Forbidden Passage

Special Thanks and Sponsors

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE PERFORMERS WHO BLESSED EACH EVENING WITH AN INVOCATION IN THE LANGUAGE OF THEIR ART.

James D. Crutchfield.
Jim Crutchfield has lived in Virginia all his life and in Norfolk since 1987. He holds a B.A. in English from the university of Rochester and a J.D. from the School of Law at Washington and Lee University. In addition to the practice of law, Crutchfield performs regularly with the popular folk-singing group Dramtreeo, and irregularly with Things in Action, a rock music duo. He also writes an opinion column for the Norfolk Weekly Register, and is working halfheartedly on two novels.

Stefanie Bates Eye
Stefanie Bates Eye is currently a graduate student and teaching assistant at Old Dominion University where she is working toward an M.A. in English literature. The paper she presents is part of extensive and ongoing research she has been conducting for her thesis, which will examine the emergence of literary nonfiction as a genre and its impact on the ways in which we view literature. She expects to graduate in May 1997, and plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Literature.

Agnes Fuller
Agnes Fuller is a frequent soloist in the Hampton Roads area. She has been a featured soloist with the Virginia Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, Virginia Beach Symphony, Virginia Opera, Cantata Chorus, and the Continental Army Band. Fuller is a full-time member of the voice faculty at Old Dominion University and soprano soloist at both First Presbyterian Church and Ohel Shalom Temple in Norfolk.

Pam Good and Anne Morton
Originally conceived and performed by actress/comediennes Kathy Najimy and Mo Gaffny, "Parallel Lives: The Kathy and Mo Show" is a hysterically funny look at life, love and relationships as seen through the eyes of the thirty-plus characters (of both genders) played by two actresses. This production, originally staged at Virginia Beach's Actors' Theatre, stars the multi-talented Pam Good and Anne Morton, back-to-back winners respectively of Portfolio Magazine's 1995 and 1996 Best Actress in a Musical award.

Mark Hiebert
Currently in Old Dominion University's Graduate Creative Writing Program, Mark H. W. Hiebert is, among other things, attempting to create a machine which will free all living things from all burdens. When not working on this project, Mark is writing poetry. His poems have appeared in Mikrokosmos, Double-Entendre, The Pocket Rocket, and other places. He has a poem forthcoming in American Literary Review.

Tariq Jawhar
Tariq Jawhar is currently an M.A. student at Old Dominion University. He was raised in the occupied West Bank where he developed an interest for poetry and verse. He came to Old Dominion in August of 1992 where he received a B.A. in English with an emphasis in creative writing and literature.

Los de Abajo
Los de Abajo is a poetry performance band that features the guitar of Tomas Lopez, the percussion of Jacob Lovato, the guitar of Bobby Gonzales, and the poetry of Anthony R. Vigil: All members are in their mid-twenties and were born and raised in Denver, Colorado. In addition to performing at poetry festivals and conferences, they perform for marginalized and enraged youth in the barrios and ghettos of Aztlan. Through their music and poetry, Los de Abajo seeks to inspire revolutionary and liberatory consciousness, whose inevitable consequence is the humanization of all people.

Michael Pearson
Michael Pearson is an associate professor of English at Old Dominion University, where he has taught journalism, American literature, and creative nonfiction since 1988. He has published essays and stories in many magazines, journals, and newspapers including The New York Times, The Baltimore Sun, and The Boston Globe. His first book, Imagined Places: Journeys Into Literary America, published in 1991, was listed by The New York Times Book Review as one of the notable books of the year. His second work of nonfiction, A Place That's Known: Essays, was published in the spring of 1994. His biographical-critical study of John McPhee will be published by Simon and Schuster Macmillan as part of the Twayne U.S. Authors Series in January 1997. He has recently completed a memoir about growing up in the Bronx in the 1960s, Rest in Peace, and is presently working on a novel.

Kimberly Pifer
Kim Pifer is a graduate teaching assistant at Old Dominion University where she is currently pursuing an M.A. in Professional Writing. Her interests include film, rhetoric and minority women writers.

Tim Seibles
Tim Seibles is the author of three books of poetry: Body Moves, Hurdy-Gurdy, and Kerosene. He is also the author of the essay ''A Quilt in Shades of Black" which appeared in A Profile of Twentieth-century American Poetry. He has won several awards and fellowships, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Writing in 1990. He is an assistant professor at Old Dominion University where he teaches creative writing.

OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY DANCE ENSEMBLE
Melody Ruffin Ward
Melody Ruffin Ward, currently adjunct Assistant Professor of Dance at Old Dominion University, is a graduate of Spelman College and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her training includes all forms of dance with extensive work in the Cunningham and Limon techniques. She danced with the Maida Withers Dance Construction Co. and has toured throughout the South and the East Coast. From 1989-1990, Ward was visiting instructor at SUNY Potsdam in New York, teaching modern dance and choreography, and most recently, she was visiting artist at Illinois Wesleyan University. She has collaborated with both her university students in the University Dance Program and outside performers in the area: This year, Xiachong Swain and Anna Gerrad, join Ward for "Forbidden Passage."

Xiachong Swain
Xiachong Swain is currently a student of dance at Old Dominion University with a background in sociology and journalism. She has begun creating her own dance, and also works in the field of athletic training.

Anna Gerrad
Anna Gerrad is a performer who uses her hands and voice to reach many. She is a teacher of Hatha Yoga, practitioner of Yoga therapy and a shiatsu massage therapist. Gerrad has worked and lived in the area for the last 10 years.

OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY THEATRE
The Old Dominion University Theatre will be performing Angels in America at the Technology Theatre.