Bookstore Manager Walter Moore served as the master of ceremonies, and vivaciously spoke as each contestant strutted down an invisible runway. Moore also conducted a little Q&A with each contestant resulting in an atmosphere of continuous laughter for everyone present.

Registration was open to all members of the Clayton State community, and fourteen contestants registered for the chance to parade their costumes, and their “psychotic” personalities, in front of the judges. The panel of judges included four students and four faculty members, who individually ranked each competitor’s performance on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. “I absolutely loved it. I thought it was a great way to get the student body involved,” said Atawanna Royal, a senior who volunteered to be a judge at the event.

Sharon Bookmiller, an administrative assistant for Budget and Finance, was the first contestant to present her costume to the judges. Even though her black widow costume was enough to gain the interest of viewers, she thrilled the audience when she introduced her close friend, Oscar, a black spider clinging to the side of her dress.

Bookmiller was followed by another staff member, Delores Toothaker, who impressed the judges with her extravagant tooth fairy costume, which was conveniently inspired by her last name. Toothaker, an administrative assistant for the music department, sported a purple dress adorned with white luminescent wings and a purple ‘fairy’ tiara. When questioned about the inspiration for her costume, she replied, “I started working on it a month ago. I found the dress in a thrift store and went from there.” The tooth fairy had toothbrushes and treats for the judges, but with no teeth lying around, she left the stage without handing out any cash.

As the competition unfolded, it became evident that some contestants spent more time with the scissors and glue than others. Sophomore Edward Lowry, referred to by Moore as “an escapee from the Dances of Wolves set,” physically crafted his Medicine Man costume. “Most of it is homemade. The shoes took about a week because they are hand done,” he claimed. Medicine Man was a term allocated by the English to spiritual figures of the Native American community, Shamans, who turned to the spiritual world for healing, protection, and harmony.

Other contestants like Tai Ghandi, the first black cat to walk on the runway, shopped far and near for parts of her costume. “The ears are my friend’s own. She had them custom made. The mask I got from Party City, and the tail I got from Spencers,” she said. The costume was also equipped with a long black tail she hooked on to her belt.

Not long after Ghandi left the stage, Olguin LaRoche impressed the judges with her catwalk as well. The junior and secretary of SGA told the judges that she was inspired by Halle Berry’s version of “Cat Woman.” She clarified, saying, “I am a bad girl, not a good girl. Halle Berry has got nothing on me.” Her sassy attitude and boldness as she posed at the end of the runway earned her an overall score between 9 and 10.

Nonetheless, cats were not the only animal costumes exhibited in the contest, as Rebecca Jackson and Marcus Dickerson also competed in their animal costumes. “I am the bug on your windshield” said Jackson while she twirled in front of the judges and repeatedly went splat. Subsequently, Dickerson entertained the judges in his ostrich costume. After he trotted before them, he made everyone laugh when he stated, “I am riding my ostrich because that’s how we do it in the deep west.”

The laughter continued as bookstore employees also gave the audience a dose of wickedness. “I had to work the graveyard shift,” said staff member Sheila Bishop as she eagerly informed the crowd of the inspiration behind her vampire costume. Misty Nichols, another bookstore employee, chose to dress as a Mile High Captain because, as she stated, “I didn’t want to be a fairy and I only had two costumes.”

Highlights also included the costumes of contestants Bryan Payne and Ashley Parsons. Payne was “Captain Bryan Payne of the Blue Pearl” and wore a spooky pirate costume that included red and black striped pants, black boots and his trademark, of course, the black eye patch. Though not quite a Johnny Depp, his demeanor as he sailed across the runway could have won him a casting call for “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

Parsons, dressed as Esmeralda the Russian gypsy, wore a green skirt, white blouse, a multicolored head cloth, and fashionable jewelry. Parsons received her inspiration from a church murder mystery party where she went as a gypsy fortune-teller. When asked what Esmeralda does for a living, she explained that she “works down next to the docks” and left the audience to wonder just what that might be.

When the performances were over, the judges briefly convened before returning with the results. The jury—formed by spectators of the costume contest—had their own opinions. “The cat woman was my favorite costume” said freshman Hiba Elhag. Norman Grizzell, Associate Director of Auxiliary Services, said, “I like the ostrich guy. Just standing looking at him from straight on, he looks like he really is an ostrich.”

Prizes were awarded to one winner and runner-up that were selected in each of three categories; Original, Spookiest, and Oh No You Didn’t. Winners received two bookstore items such as drinking glasses, sweaters, laptop bags, key chains and Halloween baskets filled with treats. Ultimately, no contestant went home empty handed. Congratulations to all winners, and all those that participated.

Share on Facebook

© Melissa Rolle for Bent Tree News, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg
Who's linking? Technorati Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Campus.

Following the presentation, the winners of the Shakespeare Sonnet contest were announced. Dr. Kathryn Pratt announced the high school winner and runner-ups first which included Celia Sullivan of Starr’s Mill High in 3rd place, Camille Byrd of Fayette High in 2nd place and Luke Leavitt of Dekalb School of Arts in 1st place.

The winner of Clayton State’s sonnet was Scott Roberts. Kristina Bjoran won second place and Helena Peace won 3rd place.

Following the announcement of the winning sonnet, Dr. Artese of Agnes Scott College lectured on Shakespeare’s supernatural characters and compared their identities between several plays.

The next item on the agenda was Clayton State’s Music Program directed by Dr. Kurt-Alexander Zeller, who is also Clayton State’s Opera Director. He acted as the historical coach for the singers including Christina Patterson who sang soprano, Katie Thackrey who also sang soprano, April Greenway a mezzo-soprano, Jose Caballero a tenor and Afolabi Giwa who sang baritone. The singers are all Clayton State students who are majoring in either music or voice performance.

Dr. Zeller and his students performed several ensembles of the Shakespearean era and he noted that the selections would have been sung during this period after dinner. Dr. Zeller explained that normally a group of five to seven singers would have historically been the proper number to have performed together

Continuing the mood of the event Dr. Pratt lead a group of students to perform Byron’s Manfred, a play with strange acting of spirits, sorcerers and devils. The reading began promptly at 3 p.m.

The cast entered the stage from behind a sheer black curtain adorned with black robes, cloaks, and black masks. The extraordinary cast of faculty and students included Ivan Segovia (First Spirit), Terri Worley (Second Spirit), Garry Hollowell (Third Spirit), Drew Hubbard (Nemesis), Jared Dyer (Manfred), Lacy Barnett (Arimanes), Lawanda Campbell (Astarte) and Helena Peace (the Abbess).

“We wanted to bring a feast of words and music to the Clayton State Community,” said Dr. Kathryn Pratt, publicity coordinator for the event. The event was sponsored by The Georgia Humanities Council, and was created to coincide with “Supernatural Shakespeare,” the play performed later in the evening.

Following the reading, Dr. Thomas P. Anderson, an English professor at Mississippi State University, delivered a lecture from his book “Performing Early Modern Trauma from Shakespeare to Milton.” He expressed his views on Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, and analyzed the ideas of sixteenth century author, John Foxx. “Execution is a spectator sport,” he claimed. “People look on as crime takes place,” he added.

Anderson, who was invited to attend the event by his friend from graduate school, Dr. Pratt, expects to release his book soon. The event successfully concluded with a serving of refreshments to all those in attendance.

Later in the evening in Spivey Hall, Clayton State’s Theater Department performed Supernatural Shakespeare, a play combining performances of different spirits and witches from Shakespeare’s plays. In keeping with the style of Byron’s Manfred, Clayton State’s theater students performed with great exaggeration and variation in their voices and movements. The performance was less than an hour long and held everyone’s attention the entire time. From the changing of the lights, to moaning and growling of the performers and fists pounding on the stage, the performers danced and acted just like Shakespeare’s characters in his plays. The audiences was captured by the astounding performance and applauded wildly to show their gratitude for a great evening.

The play was repeated November 29th and 30th in the Clayton State Theater. Along with a change of venue, these performances were done by an all-student cast. The stage allowed for a more dramatic staging and lighting that accentuated the play’s use of live scenery made up of posed cast members. Without any physical props, the cast members served as sometimes stationary, sometimes eerily creeping sculpture.

While not easily captured by photography, the three actresses who played the furies (Jennifer Larsen, Marie Banks and Lora Farmer) were especially impressive with their expressive physical and facial movements. Veteran student actors Brittany Loffert, Todd Denson, David Henry and Kimberly McCloud revealed hard won depth of character after years of acting. For Clayton senior Tony Berry, this last production was bittersweet as it likely signaled his retirement from the stage.

Share on Facebook

© Kelly Atkinson for Bent Tree News, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg
Who's linking? Technorati Google
Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Create.