USC professor brings 32nd president to life through one-man show


Thursday, November 08, 2007

The Oaks invites you to "Meet F.D.R." through an experience in historical theater at 3 p.m Monday, Nov. 12, in the Magnolia Room of The Oaks.

The special presentation in costume -- written, produced and performed by Dr. Ed Beardsley of the USC Department of History -- will be free and open to the public.

Beardsley's primary teaching innovation has been his "historical theater" presentations, wherein he performs as major American leaders.

To date, his productions, which began in the 1980s, include one-man shows as Ben Franklin, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt and, most recently, Woodrow Wilson. The latter two include multi-media components designed to illustrate people and events featured in the monologues.

Originally produced for his American history students, Beardsley has extended his performance range to include university, civic and cultural programs in a least 20 states and Canada, as well as performances at F.D.R.'s "Little White House," New York's Chautauqua Institution and a D-Day cruise in the eastern Atlantic.

Beardsley has published three books -- most recently, "History of Neglect, Health Care for Blacks and Mill Workers in the Twentieth Century South" -- and some 19 articles and chapters in books.

The performance is made possible in part by a grant from the Humanities Council of S.C.