- Broadway.

Here we come.

That's what some youngsters are saying who are cheered to be members of the Hurrah players.

We'll watch them at work and play 200 years after the Battle of Yorktown.

We're still learning details about it.

We'll bring them back from underwater.

We'll also have an unusual music video by Jerry Ante.

Now here's your host, Vianne Webb.

- Welcome to our place our time.

For almost 20 years, Hugh Rayford Copeland has directed a children's theater group that he calls after his own first two names.

The Hurrah Players Copeland started the group first in a single high school and then it became a citywide theater company.

Now the Hurrah players will take two of their productions to London, England.

I'll talk with Hugh Copeland and one of the Hurrah players in a few minutes.

But first we'll visit the player's school and a rehearsal.

Kim Simon prepared this background report for us.

- Mary, step forward.

What do you consider your performing strengths?

- Acting?

- What are your weaknesses?

- Well, I'm not very good at dancing.

- Do you think you can prove that?

- I think so.

- Where would you like to be in eight years?

- Eight years.

Broadway.

- Richie, would you step forward please?

Richie, why are you special?

- Well, I, I feel my, my voice is one of my strong points and dancing them.

I say I'm okay.

- What is your emotional weakness?

- Well, I get my temper gets set off quick.

- And where would you like to be in eight years?

- Definitely on Broadway.

- Okay, thank you.

Whitney, why are you special?

- Because I can take responsibility and if somebody gives me something to do, I can do it.

- And what do you think needs to be developed?

- My acting and dancing skills more.

And - Where would you like to be in eight years?

- Teaching in a university and directing.

- Thank - You.

Lindsay, would you step These - Kids aren't auditioning, they're acting though some will choose to pursue professional careers in theater and film as have done their peers in the past, but now they are students of the Hurrah Academy Children learning the ins and outs of theater and what it takes to become a performing artist.

- And why are you special?

- The Academy is an afterschool school with extracurricular demand placed on the students, but they don't seem to mind, - Usually you have to do your homework in a hurry.

When you come home from school and you don't have time to be with some of your school friends, you find not having much time with them at all, which makes them pretty mad sometimes.

But usually, you know, your life's kind of in a rush, but you enjoy it because you, you're doing something that you love to do even though it's hard work.

- Housed in the basement of the Gantt Methodist Church.

In Norfolk.

Hurrah Players Incorporated attracts aspiring young actors, singers, dancers, and theater enthusiasts from all over Hampton Roads as a theatrical company.

They have made a name for themselves in the community, although best known for their popular main stage performances and their participation in public service events.

The Harrah Company isn't just about opening nights and curtain calls.

It is an academy.

- The academy is to show kids that theater is a craft.

So many kids stay.

I want to be in a show, I want to be in a play.

And you great.

Now let's study.

Let's see, let's get you ready to be in a play.

And it really is a shock for a lot of kids because they go to see actors in plays and they do not realize that's a process, a creating - Process.

Hug Copeland is founder and artistic director of the Hurrah players.

According to his kids.

He is an integral part of the hurrah experience, both professionally and personally.

- Hugh works us hard and he's real tough on us, but in the end we all love him for it and we respect him a lot no matter what he tells us or if he, if he insults us sometimes, which he doesn't a lot, but we still love him for it and we respect him.

- Well, he is a nice guy and to me, he's my father, my best friend, everybody.

- Sometimes he comes in a monster because he has a bad day sometimes he just has a bad day - To us.

He's not an adult, he's just like another kid.

And the thing about it is he treats us as if each one of us, no matter how old we are, he treats us as if we're the same age as he is and he treats us like he knows that we can get the job done and he gives us responsibilities.

- Kids want to do well and if you don't expect a lot, they're gonna be disappointed in you.

That was one of the earliest things I learned.

They don't want to be slacked, I want be demanding, expect a lot.

Therefore they're gonna achieve more than they ever thought they were gonna be.

They're gonna be impressed with themselves.

The audiences are gonna be impressed with them as performance and it's a, and it's a cycle.

And I think the key is expect a lot and then help them get there.

- You and Polly work with you a lot and they stay with you and they're more than just your director.

They're friends, - Music director, Polly Martin and acting instructor, Vera Stilling, like you relate to their students on a professional level.

In the Hurrah players there are no age barriers as there are no racial or socioeconomic distinctions.

- We don't see color.

I see us as a group out on the stage trying to get something across, trying to entertain people.

I don't think that's how most people feel about the raw players as a family, - I see the kids grow, I see that talents grow, but surprisingly to a lot of people, I see them grow as individuals relating to themselves more profoundly.

They relate to each other, their peers on a more personal caring basis.

They relate to adults as people they can talk to, not listen to, but share conversation and communication with.

And I think they're more aware of issues, current issues since they have to analyze scripts and have to analyze their characters in a play and makes them them more aware of society and of how they fit in society.

- After the classes are finished, the lines memorized, the dance routines rehearsed the work behind them, the rah players are still children, kids having fun.

- I've always had this theory that theater is like, it's like a champagne bottle.

Like you go out and buy it and you're working on it.

And when you go on stage it's like the court comes out, it all flows out and you're doing it all and it's so great.

And then like the champagne's all gone and you're sad because it's all gone like the show's over.

But you know that you've done something fun and you've really worked on it.

- Hugh Copeland and Kelly McClung are our guest on today's Our Place, our Time, and I'm delighted to welcome you.

- Thank you.

We're glad to be - Here.

My first question to you that you could each ask answer, I hope from your own point of view is why do you think Hurrah players has worked so well after 20 years?

- Do you have an answer for that - On to the second question?

- I have an answer to that.

I think it's worked well because kids are eager to learn and without, as I've said before, without necessarily realizing why they realize that they are making progress with their talents.

And not only that, but they relate to others and they understand more about their themselves through it.

- You're the founder of Harrah players.

Yes.

That goes back 20 years ago.

- Yes.

- And I know that in formalized structure you thought of an academy that it wasn't just dropping by and taking part in a play and you need to address that for us, I think.

But is it also Kelly?

I think what Hugh's talking about the natural ability that young people have to relate to people.

- I think so.

And a lot of kids and a lot of my friends I knew have the wants to be on TV and be on theater and work for that.

And when we're the harrah players gives us a chance to bring that out and learn - Because the learning is the key factor, - Right.

And the most of what we see is the finished product on the stage.

Exactly.

But tell us about the academy itself and that whole - Philosophical Well, I think the reason that it is unique is, is simply that element.

Kids do study.

We have an academy, Kelly is one of the students who studies daily and they take things from stage diction to vocal training to acting to musical theater and doing that whole process.

Then we eventually audition and work on shows, but also the studying is the foundation of which they realize their talents and realize how they apply their talents.

- Does it also, you think Kelly and Hugh have to do with the way you approach plays that the sophistication you're, you're taking fairytales pieces of that sort, but you're doing them in a very sophisticated, more updated way.

Do you think that has something to do with it?

- Your approach?

I'm sure it does the - Presentation - Because in acting classes we interpret and they use lot of improvisational studies in their classes.

So they apply those feelings and the relationships, any relationship.

Kelly just finished a role where she has to relate to a mother who doesn't understand her even though she didn't live in 1284.

As Hamlin takes place, she relates in improvisations to mother situations we may play and real life situations.

So she realizes the trans over crossover from life to theater.

- You're going to New York and to London as well?

- Yes.

- How will the approach be the same?

Are you playing for students your own age?

- Yes, we do.

We play, we do.

We play for schools in London and also we are arranging a hospital performance and then a theater performance.

There's a community sort theater there that we'll be sharing our talents with.

And in New York we play generally situations that relate basically to our water side where there audiences gather to watch us at lunchtimes.

So it's informal New York performances.

We've done some national TV spots from New York, but again, they're basically discussing what we're doing here in Virginia because some people find it still unique that we have students ages five through adult who give of that time daily all year.

We're not just seasonal to study theater.

- I think that is unique, don't you?

I don't know about your friends who've gone on to college theater courses.

It is rare to find an approach to children's theater even coming out of a a full university drama curriculum.

Well, Catholic, the material is difficult to come by.

For - Example, lives near the North Carolina line of Chesapeake and she and her parents see it important enough that she drives daily into us in Norfolk to take these classes.

- But I think it's also the, the person that you're dealing with.

If I didn't have enough interest in theater and wanting to learn theater and also become a profession, then I don't think you'd really have the will to wanna go 30 miles a day to practice and learn.

- So no, I don't think you would either.

What then accounts for the younger students that are, are there because a parent was interested enough.

You think?

See, I happen to be a believer that that young people take so naturally to the stage that I wish they were a stronger part of the curriculum.

- When they're young you have to have the parental support.

But it's amazing that I, I find it amazing.

I have six and seven year olds who respond to this learning process and you see the self-discipline, the stage discipline grow with each class and each session of classes - And improvisation comes naturally.

- Yes, yes.

They love to play tend as they call it.

- Oh yeah, yeah.

It's very, they do that naturally in their play.

Anyway, congratulations to you on this trip to London.

In our closing minutes.

Tell us something about it because the impact of the raw players throughout this area has been so strong over the 20 years.

We're delighted it's going to London.

- Well thank you.

We, we have, we won last year.

If we can boast a little at 12 state theater conference.

It was a southeastern theater conference and Kel students won that and this year we were featured with the State Theater Conference Virginia, and last year we went to Washington for Congressman Whitehurst Retirement and we performed there and as I said in New York.

So we've continued and we've had people help us grow and with our support to, to let people know about us.

And so that's actually in London we'll be performing as well as seeing and studying theater there also.

- Well, it's a delight to have had you on the program.

It's our pleasure.

I think those of you who have not had a chance to see the hurrah players ought to talk to some of your children, see if they can get you in.

It's well worth seeing.

We're entering one of the busiest times of the art season, so I hope you'll mark your calendar because here are our choice events coming up in the next week.

The Battle of Yorktown, as every school child knows, brought an end to the Revolutionary War.

The battle has been lauded in song and story, but we are still learning today about tales of the momentous events, thanks to some clever and determined archeological work, much of it taking place underwater in the murky depths of the York River.

We're gaining a clearer picture of the role ships played in the Yorktown battle.

Don Jeffries tells us a story about an old and familiar event on which scientists are casting new light.

- Diane, in September of 1781, Lord Cornwallis faced a desperate predicament, the combined American and French armies under Washington and Lafayette after marching south from New Jersey, encircled Yorktown on three sides.

Meanwhile, the British fleet sailing from New York to join Cornwall was turned back by the guns of the French fleet during the battle of the capes.

This left the French masters of the Chesapeake and Cornwallis completely encircled Yorktown shipwreck, project director John Broadwater - Cornwallis realized his plight that he now was facing a siege, but he also was facing the possibility that the French could come in and launch an an amphibious attack on his beach.

So he ordered that at least a dozen or maybe even more of his transport vessels be lined up along the beach parallel to shore and purposely sunk or scuttled there.

When we conducted our survey in 1978 and 1979, we were able to relocate nine of these vessels, seven along the Yorktown shore, two on the Gloucester shore.

And so our archeological has centered since 1983 on one particular vessel.

It seemed to be the best preserved of the rest.

We don't know its name, it goes by its archeological site number 44 Y oh 88.

Our big problem was the water in the York River is not very conducive to proper archeology.

The visibility is near zero most of the time there's strong currents.

We have our friends, the stinging nettles that come in for the summer and and hamper dive operations.

- They would solve these problems with an idea never before tried.

In underwater archeology, they would surround the shipwreck with a steel enclosure, isolating the ship from the surrounding water, then filter the water with commercial swimming pool filters.

An idea more easily described than accomplished John Broadwater - Since it was a pioneering effort, nobody had done it before.

We ran into quite a few problems.

But the main problem seems to be that the York River being brackish water and containing all sorts of living organisms, in addition to silt, was almost impossible to treat by normal means.

So we had to experiment with all sorts of things.

One of the things that we tried was to decrease the amount of of water that seeped in with the changing of the tides by putting a pool liner essentially inside the walls of the coffer dam.

It did help, but again, it left, it left some water seepage still to contend with.

So all the, all the efforts together though finally combined to produce clear water and and really enhance the the quality of the excavation.

- Billy Ray Morris is assistant director for excavation.

- We had the site divided into five foot squares, which would was a tool for referencing.

And we also had a physical grid made of PVC pipe that acted as scaffolding as well as a reference point in our excavation, diving operations were carried out with two different types of air supply systems.

We used a surface supplied air system that ran through a filter bank and was powered by a compressor, which ran to four wheels of hose that went out to the divers.

And we also had divers working on scuba tank.

We use an airlift, which is actually an underwater vacuum cleaner to remove the clay and overburden.

We worked in a cycle where we would dig in several adjacent squares until we'd exposed enough timbers and artifacts to tag them and then record 'em all to scale and in detail on a mile R slate.

Once that had been done and everything was positioned for reference, we were able to remove the artifacts and carry them up to the surface where we could decide whether we were gonna draw them and redeposit 'em or send 'em off to the lab for further study and conservation.

- Marcy Renner is assistant director for Conservation - Conserv.

One of the advantages to an underwater site as opposed to a land site, is that we get excellent organic preservation.

Things like wood and leather and hemp that you just don't get on land sites around here are preserved in the underwater environment.

This presents a sort of a problem for conservation because it's such a large scale effort.

So when the artifacts are brought up, they have to be kept wet.

They're transported immediately to the conservation lab.

Then depending on the type of material, one of of numerous types of of treatments will be performed.

On the artifact, we've got probably two dozen complete bottles.

And the most important thing in glass conservation is removing the chlorides from the glass.

So we soak them in deionized water until all the chlorides are gone.

Then we dehydrate them in acetone or ethanol and then seal 'em in an acrylic like cryon.

- Billy Ray Morris, - The Kaf Dam in New York River provided us with a protected environment and it provided an excellent teaching environment as well as a protected environment to do archeology.

East Carolina brought up their graduate program in maritime history and underwater research for a field school during the summer and also for a fall research semester.

They were able to bring eight students each time and provide us with invaluable assistance.

And in turn, they were taught the basic precepts and concepts of underwater archeology.

Two of more unique features that we found in Midships this year were three chambered pump box, which ran all the way down into the builds with the lead pipe still intact.

This was used to drain the vessel of water that had floated into the bilges and fairly close to that we found three intact cask filled with musket balls for the standard British brown best musket, 75 caliber.

- We've got so many from, from those three casks that we found that basically I'm just removing the chlorides from them by boiling them than sealing 'em in a microcrystalline wax.

- In the course of our excavation, one of the more unique and interesting artifacts that we came across was a gun carriage that had possibly been sent to be repaired by the carpenter on board.

- The canning carriage that we recovered is a very interesting artifact.

It's got wood components and iron components, so that makes it much harder for conservation.

It also turned out to be in much better shape than we anticipated.

We thought that when we brought it up, the iron would be so badly deteriorated that the thing would just come apart.

But we, when we tried to take it apart, it wouldn't come apart.

So a treatment that I do for the wood was going to have to be compatible for the iron and vice versa.

Okay, why?

Why don't we do the front wheel now?

Alright, - When the frigid water of the York makes diving too uncomfortable, there is still much to do.

Measuring according and contemplating the thousands of artifacts recovered from 44 y 88.

- Okay, and what's the diameter of the hole?

The - Diameter of the hole is 0.27.

- Is this the wheel that the x-rays show maybe hollow?

- The x-ray does, but looking at it now, the grain doesn't seem to indicate that this was a hollow wheel.

We're gonna have to go through this to make sure, 'cause that would be pretty unusual to have a hollow wheel on a gun carriage.

- Okay, - And 44 y oh 88 yielded up.

Still another unique secret, Billy Ray.

- This is a knot to scale sketch to illustrate a typical frame on this vessel.

It represents a midship frame and a frame.

A made frame consists of a floor which crosses the center line of the vessel, which consists of the keel or backbone of the vessel.

And then scarf chalked or attached to these floors are the buttocks which form the sides that curve up to make the hull of the ship.

These are the frames of the vessel or the ribs.

And the unique feature of this vessel is that every other frame only comes to within a foot of the keel.

This is very unique and is the first time that anybody's ever documented construction of this type.

- John Broadwater has managed to utilize the latest in computerated technology on the project.

What - One of the things we did right at the very end of the excavation when the hull was completely uncovered, was we used a new technology called Sharps.

It's a sonic positioning system that records the data electronically.

The data is then transferred directly from an onsite computer to a larger computer at Advanced Marine Enterprises in Virginia Beach.

This company has donated computer time to us and also operator time.

And what we'll end up with is a complete description of the ship on on these computer generated drawings.

And so at any later time people can look at these drawings, know exactly how the ship was constructed, what its shape was, but we've completed the excavation.

Now the field work is done, but really we have quite a bit of work left to do because we've dug up the ship, we have the artifacts, we have a lot of information, we've developed a lot of theories, but there's a considerable amount of analysis left to be done.

We've recovered thousands of artifacts and all of these have to be properly preserved and hopefully at the, at the end, we'll have a good publication that'll describe all of this.

A good exhibit and a lot more knowledge about 18th century seafaring.

- The sad fact is that since Don Jeffrey shot this story in February, the state of Virginia has cut the Yorktown Archeology Project out of the budget.

Unless a new fundraising effort is successful, come the end of June, there will be no one on the payroll to conserve the artifacts, perform the analysis, write the reports, prepare publications or set up exhibits, informing the public about this moment of our historical heritage and what of other ships.

No doubt the York River will hold their secrets well into the future.

Incidentally, the British haven't forgotten the battle of Yorktown.

The sophisticated technology the scientists are using to recover the ships in the York River will be a subject of the outstanding BBC produced program discoveries underwater.

Monday night at nine.

Here on WHRO television, we've all seen music videos, commercials, and parts of programs on television that are made with the helping technology of computers.

What might happen though, if you were to combine the vast range of electronic techniques we have with the spontaneity of a live performance of music?

It's a boundary line of potential art that Clarinettist f Gerard around has explored for several years.

With passion and persistence, Jerry is with us to perform a portion of a new piece for clarinet, electronics, and video.

Next week on our place, our time, we're going to have pictures with music of another sort.

We're going to survey dance and ballet in Hampton Roads, and we'll look ahead at what promises to be the most exciting dance season here in many years.

And we'll look more closely at a young and innovative dance company called On the Edge Jazz flute.

It's Bernie Jacobs and his trio will join us.

We hope you will too.

Next time on our place, our time.