Saturday, January 06, 2007

Frustrated shepherdess?

Back! The writeup from the front lines will come soonish, one day, maybe, but for now here's something from the incredible package of clippings Agent E was kind enough to send me. There's also a photo which is coming later. Square bracket bits are words that were cut off and guessed. Note the date!

Jennifer Ehle wins KLT's Campbell Scholarship
By Lee Hope
Kernersville News
September 17, 1987

For the second year the Herbert Alan Campbell Memorial Scholarship has been awarded at the North Carolina School of the Arts.

This year's recipient is Jennifer Anne Ehle, a 17-year-old Winston-Salem girl who enters the school this fall as a freshman to study drama.

The scholarship was established by members of the Kernersville Little Theatre two years ago in honor of one of their members, Herbert Alan Campbell. Campbell was killled in a tragic automobile accident just days after the theatre's final performance of "Dracula".

The award provides tuition and fees to the winner for the freshman year. It is awarded strictly on merit to a young student who aspires to a career in drama.

Selections are made by the faculty of the School for the Arts. They are announced late each summer, the only caveat placed on the award by the fund's board is that the recipient be from the State of North Carolina and, if possible, from the Triad area.

Funding for the scholarship comes from private donations and from a continuing donation by the Kernersville Little Theatre of 5% of their gross receipts for the preceding year. This year's check from the theatre came to $858. It was presented to the fund last month at the annual awards social.

The 1987 scholarship winner, Jennifer Ehle, is the daughter of actress Rosemary Harris and novelist John Ehle. Not surprising, she has had a long-standing interest in the theatre and has had parts in school plays since the 9th grade. She says that the only other career she thought of was as a young girl when her wish was to be a shepherdess. Unfortunately, the only sheep she had to care for was a tabby named "Buttercup".

The academic career on which Jennifer has embarked is demanding. In addition to studying drama and all other aspects of the theatre, she will be expected to maintain a [stiff?] academic schedule.

According to Alan Rust, dean of the drama department, she can look forward to [long?] days and not a few long [nights?] of work and study.

As a member of the North Carolina University system, the School of the Arts ranks second only to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University in average SAT scores of entering freshman. When asked which of her mother's plays and which of her father's books she liked the best, Jennifer Ehle first commented that many of her mother's best works were done before she was born, but that her personal favourite was "Pack of Lies." That play, originally staged in New York with Harris in the lead, was recently made into a movie for television with Ellen Burstyn taking the lead part. Of her father's novels, "Last One Home" is her choice.

What is it like to be the daughter of two famous people? According to Jennifer not much different than being the daughter of anyone else. However, she says that when your father is a writer you wake every morning to the sound of a typewriter.

Donations to the Herbert Alan Campbell Memorial Scholarship Fund may be [...] -tions to Box 26, Kernersville, NC 27284 or in the lobby a any Kernersville Little Theatre performance.

And thanks a mill to Chelsea for solo-blogging for more than a month on her lonesome!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Welcome back Tina!