Artists & Communities Host Site: Ridge Arts Council Batesburg - Leesville
P.O. Box 2268
Batesburg - Leesville, SC 29070

Millennium Artist:
Joseph Hodge
Theater Artist
California
E-mail: JHAJ@earthlink.net

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Theater artist Joseph Hodge has often tackled issues that are difficult, uncomfortable and, sometimes controversial. He has parlayed his talent as an actor into helping communities work through issues relevant to their lives through the medium of theater. While Hodge often leads participants on difficult journeys, the end result is always one of triumph.

This triumph was apparent in Hodge's Artists & Communities residency work with South Carolina senior citizens and teenagers. Hodge partnered with the Ridge Arts Council and local seniors and teens to create an original theater piece that explored issues specific to the community.

During Hodge's four-month residency, diverse sections of the Batesburg-Leesville community came together to address issues of interest to a rural community on the verge of a new millennium. The goal of this project was for these diverse populations to work toward a common goal and generate new dialogues.

These new dialogues took form in VOICES, an original theater piece that addressed topics including love and dating, race relations, the Confederate flag debate, relationships with step-parents, spousal abuse, discipline, and loss. Teen participants posed a series of questions to local seniors relating to these topics.

The seniors' responses to the teens' questions were featured in the modern medium of film. Students also wrote and performed monologues in the ancient medium of live theater. The monologues centered on the young actors reacting to the perceptions, questions, and doubts of the older generation. During live performances of VOICES, the film clips and recorded vignettes of seniors were interspersed among the monologues, creating a dialogue between young and old.

As a result of the success of this residency, the Ridge Arts Council and community at-large has recognized the need for youth programming, and plans to establish youth drama programs in local schools. Student participants felt that they learned a great deal about themselves through the residency process, as well as about their fellow community members. They became more confident and tolerant of each other's differences.

As one student commented, "I never thought before that I could be friends with these people…but I found out that we have more in common than we are different."

MILLENNIUM ARTIST BIO

Joseph Hodge is a theater director, performer, and documentarian who has worked in association with the California State Prison, the Mark Taper Forum, and Saratoga International Theater Institute.