BUIES CREEK – The Paul Green Foundation will host a festival to highlight the life and achievements of Harnett County’s own Paul Green on the campus of Campbell University and in the neighboring towns on April 20-21.
Festival-goers can learn about the local playwright and the things he believed in and fought for tirelessly. As Green once said, “The greatest sin society can commit is to cause a man to miss his own life.”
Green grew up in Harnett County deeply convicted, he once said, by the immoralities of racial discrimination, military conflict and capital punishment. He often wrote of these things in his novels and dramas and began a new form of theater called the “symphonic drama.” Theater companies usually present these dramas on the sites depicted in the action; such is the case in one of Green’s most famous plays, “The Lost Colony.”
On Friday night of the festival, there will be a celebration of the music that Green enjoyed at the Old Lillington High School (900 11th St. in Lillington) at 5:30 p.m. Dinner will be catered by Howard’s Barbeque. Dinner tickets are $10 and can be purchased at http://www.paulgreen.org. Attendance, otherwise, is free.
On Saturday, events will include:
10 a.m. Academic Symposium: Scholars from UNC-Chapel Hill, East Carolina University and the University of California-Davis will present their research on Paul Green and his impact in Room 204 of Kivett Hall.
All afternoon: Family activities onn the Campbell Campus will include skits, a children’s choir, Scottish pipes and drums, The Lost Colony Costumes “on parade” and an ice cream social.
2 p.m. The House of Connelly: Live scenes from the play in Turner Auditorium in D. Rich Hall and film clips from the movie “Carolina,” based on the play.
Around Harnett County: Softball games will be played in honor of Green’s love for baseball.
5:30 p.m.: Dinner inn the Marshbanks Cafeteria Alumni Dining Room at Campbell University; meet and greet Green’s family and a performance of scenes from his novel This Body the Earth. Tickets available at www.paulgreen.org.
7 p.m.: The Elephant Man presented by the Campbell University Department of Theatre Arts in Ellis Theatre. Cost is $7 adults; $3 students, faculty and senior citizens. For additional ticketing information, contact Debbie Dye at [email protected]/* */
The Paul Green Foundation, established in 1982, perpetuates the vision of playwright and activist Paul Green, whose commitment to the arts and human rights continues today through the mission of the Foundation. In 2007 the Paul Green Foundation established two funds at the Triangle Community Foundation and now gives the majority of its grants through these funds.