McCoy Theatre Rhodes College.

presents

God's Country by Steven Dietz

MUSEUM by Tina Howe

The Sixth Annual Benefit Concert cc . Oh Coward!"

Season 11 McCoy Theatre Staff

Artistic Director TONY LEE GARNER Design Program/Technical Director STEVEN T. JONES Acting Program Director JULIA EWING Front Office Program Director MARGO RAIFORD Box Office Assistants KRISTINA KLOSS DEBORAH NELSON BRET ORSLAND ANNE SCHILLING

McCoy Company

SHANE BEESON SETH HERZOG KRISTI BOLTON KRISTINA KLOSS LOUISE CASINI AMY MATHENY CATHERINE ECKMAN JASON POTTER DINA FACKLIS MARTIN RUSSELL VICKIE HARDY ANNE SCHILLING ERIC UNDERDAHL

McCoy Company Management

Publicity Manager VICKIE HARDY McCoy Newsletter Editor VICKIE HARDY Literary Manager JASON POTTER Costume Manager LOUISE CASINI Front of House Manager SHANE BEESON Shop Managers JASON PPOTTER MARTIN RUSSELL

and a special thank you to The Comedy Zone in Overton Square for sponsoring our Season 11 tickets McCoy Theatre Rhodes College

presents God's Country by Steven Dietz

Directed by FRANK BRADLEY Assistant Director KEVIN COLLIER Technical Director STEVEN T. JONES Set Designer STEVEN T. JONES Lighting Designer KRISTINA KLOSS Costumes LOUISE CASINI DANA PETERSON Stage Manager MARTIN RUSSELL Assistant Stage Manager REBECCA MOORE

God's Country is presented through special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc. God's Country Cast

Shane Beeson Farmer, Thomas Robb, Peter Lake, Smith, Thomas Martinez, Bruce Pierce, Attorney Chappel Chip Campbell Rick Elliot, , Randall Rader, Attorney Ward, Attorney Robinson, Gary Lee Yarbrough, Dr. Ogura Rita Cooper Voice of the Court Dina Facklis Attorney Mueller, Farmer's Wife, Woman in Graveyard Vickie Hardy Student, Zillah Craig, Anath White, Ms. Wiggins, Woman in Graveyard Jimmy Myatt Robert Jay Mathews, Skinhead Tim Olcott Attorney Halprin, Candidate, Greg Withrow, Patrick Connor, Officer Phelan Jason Potter Col. Bud Farrell, Pastor Richard Butler, Attorney Phillips, Attorney Savage, Father, Detective Kerber, David Lane Anne Schilling Judith Berg, Attorney Leatherman, Woman in Graveyard Gary Simmons Boy Cliff Spencer Denver Parmenter, Candidate Eric Underdahl Alan Berg, Jones, Attorney Ruark

The play takes place in a Seattle courtroom, a Denver radio station, and numerous other locations across the United States between 1983 and the present.

There will be one 15 minute intermission Who's Who (*denotes a member of the McCoy Company)

Shane Beeson* (Ensemble), a senior English major from Dallas, TX, has been seen in the McCoy's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Cymbeline, Six Characters in Search of an Author, and most recently in The School for Scandal. Frank Bradley (director) teaches Theatre Studies and Acting at Rhodes. At the McCoy he has directed Blue Window and What the Butler Saw (in which he also appeared as Dr. Prentice). He is co-founder of the Institute for the Healing of in Memphis. Chip Campbell (Ensemble), a sophomore history major is making his debut on the McCoy stage. He has been in West Side Story and You Can't Take It with You in his hometown of Hilton Head, SC. Chip is a member of the Honor Council and Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. Louise Casini* (co-costumer) is a junior theatre major from Memphis. She has appeared in Candide and Merrily We Roll Along as well as A Midsummer Night's Dream. Louise is also a member of the Rhodes College Singers. Kevin Collie. (assistant director) is a Rhodes graduate. His McCoy experience included roles in Anyone Can whistle, Artist Descending a Staircase, and A Midsummer Night's Dream which he also helped direct. Most recently Kevin served as assistant to Ellis Rabb, director of The School for Scandal. Rita Cooper (Ensemble), a sophomore from Memphis, is making her debut at the McCoy. She is a member of the N.A.A.C.P. and was a National ACTSO winner. Dina Facklis* (Ensemble) is a junior theatre major from Birmingham, AL. She has been seen in Six Characters in Search of an Author, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The School for Scandal. Dina is also a member of the Rhodes Student Assembly, Kappa Delta Sorority and Mortar Board. Vickie Hardy* (Ensemble), a junior English literature major from Bartlett is appearing in her first main stage production at the McCoy. She was seen last year in the McCoy Company production of The Actor's Nightmare.

Kristina Kloss*(lighting designer) is a senior theatre major from Prescott, AZ, and for the past two years has stage managed every mainstage play at the McCoy that she did not light. Her lighting designs include What the Butler Saw and Six Characters in Search of an Author for which she won a Memphis Theatre Award. Rebecca Moore (assistant stage manager), a freshman English major has performed in various productions in Blytheville, AR - the most recent being Bye- Bye Birdie at the Ritz Community Theatre. Jimmy Myatt would like to dedicate this performance to the wonderful memory of Scott Maitland. Tim Olcott (Ensemble) is a junior political science major/theatre minor. His most recent performance was in Six Characters in Search of an Author. He has been active behind the scenes in Merrily We Roll Along and The School for Scandal. Tim is also a member of Campus Green and the Chess Club.

Dana Peterson (co-costumer),.a senior chemistry major from Huntsville, AL, has performed in the McCoy's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Blue Window and Six Characters in Search of an Author. Dana is currently appearing in Playhouse on the Square's The Heidi Cronicles.

Jason Potter* (Ensemble) is a junior from Hixson, TN, majoring in theatre. He has appeared in Candide, Merrily We Roll Along and Six Characters in Search of an Author and has been active in alI of the backstage work that goes into each production.

Martin Russell * (stage manager), a senior biology major from Midland, TX, has been seen in Cymbeline, A Midsummer Night's Dream and staged managed Antigone. Martin is also an active member of the Society for Creative Anachronism.

Anne Schilling* (Ensemble) is a junior from Knoxville majoring in religion and theatre. She has been in several productions at the McCoy including A Midsummer Night's Dream, Six Characters in Search of an Author and most recently The School for Scandal.

Gary Simmons (Ensemble), a student at White Station High School, is a member of the National Thespians Society. He has appeared in productions at the Memphis Children's Theatre and Germantown Children's Theatre.

Cliff Spencer (Ensemble) is a sophomore English major from Birmingham, AL. and has appeared in What the Butler Saw and The School for Scandal at the McCoy.

Eric Underdahl * (Ensemble), a junior majoring in English and theatre is from New Orleans. At the McCoy he has had roles in Antigone, Cymbeline, Six Characters in Search of an Author and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Eric also designed the lighting for the Studio Production of The Actor's Nightmare.

Original music composed and performed by Craig Nadel Running Crew Charlotte Higginbotham, Rebecca Moore, Al l i Robbins, Wendy Walters, Gretchen Crowe Research Assistance Anne Schilling Sound Recording Jimmy Myatt Poster Design Kevin Collier Production Notes A Theatre of Hate: "For my entire adult life, I had been a racist. I don't mean I was one of those people who make little anti-Semitic jokes or complain when a black family moves into the neighborhood. I was the genuine article. I had belonged to the . I had belonged to the National Alliance, an American version of the German Nazi party. I had friends in the , which is exactly what it sounds like. Some of the people I knew in the racist movement were tough street kids from big cities like me, others were good old boys from little towns in the South, but some were doctors, lawyers, executives, or college professors. "Whatever our differences in background, each of us, I had found, had an attribute in common. We felt the presence of a force in our lives more powerful than we. The force exploited us. It sought to do us harm. It blocked our way to success and happiness. When, in our search for a means to combat this evil power, we turned to organized racism, we learned that, far from being inferior to the force, we were under attack by it precisely because we were superior. Our superiority sprang from the fact that we were white. Only as part of an Aryan whole, we discovered, could we defeat the force; individually, we were nothing. "Few people enter the racist world with the expectation that they will be led to commit crimes. Many never do. Nevertheless, as the wine of superiority is imbibed, the inferior self that is doing`the drinking can take a drunkard's step, then a second (perhaps not yet an illegal one), then a third, a fourth, and then on and on, easy step after easy step until, as happened to me, that self is backed into a corner, frightened and desperate, crying out: But I didn't mean for this to happen." -Former Order Member Thomas Martinez Brotherhood of Murder Most of the words spoken in God's Country are taken from court transcripts, radio broadcasts, letters, and eyewitness accounts of the events which the play describes.

Acknowledgements Arkansas Repertory Theatre Dr. Thomas McGowan Laurie Brown Rachel Shankman Facing History Army Surplus Outlet, Inc. Dr. Stephen Haynes Laura Miller Lynn Dunavant Karen Conway Shelby County Correction Center- Beth Sholom Synagogue Dr. Doug Hatfield Memphis Tatoo MSU Department of Theatre & Communication Arts Lynne Blair