Gainesville Plays: Threads of Silver and Gold : Women of the Panama Canal & Gator Tales

I hope folks in Gainesville are able to attend the exciting performances related to and building from digital collections this weekend, including “Threads if Silver and Gold: Women of the Panama Canal” related to the Digitl Library of the Caribbean (dLOC, www.dloc.com) and Gator Tales, which is related to the Samuel Proctor Oral History Digital Collections!


“Threads of Silver and Gold: Women of the Panama Canal”
A new play by Deborah B. Dickey
February 20, 7:00 p.m.
Hippodrome Cinema
25 S.E. 2nd Place, Gainesville
Free and open to the public
Playwright and UF alumna Deborah B. Dickey has created a play in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Panama Canal. “Threads of Silver and Gold: Women of the Panama Canal” looks at the role of women who arrived from the West Indies, England and the United States during the construction period of the canal.
Full of heroism and striving, the play celebrates the pioneering women who left behind family to face enormous challenges as they witnessed the realization of the 400-year-old dream to join the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
A post-performance talk-back will allow the audience to discuss issues of race, class and gender with the playwright, actors and a panel of University of Florida faculty.
Sponsored by the Center for the Humanities in the Public Sphere with support from the Rothman endowment, the play is presented by the George A. Smathers Libraries at UF with additional support from the university’s Samuel Proctor Oral History Program and the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations.
Dickey created her characters using letters, oral histories and other resources from the Panama Canal Museum Collection at UF and other related collections. She received her MFA in acting and directing from UF’s School of Theatre and Dance and is a director and producer for A Classic Theatre Inc. in St. Augustine.
See the flyer: http://www.clas.ufl.edu/events/Threads_Silver_Gold_Flyer.pdf
“Gator Tales”
Original play by Kevin Marshall with SPOHP
“Gator Tales” is an original play devised and directed by Kevin Marshall in conjunction with SPOHP, using the unique experiences of African American students at the University of Florida, from the first students who attended more than 50 years ago to members of the current student body. The performance will dramatize honored stories from the UF Samuel Proctor Oral History Program’s Alachua County African American History Project.
Admission is $13 for UF students, faculty and staff, and seniors, and $17 for members of the public.
This live theatre performance brings vividly to life the voices of those who first struggled for civil rights and the generations that followed. This world premiere speaks passionately to the heart of our community.
Showtimes and more information, see: http://oral.history.ufl.edu/event/gator-tales-featuring-stories-from-the-uf-samuel-proctor-oral-history-programs-african-american-history-project/