{"id":13711,"date":"2016-05-11T09:06:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-11T14:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=13711"},"modified":"2024-07-02T16:28:27","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T16:28:27","slug":"ardeo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=13711","title":{"rendered":"‘ARDEO’ explores stories of burn survivors, care providers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Foreground,
Foreground, from left: Kathryn Hunter-Williams and Jacqueline Lawton in rehearsals for ‘ARDEO’ at the UNC School of the Arts. (photo by Christine Rucker)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

UNC assistant professor of dramatic art and playwright Jacqueline Lawton<\/a> has always had an appreciation for the crossroads of art and science, a theme that repeatedly finds its way into her work.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me science is a natural connection to the arts and to playwriting because it\u2019s about discovery,\u201d said Lawton, who is also a dramaturg for PlayMakers Repertory Company. \u201cI grew up in a farm community in east Texas, and I was always digging around in the dirt and exploring the world around me. Even now, I look out my window and see the luscious, gorgeous green. It\u2019s science, but it\u2019s also art. When I write plays, it\u2019s always in response to a connection about the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

A staged reading of her latest one-act play, ARDEO <\/em>(Latin for \u201cto burn\u201d), will be showcased May 14 and 15 at the UNC School of the Arts and UNC-Chapel Hill. In partnership with Bruce Cairns, chair of the faculty and director of the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center<\/a> at UNC Hospitals, and with support from an inaugural Kenan Creative Collaboratory Grant<\/a>, she will tell the stories of burn survivors and their care providers \u2014 chaplains, nurses, doctors, social workers and family members.<\/p>\n

\"Lawton
Lawton collaborated with the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center through a Kenan Creative Collaboratory Grant to conduct interviews for ‘ARDEO.’ (photo by Christine Rucker)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stories like burn survivor Sharon Thompson-Journigan\u2019s:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMy burns are the result of domestic violence, which led to me being set on fire at the age of 23. At this time in my life, I was already struggling with self-esteem issues. When I got burned, they took me to the hospital in Lumberton, but my burns were so severe. The next thing I remember was that my family was around me. I thought I was dying. Next thing I know, I woke up at UNC-Chapel Hill. My brother was standing over me, and he reminded me about my son, Brandon, and baby girl, Trina. He said, \u2018You\u2019ve got to live.\u2019 \u2026 The [Burn Center] team was so supportive. I never had anybody say you are beautiful and smart. They empowered me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Thompson-Journigan went on to receive her bachelor\u2019s degree in social work from Shaw University and is working on a master\u2019s in divinity degree from Campbell University. She also started a church, Integrity Ministries, which has attracted young people around the same age she was when she almost lost her life. The phrase \u201cI\u2019m Over It\u201d and the verse Philippians 3:13 in her email signature are a motto for her journey: \u201cBrothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stories like burn survivor Conny Morrison\u2019s:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cA couple of weeks before I was supposed to go to college in Massachusetts, I was making doughnuts and the grease caught on fire; when I was in the process of trying to put it out, grease splattered on my arm and foot. I was burned on only 4 percent of my body, but I was hospitalized at the Burn Center to undergo two surgeries on my arm, hand and foot. I almost didn\u2019t make it to college that semester but I was really determined to go, so Dr. Cairns communicated with my school, allowing me to start that fall. At the time, it was hard, but I feel really lucky because you see what you can live through. You feel strength and confidence in overcoming a difficult experience.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\"From
From left, burn survivor Blake Tedder and Chaplain Shirley Massey at the 2016 Burn Survivors Adult Reunion, with the theme, ‘Celebration of Life.’ (photo courtesy of North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During her undergraduate career, Morrison traveled to Uganda where she worked with burn survivors in Kampala. She also volunteered at burn survivor camps in North Carolina for children, teens and families. She will begin medical school this fall at UNC.<\/p>\n

Stories like Burn Center chaplain Shirley Massey\u2019s:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in Virginia in a family of seven children. We were farmers, and my dad worked in a cotton mill. The church became the center of my world, and I grew in my relationship to God. I was one of the only ones in my family to go to college, to Averett University in Danville, Va. I graduated with an undergraduate degree in religion and philosophy and later went on to earn a master\u2019s of divinity degree through the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. I\u2019m ordained as a minister and board certified through the association of professional chaplains. \u2026 In Matthew 7:7 it says \u2018Knock and the door shall be opened, seek and you shall find, ask and you shall receive.\u2019 That\u2019s been my philosophy of life. I moved into this, and it became a great fit. I\u2019ve mentored a lot survivors. To recover from a burn injury is a life journey<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Massey has been a chaplain at the Burn Center for almost 30 years. She directs the Center\u2019s Adult aftercare programs which include the annual adult reunion and adult retreat and supervises the peer support program. She just hosted her 15th burn survivors\u2019 retreat and in November will host the 25th reunion. In early 2000, she worked with the Phoenix Society, the national support organization for burn survivors, on developing a peer support program called SOAR (Survivors Offering Assistance in Recovery). Both Thompson-Journigan and Morrison have volunteered with SOAR.<\/p>\n

Stories and the healing power of narrative medicine<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Lawton
Lawton has always been attracted to themes at the crossroads of art and science. (photo by Christine Rucker)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lawton said she learned through Cairns and her interviews with burn survivors and care providers that burns are a great equalizer. \u201cThey impact you no matter who you are in terms of race, religious, class or age. It doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

She believes in the power of narrative medicine \u2014 the idea of patients telling their stories, listening to their bodies and becoming empowered in their journey toward recovery. And theater is the perfect venue for that to happen, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith theater, we are capturing stories and lifting them up,\u201d said Lawton, who teaches classes in playwriting and theater for social change. \u201cWe know that theater is a great place to bring communities together, and it\u2019s a great place to raise awareness around issues, to offer information and a space where debate can happen and we can talk about what\u2019s right and wrong. Theater is powerful because we\u2019re able to examine the human condition, and there is such potential for empathy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"UNC
UNC School of the Arts students will be featured in the staged readings May 14 and 15. (photo by Christine Rucker)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nicole Damari is a first-year-medical student at UNC with a long-standing interest in theater. She took Lawton\u2019s playwriting class last fall, became interested in her ARDEO <\/em>project, and offered to help conduct some of the interviews for the play. Learning about burn survivors\u2019 stories, particularly their relationships with their health care providers, was a valuable experience as she develops her clinical skills, Damari said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving the opportunity to work at the intersection of medicine and the arts and to work on a social justice issue that will hopefully reduce stigma and improve health outcomes for people who have experienced burn injuries \u2014 that really drew me to the project,\u201d Damari added.<\/p>\n

Cairns said the ARDEO project is a great example of collaboration with the College of Arts and Sciences, and he hopes it will be a springboard for other ideas.<\/p>\n

\"From
From left, Larry Kepley, a firefighter; Marissa Bane, a burn survivor and UNC student; Bruce Cairns, director of the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center; and Chaplain Shirley Massey. (photo courtesy of North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cSometimes it\u2019s only through the arts and humanities that one can express what it means to be human, experience a burn injury and then live as a burn survivor,\u201d he said. \u201cIn addition to dramatic art, we\u2019ve worked with other units including the African, African American and Diaspora Studies department on burn center work we are doing in Malawi. I strongly believe it is important to work with other units across campus, and especially with the College because it has so much to offer. It\u2019s through these experiences that we fully understand and can successfully address the biggest problems in society.\u201d<\/p>\n

The free staged reading and post-show discussion of ARDEO<\/em> will be performed at the <\/strong>UNC School of the Arts\u2019 Catawba Theatre<\/strong> May 14 at 7 p.m. and at <\/strong>UNC-Chapel Hill\u2019s Kenan Theatre in the Center for Dramatic Art<\/strong><\/a> May 15 at 3 p.m. UNC School of the Arts students will be featured in the performance, which will be directed by UNC dramatic art lecturer and PlayMakers Repertory Company member Kathryn Hunter-Williams.<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Kim Weaver Spurr \u201888, UNC College of Arts and Sciences
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A staged reading of ‘ARDEO’ by playwright Jacqueline Lawton May 14 and 15 will tell the stories of burn survivors and their care providers \u2014 chaplains, nurses, doctors, social workers and family 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