MACON – The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced that Page Morton Hunter Professor of English at Mercer University Dr. Andrew Silver will receive one of the competitive Grants for Arts Projects (GAP) to produce his play IV: Our Lives.
Dr. Silver’s award is part of $27,562,040 awarded by the NEA in this round of FY2021 funding across 14 artistic disciplines to artists in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The $10,000 award is to support the touring and development of a new documentary theater piece about those living with metastatic breast cancer.
Crafted from interviews with 116 people living with metastatic breast cancer, and performed by metastatic patients, IV: Our Lives conveys how metastatic breast cancer can alter lives. Representing the voices of metastatic breast cancer patients, spouses, caretakers, and children accurately has been a major undertaking for Dr. Silver, who noted that, “Their rapport with the play and with each other has been transformational.”
Additionally, a professional video documentary will be produced simultaneously. According to the grant application, filming the project will ensure the project reaches those who cannot physically attend performances, extending the audience beyond the theater.
About the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Mercer University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences serves as the academic cornerstone of one of America’s oldest and most distinctive institutions of higher learning. The oldest and largest of Mercer’s 12 schools and colleges, it is a diverse and vibrant community, enrolling more than 1,900 students, dedicated to learning and service through the practice of intellectual curiosity, respectful dialogue and responsible citizenry. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers majors in more than 30 areas of study, including more than a dozen pre-professional academic tracks, with classes taught by an outstanding faculty of scholars. In 2015, Mercer was awarded a chapter of The Phi Beta Kappa Society, the nation’s most prestigious academic honor society that recognizes exceptional achievement in the arts and sciences. For more information, visit liberalarts.mercer.edu.
