The Ume Group's "Voices in the Stone"

On May 6, 2021, The Ume Group Playback Ensemble, a branch of the New York City-based physical theatre company, The Ume Group (theumegroup.org), gave a commissioned performance for alumni of Virginia Tech’s College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences as part of the lead-up to the university’s 150 year anniversary celebrations. The performance was sponsored by the Virginia Tech History Council with support from the School of Performing Arts.

The performance begins with a soundscape overture featuring a new version of “Tech Triumph” (the Virginia Tech Fight Song composed in 1919 by Wilfred Pete Maddux and Mattie Eppes) adapted for this event by The Ume Group’s Kate Douglas, along with excerpts from the VT Stories Oral History Project (vtstories.org) and other found texts voiced live by the Ume Group actors.

Production Credits: Conductor｜Jordan Rosin Musician｜Kate Douglas Actors｜Jorge Luna, Keelie Sheridan, Karina Sindicich, Kaitlyn Samuel Rosin, Yokko Producer / Director｜Jordan Rosin Community Partners｜Robert H. Leonard, VT History Council & the School of Performing Arts; Christina Miller, College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences; Ren Harman, VT Stories

Duration: 1 hr, 18 min

Forms Used: Fluid Sculpture｜Perspectives｜ 3-Part Story｜If This Were A Dream｜3-Minute Poem

This performance in featured in "Storytelling on Screen: An Online Playback Theatre Archive and Guidebook" by Jordan Rosin and Heidi Winters Vogel, which is available at http://hdl.handle.net/10919/104420.