College Town.

Byline: Lisa D. Welsh

COLUMN: COLLEGE TOWN

Bravo!

Opening night for Worcester State College's production of "Bus Stop" on Thursday was the dual celebration of a dedication ceremony and christening of the renovated and newly named Fuller Theater.

Thanks to a $500,000 grant from the George F. and Sybil H. Fuller Foundation, the school's theater, located in the administration building, now has modernized back-stage amenities, including a control booth, design studio, scene shop, costume shop and a small green room.

Members of the Fuller family attending the dedication and performance included Joyce Fuller and her son, Mark; his wife, Jan; and David Hallock, a trustee of the Fuller Foundation.

Additions to the theater include catwalks, new sound equipment including assistive listening devices, winches above the stage, and box seating.

According to Thomas M. McNamara, vice president of institutional advancement, the renovated theater coincides with the renovation of the entire administration building and with the Department of Higher Education's approval of the new interdisciplinary visual and performing arts major, which now includes a theater major.

Jan Fuller has been a longtime supporter of the arts and has performed with a number of local community theaters, including the current Calliope Productions' "Nuncrackers."

"I guess you could say theater is in my blood, but it's only a small reason why the foundation gave to it," Mrs. Fuller said. "Also, my father was a professor for many years at Worcester State College."

"We wanted some project that we could contribute, and the theater was very interesting to us. It was something that was really needed, since the school has now begun a theater major."

Road home

Before heading home for Thanksgiving next week, students at Assumption College have organized Hunger & Homelessness Week, starting today and ending Saturday, to raise awareness about the desperate plight in which many children, families and others find themselves in this challenging economy. The week's events include screening the documentary, The Road Home - from Homelessness to Housing First, which was produced by Assumption students in a class taught by journalism instructor Jody Santos. The documentary, filmed in Worcester in 2007, educates residents about the issue of homelessness in their community. The students will visit Dismas House, participate in a candlelight prayer service and sleep outside on campus one night to experience what it means to live without shelter. On Friday, they will assemble Thanksgiving food baskets at St. Paul's.

Besides increasing awareness of hunger and homelessness, the Assumption community is addressing those issues by collecting mittens, stamps, coats and cleaning supplies to help meet the needs of soldiers on active duty, veterans, schoolchildren and families. The campus Reach Out Center's Veterans Appreciation Drive is collecting toiletries, snacks, winter clothes and other personal items for the Massachusetts Veterans Inc. in Worcester. The students are also collecting winter clothes in support of the Worcester public schools' annual Coats for Kids initiative.

Assumption's dining services provider, Sodexo, launched its annual Cans Across America drive in the campus dining hall to collect nonperishable foods to be donated to the Worcester County Food Bank.

Cougar contributions

The Clark University Student-Athlete Advisory Committee donated 815 pounds to the Worcester County Food Bank through its Trick-or-Treat for Canned Goods event on Halloween. The group represents 13 Cougar teams, hung fliers throughout neighborhoods close to the university campus the week of Oct. 25 and collected the donations on Oct. 30. In the last four years, the University SAAC has donated more than 4,200 pounds of food to the Worcester County Food Bank.

Contact Lisa D. Welsh by e-mail at [e-mail].