Lees-McRae Theatre Presents The Risks of Heroes September 30 to October 4

Story by Corinne Saunders

A play titled The Risks of Heroes will be shown from Wednesday to Sunday, September 30 to October 4, at the Hayes Auditorium at Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk.

Written and directed by Dr. Janet Barton Speer, the play will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday to Friday, at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday and at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday.

Tickets will only be available at the door—which is not a problem this time of year, Speer said—and cost $12 for adults and $5 for students.

The play will serve a dual function, concluding the Global Community Center at Lees-McRae College while kicking off the college’s fall performing arts series.

The Risks of Heroes tells 11 stories of heroes through dance, dialogue, music and photographs.

“What I did is I decided we needed to talk about heroes who have risked their lives and made a difference in people’s welfare,” Speer said.

The 11 stories encompass both modern-day and historic heroes from this country and from many places in the world, she added.

One of the most well-known stories will be of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, Speer said.

A group of girls in Afghanistan who continued attending school, even after acid was thrown in their faces, will likely be one of the lesser-known stories.

“They believe so strongly [that] they have to open the door for Afghan women to study,” Speer said.

The story of Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic woman who saved about 2,500 children from going into concentration camps during WWII, will be told through dance, Speer said.

Some incidents happened recently enough that, to write those sections of the play, Speer was able to consult those involved, she said.

One example of such a story is of the four policemen who led 200 people out of a village in Australia that was surrounded by a bushfire earlier this year.

The village “wasn’t always their jurisdiction,” Speer said. “They came in to do that [and it] was pretty heroic.”

Speer was actually able to talk to the policemen about that experience, she added.

The play even relates the story of a heroic cat that returned into a burning building multiple times to save her kittens, Speer added.

Local military veterans will be recognized each night, and each night will also feature recognition of a group of local heroes, such as firemen, police and healthcare personnel, as well as community heroes who have saved people from fires, drowning or other situations, Speer said.

Jim Taylor is the play’s musical director and Speer and Kacy Crabtree served as choreographers.

For more information, call 828-898-8721 or email SpeerJ@lmc.edu.

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