08/14/2026
We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
William Shakespeare
The Tempest, Act 4 Scene 1
Beloved Professor Emeritus of Theatre Arts and playwright Rex Stephenson came to Ferrum College to teach drama in 1973. In 1975, he created the Jack Tale Players, a group of actors who specialized in retelling Appalachian folktales. The Jack Tale Players completed eight nationwide United Service Organization tours from 1978-82, performing in over 60 hospitals. Dr. Stephenson also created the Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre at Ferrum College, bringing performers and viewers from far and wide until 2012. Over the years, he has published dozens of plays and stories, and won several awards for his work.
"Like a lot of Ferrum professors, I would say it was my interaction with students that brought me the greatest joy,” said Dr. Stephenson. “I think because of my job, I got to know students in a way that few people do, performing in the Jack Tale Players and the Dinner Theatre, and especially the eight USO tours that we did. When you spend 29 days in a van performing in one or two veterans’ hospitals per day, and you are traveling between Ferrum and California and back again, you really learn to appreciate students’ dedication and talent and their desire to get it right. When we had the Jack Tales reunion show at the [Blue Ridge] Folklife Festival in 2012, more than 70 alumni performed. Before the show, I said to them—and I really meant it—that they had taught me a lot more than I’d ever taught them.”
is indeed a special place, made even more special by people like Dr. Rex Stephenson.
