IUP Central Calendar

April 2001

In This Issue
University Museum Hosting Italian Heritage Exhibit
Ed Simpson Wins Writing Award for Additional Particulars
WIUP-TV Changing Format to Community Television

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Newsmakers
It's My Turn
Announcements & Classifieds

University Museum Hosting Italian Heritage Exhibit
The Indiana University of Pennsylvania University Museum, in partnership with the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, presents From Italy to Indiana County April 26 through June 3 at the University Museum. The curators are Nicholas P. Ciotola, curator of the Italian American Collection, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, and Donna E. Cashdollar, vice president of the University Museum Board of Directors, IUP.

Sam Patti, Pittsburgh businessman and Indiana native, is the project’s community liaison. "This exhibition continues the University Museum’s intention to highlight local history and culture on a continuing basis," said Cashdollar. The University Museum hosted The Jewish Business Community of Downtown Indiana:  An Historical Retrospective in November and December 1999. "These exhibitions explore the ethnic and cultural history of Indiana County and help to place local history into a broader context," Cashdollar said. The exhibition opens with a community reception on April 26 from 5 to 8 p.m. The University Museum, located on the first floor of Sutton Hall, is free and open to the community from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday and 1 to 4 p.m. weekends. The museum is closed on Mondays and during scheduled University break times.

In conjunction with this exhibition, IUP’s Academy of Living and Learning will be presenting "From Italy to Indiana County," a three-part study series that examines the various aspects and legacy of arrival, acculturation and tradition initiated by this community of Italian immigrants who settled in this area. In September 1901, 23-year-old Domenico LaMantia packed up a small valise of personal belongings, bid farewell to family and friends and departed his hometown of Termini Imerese, a small seaside community in northern Sicily. Following a route traveled by hundreds of immigrants before him, LaMantia made his way westward along the Sicilian coast to the port city of Palermo and boarded the Perugia, a steamship liner ultimately destined for the United States.

After a long and arduous transoceanic voyage, LaMantia arrived in New York harbor on Sept. 14 and passed the mandatory medical examinations administered by immigration officials at Ellis Island. The harrowing experience of Ellis Island behind him, LaMantia left the hustle and bustle of urban New York and set out for the Western Pennsylvania borough of Blairsville. Upon arrival, the young immigrant was reunited with other members of the LaMantia family who had already established themselves in Indiana County.

Nine years later, in 1910 LaMantia was engaged in a prosperous business partnership with his brother Antonio and several other siblings. In time, A. LaMantia & Brothers became one of the leading fruit and produce wholesalers in all of Indiana County.  Upwardly mobile and well adjusted to life in western Pennsylvania, Domenico LaMantia went to the Indiana County Courthouse on New Year’s Day 1910, and filed a declaration of intention petition for naturalization, thereby initiating the process by which he would eventually become a naturalized American citizen. From Italy to Indiana County explores the collective experiences of Domenico LaMantia and the thousands of other Italian immigrants who made Indiana County their home.

Relying on historical research materials including census records, city directories, naturalization records, immigration papers, historical photographs, artifacts and oral history interviews, this exhibit provides an overview of Italian settlement in Indiana County between 1900 and 1950 and explores themes such as community, work, religion, leisure and family life.

This exhibition also addresses some of the basic questions about the Italian immigrant experience in the region, explained Ciotola. "What, for example, prompted Italians to emigrate from their homeland? In what parts of Indiana County did Italian immigrants settle? What types of work did they find upon arrival? What institutions became important centers of Italian community life? Did aspects of the immigrants’ Old World culture survived the transoceanic voyage and continue to influence their lives in America? How readily did Italian immigrants assimilate to life in the United States?

"In addressing these and other questions, From Italy to Indiana County makes an important contribution to the field of Italian American history and calls attention to the historical significance that Italian immigrants have had on the growth and development of Indiana and the surrounding area," Ciotola said. "More importantly, it is a long overdue tribute to those Italian immigrants who made the trying journey from Italy to Indiana County with hopes that their arrival would herald new and prosperous lives for themselves, their children and many generations to follow," he continued.

The Historical Society’s Italian American Program is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the history and culture of Italian Americans in Western Pennsylvania. Through the systematic collection of artifacts, photographs, archival materials, and oral histories, the Historical Society is building a permanent record of Italian immigrants and their descendants who make this region their home. The collection, which is the largest in Western Pennsylvania, provides scholars, students, and the general public with primary resource materials about an important aspect of Pittsburgh’s past. For more information, persons may visit the Web site at www.wpaitalians.com or call 412-454-6433. A private, non-profit membership organization, the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania is the region’s oldest historical institution and the largest society in Pennsylvania. The Society has been serving the people of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania since 1879 by preserving, protecting and interpreting the significant history of this region. Its sites include the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center in Pittsburgh and Meadowcroft Museum of Rural Life in Avella.

This exhibition is made possible in part by the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, Dr. and Mrs. Francis DeFabo, Marty and Sam Patti and families, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Mastro, Cashdollar Visual Communications, Foundation for IUP, IUP College of Fine Arts, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and members of the University Museum.

Free parking on the IUP campus is available after 5 p.m. in the University’s parking garage, located off Grant Street.For more information about the University Museum, persons may call 724-357-7930.

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Ed Simpson Wins Writing Award for Additional Particulars
The critics are all over Indiana University of Pennsylvania theater professor Ed Simpson, and he couldn’t be happier. Simpson’s play, Additional Particulars won the 2000 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for distinguished achievement in writing at the April 2 Drama Critics Circle Awards in Hollywood. Kathleen Foley of the Los Angeles Times called the play "Poignantly funny… Full of angst and unfulfilled desires, Simpson’s characters are heartbreakingly imperfect. Yet under the darkness, Simpson’s works shine with an essential sweetness that is often a rarity in modern theater."

The Drama Critics Circle is a 23-member board of critics from newspapers and magazines throughout Los Angeles. A non-profit association founded in 1969, it is dedicated to excellence in theatrical criticism and to the encouragement and improvement of theater in Los Angeles and Orange Counties. For a play to be nominated for the award, it must be seen by a minimum of seven members of the Circle and all the members viewing the play must agree unanimously to have the play be considered for nomination.

Simpson’s play was seen by 20 of the 23 members of the Critics Circle: "an almost unheard of phenomenon," Simpson said. Additional Particulars actor Kirk Baily won a Critics Circle Award as lead actor. The play also was nominated in the "best director" category. The Drama Critics Circle Award follows Simpson’s Garland Award for world premiere playwriting given last January from Back Stage West in Los Angeles. Additional Particulars, performed at the Third Stage Theater, opened in May for a six-week run. Its popularity secured it continued extensions, resulting in a three-month run at the theater to sell-out crowds and continued critical acclaim, including a "Critic’s Choice" nod from the Los Angeles Times and "Critic’s Pick" selection by Backstage West.

"There’s been serious talk of doing a revival in LA, and there will be a stage reading of the play in New York City on May 20," Simpson said. Additional Particulars is done in two parts:  "Glenda and Warren" and "Kenny and Raymond." In "Glenda and Warren" the characters are co-workers at the Save-a-Bundle discount department store. Glenda, an optimistic but lonely young woman who works in housewares, has only recently moved into her tidy little apartment after years of caring for her very unpleasant, very demanding and recently deceased mother. Warren, a kind, generous, but awkward man of unfailing good manners, is assistant manager of Save-a-Bundle and, tonight, has unexpectedly dropped by Glenda’s apartment on his way home from work. After his profuse apologies for visiting unannounced, the two discover a shared enthusiasm for table lamps, Doritos, reading and "Sammy Save-a-Bundle," the store’s cuddly corporate symbol. As the lonely co-workers express their devotion to the corporate ideals of the "Save-a-Bundle team," Warren reveals the reason for his visit by informing Glenda that she has been chosen "Employee of the Month," and despite his concern about the gulf that separates "management and labor," confesses his desire to discuss with her some "additional particulars" of a more personal nature. In "Kenny and Raymond," Raymond Fetterman, a maintenance man and former Save-a-Bundle "Employee of the Month" is having lunch with his young friend and co-worker, Kenny Hinkle. It is the eve of Raymond’s 47th birthday, he’s trapped in a job he hates, his girlfriend, having "come to her senses" is getting ready to break up with him, and he has recently been beset by a series of increasing bizarre events, which have caused him, for the first time, to question the meaning of his life. Haunted by an acquaintance’s vision of death, Raymond has come to the painful realization that time is quickly running out on his chances of "having a life." As Raymond desperately muses about escaping he frightening monotony of his life, the patient and good-natured Kenny sympathetically listens...and harbors a heartbreaking secret. Simpson was born and raised in North Carolina, receiving his MFA in acting and directing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a BA in speech and drama from Guilford College.

His full-length plays, The Battle of Shallowford, The Comet of St. Loomis and A Point of Order have received numerous successful productions throughout the United States and Canada are are published by Samuel French, Inc. His full-length play Elephant Sighs was premiered at Keystone Repertory Theater in Indiana prior to receiving a highly acclaimed production by the Occasional Theater at Theatre/Theater in Los Angeles and is slated for an Off-Broadway production in the spring. Since joining the Department of Theater and Dance at IUP in 1980, he as directed more than 30 productions. A member of Actors’ Equity, he has a number of professional roles to his credit and is a recipient of the IUP Distinguished Faculty Award for the Creative Arts, a Meritorious Achievement Award for Directing from the Kennedy Center-American College Theater Festival and a Pennsylvania Playwrights Fellowship.

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WIUP-TV Changing Format to Community Television
Indiana University of Pennsylvania will bring television programming of particular interest to the community via Channel 16, a local station provided by Adelphia Cable. WIUP-TV will be airing Community TV starting April 18.

Following six years of study, IUP’s WIUP-TV has joined with the Community Television Network of Pennsylvania to present this new community-based television system to address the needs of individual communities. The WIUP-TV station management and IUP student practicums (undergraduate students working at the station as volunteers) will work with local community organizations, governments and schools to provide various programs of community interest. Information on how to become involved with Community TV will be available on the station. Programming, still in the development stages, could include shows as diverse as church services, parades, political debates, senior citizen activities, view-participation games, sporting events, concerts, community activities and calendars of events.

In addition to the community interest programming, local sponsors will have an opportunity to market and advertise products, services or group activities. This marquee service will be used to fund the Community TV programming initiatives and fund cost associated with maintaining WIUP-TV’s video equipment for classroom use.  The key concept of Community TV is to "make the station more community oriented," said Dr. Jay Start, IUP professor of communications media and WIUP-TV faculty advisor.

"A community-based television station is both a unifying agent and an asset to individual communities," said James Palmieri, CTV Director of Operations. "It will install pride in the community and provide an opportunity for residents to bond together around common interests. It will also give residents an opportunity to become involved with the station in various roles," Palmieri said. WIUP-TV, airing on channel 16 on the Adelphia Cable system, serves nearly 100,000 people, including more than 108,000 viewers in Indiana County and parts of Westmoreland County. It is available throughout all of the IUP campus.

Start and David Lind, operations manager and director for IUP’s Center For Video Technology, said that they have been looking at ways to make Channel 16 more beneficial to the community and meet educational goals for students. IUP students produce all programs aired on Channel 16. During this semester, there are approximately 80 students involved with the station. Working for WIUP-TV is totally volunteer and students of any major are welcome to join the crew.

Start and Lind try to make the atmosphere as realistic as possible for the students. The students produce a taped bi-weekly news show, which airs on Tuesdays and Thursdays. At the end of the semester, the students go live on the air. The students are also encouraged to stretch their own creativity by producing a pilot and presenting it to Start and Lind for approval. Start said that only about two percent of pilot shows stay on the air long-term, because students find out quickly how challenging television work can become. Start said that working for WIUP-TV is an example of how students are given the opportunity to apply knowledge from the classroom into real, hand-on experience. While work at WIUP-TV is challenging, it has also been rewarding for students, both Lind and Start stressed.

Several WIUP-TV "alumni," following graduation from IUP, are working in Hollywood in the entertainment field—for example, one student is working on the FOX hit show Malcolm in the Middle; another is working with the producer of the thriller sequels of Scream. More information on how to get involved with Community TV on WIUP-TV will be available on Channel 16.

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