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DR. ALBERT E. MANLEY
President
Challenges
Freshmen
Greetings,
To the Class of ‘72, I offer
you the challenge of the next
four years. You are now on
the threshold of a new life—
a life that should bring to you
many new and exciting ex
periences. Whether you spend
one semester or eight semesters
here, you are beginning an em
otional, social, mental and
physical journey that will
mark you as members of the
Spelman family for the rest of
your lives. These years, I
hope, will bestow upon you
fond memories that will remain
with you throughout your life.
The road that you will travel
may be a rugged one. There
may be times when you feel
that you have chosen the
wrong road to your eventual
goal. Then, you should re
member that the way to suc
cess is not an easy one—the
weak succumb, the strong en
dure.
Your life at Spelman will
be permeated with the “great
search’’—the search for know
ledge and understanding. Here
you will continue to learn to
think, to feel and to “see”.
Here you will continue to learn
the great ideas that have shap
ed the world of today. Here
you will learn of the great
ideas that are shaping the
world of tomorrow.
At Spelman, you will receive
training in the usual broad
areas of the liberal arts—
humanities, social sciences,
and natural sciences. You will
explore not only the general
areas of these fields during
your first two years, but also
the specialized areas during
the last two years.
The humanities are designed
to help you acquire a firm
understanding of yourself.
After engaging in the study of
The Negro Ensemble Com
pany’s productions of Peter
Weiss’ “Song of the Lusitanian
Bogey” and Richard Wrights’
“Daddy Goodness” came to
Spelman College for 7 perfor
mances on Sept 17-21. The
performances, well attended,
were excellent!
The Negro Ensemble Com
pany was formed about one
year ago, the company was en
dowed for the first year by
the Ford Foundation withther and produced Mr. Ward’s
Soprano ^Jo Cji
(Concert
ere
Veronica Tyler, newly ac
claimed American soprano
was presented in concert
on October 2, 1968 at 8:00 p.
m. in Sisters Chapel.
Miss Tyler has been the re
cipient of the John Hay Whit
ney Fellowship, the Fisher
Foundation scholarships and
scholarships to the Peabody
Conservatory and the Jullard
school of music. She was the
1966 winner of the Tschaikow-
sky international music com
petition in Moscow and was
rewarded upon her return to
the States with a “Command
Performance” for President
Lyndon B. Johnson.
Miss Tyler has performed
with many of the major sym
phony orchestras and conduc
tors in the country including
several performances w it h
Leonard Bernstein and the
New York Philaharmonic. Eric
Leinsdolf and the Boston
Symphony, Leopold Stokwski
and the Philadelphia orchestra,
and the Baltimore symphony.
She has been presented at
Berkshire music festival at
Tanglewood, the Hollywood
Bowl, the American opera
Society and the New York
City Opera.
Miss Tyler applies the same
meticulous skill to Negro spiri
tuals and folk opera as is de
manded in her many roles in
opera oratoria performance.
$434.00 to start a training pro
gram and professional acting
troupe which would be pre
dominantly for Negroes and
young people who couldn’t
afford formalized theatrical
training. It grew out of a
dream and a smaller effort of
actor Robert Hooks, who in
1964 commenced teaching some
high school dropouts and other
needy kids the techniques of
acting in his own living room.
The living room was converted
into a stage with lights.
They moved to a loft after
his landlord threw him out of
there and he formed the Group
Theatre Workshop with his
friend (actor / playwright)
Douglas Turner Ward. Mr.
Hooks took this one step fur-
NEXT DEADLINE
OCTOBER 31
Classof'72
Is Unique
This year the freshman class
of Spelman reaches an all time
peak in enrollment, students
receiving financial aide, na
tional dispersement and leader
ship possibilities. Latest stat
istics show that the class,
which consists of 346 students
is the largest freshman class in
Spelman history.
Another unique quality of
the class of ‘72 is the wide
range of national dispersment.
They come from as far west as
California, as far north as
Alaska and all the way south
from Key West, Florida.
An overwhelming number of
the freshman class are receiv
ing some form of financial
aide. More, than one third of
the freshman populus are on
scholarships. The scholarship
breakdown reveals that twent-
six or 7.5% are full tuition
scholars and one hundred-two
or 30% on half-tuition scholar
ships. The total scholarship
awards alone could amount to
$261,800. In addition to these
awards about $1,000,000 is
given through other financial
aide programs.
The freshman class also
boasts its possible leaders in
student activities on campus.
Over 50% of the class of ‘72
held positions of leadership in
their respective high schools,
32% were class officers, 41%
student council members and
two one-act plays, “Happy
Ending” and “Day of Absence”
at the St. Marks Playhouse in
New York. This venture was
so successful that it ran for
over 500 performances. It was
also successful in that they dis
covered they were developing
a Negro audience of higher
Black to White ratio that had
ever been seen before. Mr.
Ward reported this fact in an
article to the press 1 American
Theatre for White Only” (N.Y.
Times, Aug. 14, 1966) and it
caught the attention of the
Ford Foundation.
During this, their first year
of operation the troupe has
maintained a professional com
pany of thirteen actors and
on stage manager on a per
manent payroll. They also
have produced four mays,
“The Song of the Lusitanian
Bogey”, “Summer of the Sev
enteenth Doll” by Ray Lawler
in Louisiana setting instead of
its original Australian; “Kon-
gi’s Harvest” by Politically im
prisoned Nigerian playwright
Wole Soyinka and “Daddy
Goodness” by the late Richard
Wright and Louis Sapin.
The purpose of the company
is two-fold. On one level it
is giving free professional
training to young people in
all phases of work in the
theatre and on the other level
it is providing constant work
for talented professional actors
(who also take daily classes) in
its off-Broadway theatre. The
entire Negro Ensemble Com
pany is under one roof in this
building (St. Marks Playhouse
133 Second Ave.).
Besides the regular perfor
mances the Negro Ensemble
Company also mantains a Play
wrights Workshop and pro
duces many new plays on
Monday nights when the
theatre isn’t being used.
The 1968-69 season will be
gin ,n October and the plan is
to produce five plays instead
of four and these five will be
by new Black American play
wrights.
A unique theatre company in
the world, it hopes one day to
make a goodwill tour around
it.
VOL. XXV. NO. 1
SPELMAN COLLEGE
1968
September
ATLANTA. GEORGIA
Negro Ensemble Group
Comes To Spelman
(Continued on Page Three)
28% were Key Club members.
ACTOR ROBERT HOOKS. "Star of "N. T. P. D,