Classes offer extra credit for Shakespeare Festival trip
By Sandy Watkins
[email protected]
Staff Writer
Georgia Highlands College's annual theater excursion to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery, Ala., will take place the weekend of April 17-18. Plays featured this year will include William Shakespeare's �Macbeth� and Robert Harling's �Steel Magnolias.�
The trip is open to Georgia Highlands College students, faculty, staff and their guests. One can register in the Office of Student Life on the Rome Campus or in the offices at any of the other campuses Feb. 2-24 until all spaces are full. A deposit of $40 is required upon registration.
Extra credit is offered for trip participation in all English classes and many other social and cultural division courses and may be offered in some other classes as well.
The trip fee is based on room occupancy at the hotel and is as follows per person: double occupancy- $76; triple occupancy- $65; quadruple occupancy- $60. Covered by the trip fee is transportation via tour bus, hotel accommodations at the Baymont Inn, theater tickets for both plays, a post-play �Meet the Actors� session, tickets for a guided backstage tour of ASF's multi-million dollar Carolyn Blount Theater Complex and a picnic boxed lunch on the theater grounds.
According to John Spranza, director of student life, there is �limited financial aid�available to interested qualified applicants through the Office of Student Life.�
Students who wish to apply for financial assistance need to pick up an ASF Financial Assistance form from the Office of Student Life or the office at any of the other campuses. The completed form, along with a recommendation by a faculty member, must be received by the Office of Student Life by Feb. 18.
Johnny Woods, a general studies major and 2003 trip participant said, �The trip sure is surprisingly inexpensive compared to what all you get for your money.�
Lea Thomas-Smith, a nursing major, said, �The trip is fantastic. We always have such a great time. I get to meet and mingle with other Floyd students that I normally wouldn't get to socialize with since my classes are at Heritage Hall� I need a pleasant diversion toward the end of the semester, and the ASF trip is just what I need.�
The ASF trip, sponsored by the division of social and cultural studies and Office of Student Life, is one of Georgia Highlands College's most popular travel opportunities, according to Dr. K. Kemper, professor of English, who helps coordinate the trip. Fred Green, associate professor of English, is also assisting with the trip.
Participation is on a first-come first-served basis, and the trip is usually booked to capacity.
The Alabama Shakespeare Festival is the sixth largest Shakespeare festival in the world. Originating in a gymnasium in Anniston, Ala., in 1981, ASF relocated to Montgomery in 1985 with the donation of the $21.5 million theater complex by Wynton and Carolyn Blount.
The complex houses the Festival Theater, the Octagon Theater, production workshops, rehearsal halls, a patrons lounge, a snack bar and a gift shop. The 250-acre park that surrounds the theater features a Shakespeare Garden and a lake with swans.
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