Campus News

OLLI@UGA, Piedmont College to produce play about Georgia author Lillian Smith

In partnership with Piedmont College, OLLI@UGA will host a one-woman show about Georgia author Lillian Smith.

Atlanta actress Brenda Bynum will portray Smith in the production to be held Sept. 18 at 3 p.m. at Piedmont College’s Meeting House auditorium, 595 Prince Ave. The play, Jordan is So Chilly: An Encounter with Lillian E. Smith, is open free to the public.

At the behest of Smith’s niece, Nancy Smith Fichter, Bynum developed the play based on the writings and dialogue from Lillian Smith, who died in 1966. During her life, Smith actively supported the civil rights movement in America by publishing books and promoting actions that would end segregation and accord full civil rights to all citizens.

Smith had strong ties to Athens as a student and speaker at Piedmont College, and many of her papers are housed in UGA’s special collections libraries.

A longtime actor and director, Bynum was a resident artist and member of the theater studies faculty at Emory University for 17 years. In 2015, she received the Governor’s Award for the Arts and Humanities.

For more information about this performance, visit www.OLLI.uga.edu.