UWG News Archive

The Adventures of Lewis and Clark

March 24, 2004

CARROLLTON, GA - In celebration of the bicentennial of one of the greatest explorations in U.S. history, the University of West Georgia Townsend Center for the Performing Arts will present “The Adventures of Lewis and Clark” on Thursday, April 1, at 7:30 p.m.

This adventurous new musical by GMT Productions brings to life the hardships and triumphs of the exploration of the Northwest passage across America led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark 200 years ago. From Virginia to the Pacific Ocean, audience members will join the famous expedition members as they face the challenges of uncharted territories in an odyssey of discovery, courage and human triumph.

GMT Productions, a professional theatrical company based in Rome, Ga., performed “Journey to the Center of the Earth” at the Townsend Center in fall 2003 and has previously brought such plays as “Trail of Tears,” “Sadako and a Thousand Cranes” and “Twelfth Night” to the venue. The troupe tours throughout 25 states with performances of classical and musical theatre and character-building plays for young audiences.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition conquered countless life-threatening adversities, met dangerous Indian tribes and traveled almost 4000 miles through inclement weathers and accidents of nature to claim a territory that would become today’s United States of America. And, they did of all of that without losing one member of their group, called the Corps of Discovery.

Their tale begins at Thomas Jefferson’s home in Virginia, where the idea of the expedition germinated, then moves to Philadelphia, where Lewis invites his friend Clark to join the adventure and the two establish the Corps of Discovery.

After completing preparations for their 1804 departure from St. Charles, Mo., on a massive keel boat, the group journeys up the great rivers of America through the newly acquired Louisiana Territory, over the Bitterroot Mountains, down the Columbia and on to the Pacific Ocean. Along the way, they encounter the Teton Sioux, winter with the Mandans, face the chief of the Shoshone nation and cross the rugged Bitterroot Mountains.

The musical is peopled with memorable characters, including Thomas Jefferson; the fiddle-playing guide Cruzat; the Shoshone Indian girl Sacagawea, who saved the expedition more than once; her husband, Charbonneau the fur-trader; and Clark’s slave York; as well as several frontiersmen and Indian chiefs.

GMT Productions serves more than 200 art councils in the Southeast and reaches well over a half million audience members annually. Reviews, musical samples and photos of GMT’s plays are available on the troupe’s web site at www.gmtproductions.com.

GMT’s artistic director, Gail Deschamps, is a recipient of numerous awards for theatrical excellence, including Georgia’s Individual Artist Award for playwriting. She is the founder and artistic director of the Georgia Mountain Theatre Company and the founder and former artistic director of the Florida Shakespeare Festival, as well as an artist in education with the state of Georgia. A professional stage director and lyricist, Deschamps has directed more than 100 plays and musicals and has created lyrics for a variety of productions.

The troupe’s producing director, Robert H. Deschamps, is also a playwright, set designer and author. In addition to his novel “The Bonn Conspiracy,” he recently completed the translation and book for a new musical based on French author Jean Baptiste Molière’s “The Doctor in Spite of Himself.” He has written and co-written adaptations of several plays, and he and Gail Deschamps wrote the musical, book and lyrics for “The Adventures of Lewis and Clark.”

Tickets for this exciting new production are $7 for adults, $5 for senior citizens, $3 for children and free for UWG students. For more information or reservations, contact the Townsend Center Box Office at 770-836-6694. For information about the Townsend Center, visit www.townsendcenter.org.

-30-