Bravo! Encore! & More!

The Official Word:
June 5, 2009

Bravo!
Friends of the late Gary Smith have been working at a feverish pace the past several weeks to put together the finishing touches for a lasting tribute to their colleague and co-worker. Smith, the longtime photographer for the Maryland Independent, passed away unexpectedly in January.

Wanting to pay homage to this talented photojournalist, a dozen or so of his friends have pulled together a collection of the rich legacy that Smith produced during his 23 years of working at the newspaper. The result is a gallery exhibit of about 300 images that reflects Smith’s unique talent to capture the daily life and milestone moments of our community.

“Ordinary Days: Extraordinary Moments: Charles County through the Lens of Gary Smith” will be featured in the College of Southern Maryland’s Tony Hungerford Memorial Art Gallery throughout the summer beginning June 15.

“I would hope people come away from this show with an appreciation of just how much enthusiasm Gary brought to his job, and how much attention he paid to the details of his craft,” said James Hettinger, who worked with Smith as a reporter in the late 1980s and later as a managing editor at the Maryland Independent.

Smith’s friends who collaborated in creating the show have also worked with Smith’s wife Linda to ensure a lasting tribute is established in his honor, the Gary D. Smith Memorial Scholarship.
It’s an encore performance of Smith’s work that you won’t want to miss, made possible by a network of communicators who considered him to be a cherished friend.

Encore!
This summer gallery show replaces the annual showcase of another talented producer of extraordinary moments, C. Emmitt Woodey, the longtime technical director at CSM. Well-known and respected throughout Southern Maryland networks and beyond, Woodey has introduced hundreds of audiences, young and old alike, to the intricacies of community theater. His summer gallery show of “Imagineering” would feature the behind-the-scene work that went into creating the theater magic at the college’s Fine Arts Center as gallery-goers could view up-close examples of scene sketches and designs, elaborate costumes and props, and show notations.

Through his efforts youngsters learned proper audience etiquette, kids explored stage presence and make-up techniques, and aspiring thespians sampled the stage with veteran performers. The final curtain falls on his productions at CSM in June when Woodey retires from the college. During a recent farewell reception with co-workers, he received well-deserved “bravos” for his vision and efforts to share the magic of theater.

PR Tip of the Month
Take a moment today to extend your “bravos” to fellow communicators for their stellar performances.