was a dramatic reading by the Holyoke based company, Enchanted Circle Theater. They compressed the action of the book into a dramatic script of about an hour and a half. Writers Voice went to a reading at Holyoke City Hall for an audience of local high school students. You can listen to the entire reading here, but we air excerpts on the show.

Listen to the full show here.

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]]> http://www.writersvoice.net/2009/11/web-extra-a-dramatic-reading-by-enchanted-circle-theater/feed/ 0 author reading,dramatic reading,Enchanted Circle Theater A LESSON BEFORE DYING dramatic reading by the Holyoke based company, Enchanted Circle Theater. They compressed the action of the book into a dramatic script of about an hour and a half. You can listen to the entire reading here, A LESSON BEFORE DYING dramatic reading by the Holyoke based company, Enchanted Circle Theater. They compressed the action of the book into a dramatic script of about an hour and a half. You can listen to the entire reading here, but we air excerpts on the show. Francesca Rheannon clean 1:27:20