Let Your Little Light Shine
AC Singers return to college 
for reunion and ShowTime 2003
By Rhonda Oaks

If memories were set to music, it would have sounded like a symphony on March 8 at Angelina College when 20 years of ShowTime performers and Angelina College Singers gathered to reunite, reminisce and celebrate the announcement of a new college scholarship fund.

Nearly 100 past and present college ShowTime performers, singers and guests broke into applause as college president Larry Phillips announced a newly formed scholarship fund honoring past ShowTime
director Charles Stephens.

"Charles brought a high energy to this group of performers," Dr. Phillips said. "That is when they really started to change. Your performances always had something for everyone. Each one of you has been a special part of a very special group."

Dr. Phillips noted how, during Stephens' tenure, the group traveled extensively. Productions included performances in the Bahamas, Disney World, the Texas State Fair, Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, New York City and on the Discovery cruise ship. 

Teresa Bryan Ragland, 1989-91 performer, praised Stephens, who she said helped guide many of them to successful careers. Ms. Ragland currently manages the Academy of Gymnastics and Dance in Lufkin "I can't say enough about the man who worked so tirelessly," she said. "He gave of himself so we could become better.

"The Charles P. Stephens Scholarship Fund will be established so those to come in the future can enjoy learning like we did. He would always laugh about the little dancer he had inside himself," Ms. Ragland said emotionally. "We all need to remember to pass along his light for future AC Singers."

Stephens, who led the group beginning in 1983 and retired because of illness, was unable to attend the reunion held in the college cafeteria but joined them briefly after the luncheon and at ShowTime 2003.

While students looked through memorabilia and watched videotapes of past performances, others took a moment to reflect on the impact the program had on their lives.

"If I had to name one person who has influenced my life as much as anyone, it would be Charles Stephens," said Chip Holderman, 1992-93 performer. Holderman said he drove all night from Branson, Mo., to attend the reunion. He currently performs as a vocalist and dancer on the Showboat Branson Belle.

"He gave me the confidence I needed to pursue my career," Holderman said. He plans to move to New York City later this year to continue his career as a performer. Holderman added with a laugh, "When I
accept my first Tony award, I will receive it in his (Stephens') honor."

Other students who exchanged fond memories included Bill Taylor, a 1997-98 AC Singer. He is a radio disc jockey at KGAS in Carthage. "It was one of my greatest honors to be a part of a group that has become so
endearing to so many people," he said.

Shawn McAdams, who worked as a sound technician for the group, currently performs the same tasks aboard the Queen Elizabeth II cruise ship owned by Cunard Cruise Lines, said, "We were all really young and had so much fun together." McAdams traveled from Cape Town, South Africa, to attend the reunion.

Angie Deaton, 1991-93 singer, said she teaches theater at The Colony High School in Houston and also attributes the initial interest in her career choice to the Angelina College Fine Arts programs.

Amy Huber Weaver, 1994-95 AC Singer, works for the U.S. Naval Academy in the Office of Midshipmen Morale and Welfare in Maryland. She flew in for the event where she read a poem she wrote of how attending Angelina College led her into a lifelong partnership.

"I started to school here as a nervous young girl," she said. "If it had not been for Angelina College's matchmaking fever, I never would have become Mrs. Weaver."

Randy Roberts, who also worked as a sound technician, said, "This was a great learning experience for me here. I feel like I cut my teeth at Angelina College, and it is something I will always remember."

Former student Dayna Pitts Burch and Tere Tomlinson Campbell, both 1986-87 performers, said they shared many memories; however, one that stood out was that of performing in Dallas before a group of 2,000 Phi Theta Kappa students at a state convention.

"I think performing in a group like this really gives you confidence later on in life," Ms. Burch said.

"It definitely teaches you how to change clothes in a hurry," said Darla Bonner Partin, 1994-96 performer.

Travis Rayburn and Amy Stephens Rayburn, both 1992-93 performers, also met each other and eventually married after performing with the group. Mrs. Rayburn is Stephens' daughter. She voiced the sentiment she said she knew her father would feel regarding the announcement of the new scholarship fund.

"This whole experience has been very special for me because my dad was such an intricate part of this history and was so involved in ShowTime through the years. This will really mean so much to him," she said.

The Angelina College Alumni & Friends, an organization dedicated to preserving the college's 35-year history, hosted the reunion. Charles Hogan started the AC choral program, and Dr. Don McManus organized the AC Singers.

Stephens directed them for nearly 20 years. Becky Compton is the current director.

When the singers performed ShowTime 2003, the AC Singer alumni who attended the final show joined the group on stage at the end of the performance with a joint effort in the ShowTime theme song, "This Little
Light of Mine." 

Dr. Phillips told the group at the luncheon how proud he is to have the opportunity to lead a college that is open to so many opportunities and programs and to see first hand how past students have gone on to influence so many others." We are very proud of you and I want you all to continue to let your lights shine," he said.

AC Singers' Reunion
Chip Holderman hugs Charles Stephens, who made a brief appearance at the AC Singers Reunion in March. His former students told many stories about how he changed their lives and made them believe in themselves. At the reunion, Teresa Bryan Ragland encouraged the former AC Singers to contribute to the Charles Stephens Scholarship Fund. When the Singers collect $5,000, they will endow an AC Singers Scholarship in his honor. Everyone is encouraged to donate to the fund.
Pat Baldwin (center), former Fine Arts Division Director, greets Lee Williams Dilday (left) and Tere Tomlinson Campbell.	Amy Huber Weaver returned to AC from Annapolis, Md., to share what the AC Singers meant to her.
The AC Singers alumni joined the ShowTime 2003 cast in the final number.	Chip Holderman told how Charles Stephens' influence has affected his life. Holderman is a performer in Branson, Mo.
A photo exhibit provide a trip down memory lane at the AC Singers' Reunion. Videos of past AC Singer performances were also shown at the luncheon and before ShowTime 2003 in Temple Theater.	On March 8, about 100 former AC Singers returned to Angelina College for their reunion sponsored by Angelina College Alumni & Friends.
Former AC Singers gathered in front of the Administration Building for their group photo before a campus tour, which included the new Temple Theater in the Angelina Center for the Arts and the renovated Hudgins Hall Auditorium. Front row: Katy Modisette Matthews, Joanna Bacon, Chip Holderman, Dayna Pitts Burch, Kristie Thompson Matteson, Kari Boyd Standley, Julia Casey, TaKisha Kegler, Kelli Wilburn and Beckie Compton (AC Singers director.) Second row: Angie Deaton, Toni Cochran, Warren Westmoreland, Tere Tomlinson Campbell, Kristi Lewing, Sam Eppley, Stacy Cummins, Cassie Stringer, Teresa Bryan Ragland, Angela Talbert, Amy Huber Weaver, Darla Bonner Partin, Belisa Stewart Haas, Amy Stephens Rayburn, Alan Masters, Melissa Woody, Jaime Stuckey, Lori Hamilton, Jana Beth Thomas, Amande Forrest, Lacey Cummins, Lee Williams Dilday, Kendra Reeves and Audra Ward Ainsworth. Back row: Matt Haas, Travis Rayburn, Marc Dufrene, Holly Stuckey, Bill Taylor, Nathan Bryan, Steven Phillips, Genesia McFarland, Micah Shaffer, Jeff Murray and Stacy Dicks, choreographer.

Photos by Jan Anderson-Paxson

 

"Shut Up & Kiss Me" What AC Singers Means to Me By Amy Huber Weaver

A nervous young girl on audition day To be a dancer in the group I pray. Little did I know or see What the next two years had in store for me. To perform with the group, you must learn to sing. Very little, I thought, to show I¹d bring. No idea I'd eventually be Entertaining audiences with "Shut Up & Kiss Me." We sang and danced and danced some more Until our feet ached and voices sore. Can-Can, Proud Mary and Cuban Pete, Our moves could any group seldom beat. So what did I take from this experience, you ask? Strong friendships and memories that will forever last. If it weren¹t for one singer's match-making fever, I would not have become Mrs. Brian Weaver. And as for that little light of mine, It will always and forever Shine.