semester highlights
Photo: Cathy Loranger
Photo: Shenandoah Conservatory
Students joined faculty members in the College of Arts &
Sciences and Shenandoah Conservatory on “The Mockingbird
Project,” an academic and community partnership between
the history and theatre departments that included Shenandoah
Conservatory’s production of “To Kill a Mockingbird” and the
installation of the Howard Walker case exhibit. The exhibit
on the Walker Case for the Mockingbird Project is currently
installed at Handley High School. A full school assembly was
held in February, featuring scenes from “To Kill a Mockingbird,”
a description of the case of Howard Walker in 1944 Winchester
that so tragically paralleled the situation of Tom Robinson in the
play, and a Talk Back discussion with student actors and other
participants in the project. “I was pleased that many people who
attended Mockingbird took the time to read the installation
panels in the lobby,” said Professor Warren Hofstra, Ph.D. “People
were fascinated, intrigued, moved, dismayed, and sometimes quite
rightly upset.”
Following a matinee performance of “To Kill A Mockingbird” in November, the audience directed
questions to the play's director, actors, community leaders, and students and faculty members
who researched “The Mockingbird Project” installation. Sitting on the edge of the stage were
(left to right): Shenandoah University history major Casey Turben, Attorney Tyson Gilpin, novelist
Peter Schmitt, “To Kill A Mockingbird” Director and Assistant Professor of Theatre J.J. Ruscella,
M.F.A., former Managing Director and Artistic Director of Performing Arts Live Sloan MacRae,
senior music theatre major Zac Ostrowski, junior musical theatre major Kacey Willis, and
Stewart Bell Chair in History and Professor of History Warren Hofstra, Ph.D. The group was later
joined by Gwen Borders-Walker, president of the local branch of the NAACP, and junior acting
major Matthew Miller, who played Bob Ewell in the play.
Shenandoah University students (left to right) Frankie Ramirez as Boo Radley, Joanna Whicker
as Miss Maudie, Zac Ostrowski as Atticus, Kacey Willis as Scout