The AU Playhouse of the South Carolina School of the Arts will present The Corn is Green at the Belk Theatre of the Rainey Fine Arts Center September 25-28.
The story by Emlyn Williams is a now-classic play about an inspirational, quirky teacher, Miss Moffat, and a student who she grooms for a scholarship to Oxford University. The tough, take-no-prisoners Miss Moffat literally transforms the raw, unschooled Evans into an intellectually thirsty scholar from just a hungry coal boy in a poor Welsh mining village. This is a rich story of two changed lives. Both mentor and student wrestle with the life-changing challenges that emerge. They both realize new callings.
Williams based the play on his personal experience, a relationship with a transformative school teacher that he encountered in his rural Welsh home village. Williams portrayed Evans himself in the production’s London premier in 1938. He also directed it. The play had long runs in London’s West End and on Broadway.
The Anderson production is directed by Dr. David Larson, a theatre professor and the dean of the South Carolina School of the Arts. Scenery was designed and developed by AU Shop Foreman Dalton Cole. The show’s lighting is designed by theatre professor Cara Wood. Elizabeth Nelson is the costume designer, and Lara St. Peter is the dialect coach.
Performances for The Corn is Green are as follows: September 25 to 28 at 7:30 p.m. There will also be a 2:00 p.m. matinee on Saturday, September 28. The play takes place in the Belk Theatre of the Rainey Fine Arts Center. For tickets please call (864) 231-2080, or visit the South Carolina School of the Arts office on the campus of Anderson University, 316 Boulevard, in Anderson, South Carolina.