{"id":27697,"date":"2019-08-30T16:00:21","date_gmt":"2019-08-30T21:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=27697"},"modified":"2019-08-30T13:00:07","modified_gmt":"2019-08-30T18:00:07","slug":"1988-playbill-falls-out-of-reclaimed-austin-peay-state-university-trahern-theatre-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2019\/08\/30\/1988-playbill-falls-out-of-reclaimed-austin-peay-state-university-trahern-theatre-seat\/","title":{"rendered":"1988 playbill falls out of reclaimed Austin Peay State University Trahern Theatre seat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AustinClarksville, TN<\/strong> – In the span of two weeks at Austin Peay State University (APSU), two remarkable discoveries of long-forgotten items opened a torrent of memories for two professors with decades-old ties to the school.<\/p>\n

The first discovery happened on August 1st, 2019 when an electrician\u2019s assistant working in Kimbrough Building found a billfold that had been missing since 1987.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A carpet installer on Aug. 16 found a 31-year-old playbill and tickets while renovating the seating in an Austin Peay State University TV studio. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

His actions quickly reunited the billfold with retired education professor Dr. Harriett McQueen, who hadn\u2019t seen the wallet since it was stolen from her office \u2013 down the hall from the men\u2019s restroom where it was found 32 years later.<\/p>\n

The second finding happened on August 16th, when a carpet installer working in a Music\/Mass Communication Building TV studio found a playbill and ticket from a 1988 Austin Peay play. His actions quickly landed the \u201cArsenic and Old Lace\u201d playbill in the hands of communication professor Dr. Tracy Nichols, who starred in the play 31 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just insane to me that two things like that, in buildings next to each other, happened,\u201d said Nichols, whose office is steps from where the worker found the playbill trapped in a row of reclaimed Trahern Theatre seats. \u201cIsn\u2019t it crazy how life puts you places because as a theatre major in 1988, I would have never thought that this where I would be?<\/p>\n

\u201cHere I am, and the playbill was there all this time,\u201d she added. \u201cLife puts you on a path, and I think you end up where you\u2019re supposed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trapped In Seat For Three Decades<\/h3>\n
\"A<\/a>

A carpet installer on Aug. 16 found a 31-year-old playbill and tickets while renovating the seating in an Austin Peay State University TV studio. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

N&J Flooring\u2019s Jeremy Tipton discovered the playbill and tickets quite by accident.<\/p>\n

While renovating the stage in the TV studio, he removed a row of old seats brought over years ago from Trahern Theatre.<\/p>\n

[320left]\u201cI\u2019m unbolting all the chairs and that whole row tipped over on me,\u201d Tipton said. \u201cI went to pick it back up and the red cushion of the chair came out, and the playbill and ticket fell out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tipton noticed the date on the ticket \u2013 March 5th, 1988 \u2013 and set aside the playbill and tickets to give to communication professor Dr. David von Palko. The ticket is for Row G, Seat 20. Tipton found the ticket in Seat 19.<\/p>\n

Von Palko immediately recognized the playbill\u2019s worth \u2013 and the lead actor\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

\u201cTracy Shearon. Now she is Dr. Tracy Nichols, one of our faculty members.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/a>

Dr. David von Palko reacts to the playbill’s discovery and recognizing Dr. Tracy Nichols’ name in the program. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThose seats were pulled out and moved over here,\u201d von Palko added. \u201cCountless butts have been in those seats over there and over here. Thirty-one years that playbill and ticket have been stuck in those chairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018A 31-Year Flashback\u2019<\/h3>\n

When von Palko showed the playbill and ticket to Nichols, \u201cit was a 31-year flashback.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"N&J<\/a>

N&J Flooring\u2019s Jeremy Tipton discovered the playbill and tickets when a row of old Trahern Theatre seats toppled on top of him. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt brought back a lot of memories from that specific production,\u201d Nichols said. \u201cIt brought a flood of all these wonderful memories \u2013 and memories of lessons that I shared later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nichols was a junior theatre major in the spring semester of 1988 when she starred as Abby Brewster in \u201cArsenic and Old Lace.\u201d<\/p>\n

[320right]\u201cI learned so much from that show as a young theatre major,\u201d she said. \u201cThose experiences in the theatre program were so valuable to me. They gave us such a rich opportunity. I took advantage of every opportunity I was given, and it helped me to the life I have now. It all started in that department and that program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nichols was a professional actor and director when she returned to her alma mater as an adjunct professor in 2004 and completing her graduate work. She became a full-time faculty member in 2007 and teaches undergraduate and graduate communication classes as well as study abroad and service-learning courses.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to go to a big school to get the things you need to be successful,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can find it right where you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

But What About The Billfold?<\/h3>\n
\"Dr.<\/a>

Dr. Tracy Nichols says the playbill’s discovery “brought a flood of all these wonderful memories.” (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

The story about Dr. Harriett McQueen\u2019s missing billfold was broadcast by media across the state. You can read our original story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Learn More<\/strong><\/p>\n

For more about the Department of Theatre and Dance, visit www.apsu.edu\/theatre-dance.<\/a><\/p>\n

For more about the Department of Communication, go to www.apsu.edu\/communication. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clarksville, TN – In the span of two weeks at Austin Peay State University (APSU), two remarkable discoveries of long-forgotten items opened a torrent of memories for two professors with decades-old ties to the school. The first discovery happened on August 1st, 2019 when an electrician\u2019s assistant working in Kimbrough Building found a billfold that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[23,32945,21145,9986,10901,17587,12993,262,512,825,19670,9568,33977,10003],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-7cJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27697"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27697"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27698,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27697\/revisions\/27698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}