{"id":27127,"date":"2018-11-07T08:46:07","date_gmt":"2018-11-07T13:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=27127"},"modified":"2024-07-02T16:57:23","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T16:57:23","slug":"allison-ruvidich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=27127","title":{"rendered":"Shining a spotlight on the untold story of a Carolina playwright"},"content":{"rendered":"

Junior<\/i>\u00a0Allison\u00a0<\/i>Ruvidich<\/i>\u00a0<\/b>spent a summer researching the<\/i>\u00a0<\/i><\/b>life and contributions of Elizabeth Lay Green, the wife of beloved playwright Paul Green. She found that Elizabeth was an accomplished poet and playwright herself; she wrote the first play performed by the Carolina Playmakers. Yet her historical contributions are not well-known or celebrated.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

\"Allison
Allison Ruvidich, pictured outside of Historic Playmakers Theatre. (Photo courtesy of Endeavors).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

For\u00a0junior\u00a0English and classics major\u00a0Allison\u00a0Ruvidich, an\u00a0assignment\u00a0for\u00a0her\u00a0\u201cApproaches to Drama\u201d\u00a0class turned into something far greater\u00a0\u2014\u00a0a\u00a0desire to\u00a0uncover the life of a\u00a0Carolina playwright\u00a0whose contributions were overshadowed\u00a0by\u00a0the achievements\u00a0of\u00a0her more famous husband.<\/p>\n

While initially looking for information on\u00a0Twelfth Night<\/i>\u00a0for\u00a0a\u00a0research paper,\u00a0Ruvidich\u00a0repeatedly\u00a0stumbled\u00a0across the names Elizabeth and Paul Green while\u00a0searching\u00a0through\u00a0historical\u00a0documents\u00a0about the Carolina Playmakers. Intrigued, she\u00a0decided to dive deeper.<\/p>\n

She\u00a0applied for\u00a0a\u00a0Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)\u00a0from the Office for Undergraduate Research\u00a0and spent\u00a0last\u00a0summer\u00a0researching the life of\u00a0Elizabeth\u00a0Lay\u00a0Green, the wife of Carolina playwright and faculty member Paul Green.\u00a0Although Elizabeth\u2019s accomplishments were\u00a0largely unremembered, her contributions to the University are significant,\u00a0Ruvidich\u00a0found.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth\u00a0Lay\u00a0attended UNC from 1917-1920\u00a0\u2014\u00a0a time when less than 20 women\u00a0were students at\u00a0the University.\u00a0She\u00a0received both an undergraduate and a master\u2019s degree from UNC, and was considered a gifted playwright by\u00a0Frederick\u00a0\u201cProff\u201d\u00a0Koch, a dramatic literature professor who founded the\u00a0Carolina Playmakers.\u00a0She was the author of the first\u00a0play \u2014\u00a0When<\/i>\u00a0Witches Ride<\/i>\u00a0\u2014 performed by the theater troupe.\u00a0Aside from playwriting, Elizabeth was also a writer for\u00a0T<\/i>he Daily Tar Heel.<\/i>\u00a0Elizabeth\u00a0later\u00a0married Paul Green, who was an up-and-coming playwright. As Elizabeth settled into her expected duties as a wife, she took more of a clerical role as her\u00a0husband\u2019s fame rose.\u00a0Although\u00a0she contributed to Paul\u2019s success as a writer, many of her\u00a0accomplishments,\u00a0including the poetry that she wrote for her husband\u2019s plays,\u00a0were historically erased.<\/p>\n

Inspired to\u00a0find\u00a0more information about\u00a0the life of Elizabeth, and her contributions to the University,\u00a0Ruvidich\u00a0explored\u00a0the Paul Green Collection in Wilson Library,\u00a0where she\u00a0discovered\u00a0letters\u00a0written by both Paul and Elizabeth, interviews that Elizabeth conducted with her daughter, and newsletters that Elizabeth wrote for her family.\u00a0According to\u00a0Ruvidich,\u00a0Elizabeth\u2019s\u00a0documents\u00a0are\u00a0reflective of important moments in our state\u2019s history,\u00a0as\u00a0she\u00a0wrote about topics such as the lives of women in the South and World War\u00a0I.<\/p>\n

Ruvidich\u00a0would love to see others realize the value\u00a0of Elizabeth\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis project was meaningful to me because it was about the history of my school,\u201d she said. \u201cElizabeth Lay Green\u00a0was an English major, like me.\u00a0In terms of recognition, she deserved better than what she received.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it might seem\u00a0daunting to take on a big research project,\u00a0Ruvidich\u00a0said she\u00a0found much support from faculty and UNC librarians.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many people want to help you, and they believe in your research,\u201d\u00a0she\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

Ruvidich\u2019s\u00a0advisers on the SURF project were James Leloudis, professor of history\u00a0and associate dean for Honors, and\u00a0Cecelia Moore, university historian. Moore, who is also project manager of the Chancellor\u2019s Task Force\u00a0on UNC-Chapel Hill History,\u00a0did her doctoral research on the Carolina Playmakers and has published a book about the early years.\u00a0She\u00a0assisted\u00a0Ruvidich\u00a0in finding documentation on Elizabeth.<\/p>\n

\u201cAllison is a self-motivated and thoughtful student, Moore said. \u201cShe cares about her research subjects as people and is curious about what happened to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruvidich\u00a0said she\u00a0is indebted to\u00a0the Office for Undergraduate Research\u00a0for\u00a0supporting\u00a0her project.\u00a0She also had the chance to interact with faculty, who took\u00a0her\u00a0work\u00a0seriously and\u00a0provided her with helpful feedback.<\/p>\n

She wants to light a spark to encourage all students to get involved in undergraduate research.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s an internship, an interview or a career, you never know what doors research will open,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

By Lauryn Rivers \u201921\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Junior\u00a0Allison\u00a0Ruvidich\u00a0spent a summer researching the\u00a0life and contributions of Elizabeth Lay Green, the wife of beloved playwright Paul Green. 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