UpDate - Vol. 14, No. 13, Page 4
December 1, 1994
AIDS benefit tonight on campus

     The University community is invited to an evening of skits and
entertainment tonight by the Not Quite Ready for Bed Players-a student
group of volunteer actors and actresses whose mission is AIDS
education on campus.
     The group is one of several campus organizations performing in an
AIDS benefit in observation of World AIDS Day. The program will be
held at 7:30 tonight at Pearson Hall. Admission is free, although
there will be a wishing well for donations to aid Delaware families
with HIV and AIDS.
     In addition to the skits, the D Sharps, the Deltones, Hen
Harmonics and a step dance group from Sigma Gamma Rho are among those
who will perform, according to student Patricia Watt, an organizer of
the event and a member of the players.
     Directly after the benefit, a candlelight vigil commemorating
World AIDS Day will be held south of Memorial Hall, sponsored by Queer
Campus; Students Against Racism and Discrimination and Students for
Awareness.
     Every five minutes someone dies of AIDS, and one of every 250
college students tested, tests positively for HIV, Watt pointed out
     The Not Quite Ready for Bed Players performs weekly in residence
halls and has received the National Association of Student Personnel
Administrators Region II Innovative Program Award and an invitation to
perform at the organization's conference next summer, according to T.
Scott Cawood, area coordinator of residence life.
     The concept of the Not Quite Ready for Bed Players originated at
the University of Massachusetts, where Cawood formerly was a residence
director. When he came to Delaware, he became involved in AIDS and HIV
counseling through Wellspring and felt there was a need for further
AIDS education on campus. With the permission of the Massachusetts
group, the concept was imported here as a basis for the Delaware
players' programs.
     Approximately 18 students, under the direction of Cawood and
resident assistant Leah LaValle, are involved in the project. They
have presented hour-long programs in residence halls last year and
this semester.
     The performances consist of short vignettes that deal with such
topics as hang-ups about using correct biological terms, date rape,
barrier methods to prevent the transmission of sexual diseases,
condoms and abstinence, plus soliloquies about how it feels to be
tested positive for HIV or telling your parents you have AIDS. The
players themselves feel the program is important and educates in a
nonthreatening way, and audience reaction and feedback have been
positive, Watt said.
     Student Joyce Fedena joined the players to help educate people
about sex and protection.
     "By discussing this information in a theatre medium, we give
people something to laugh and cry about. The audience feels something
instead of words just passing in one ear and out the other. I hope one
day programs like ours will not be necessary," she said.
                                                   -Sue Swyers Moncure