MURFREESBORO — MTSU
will be “Breaking Bad” with a week of activities inspired by the popular
television series.
Free food, prizes, giveaways and meetings with two people
associated with the popular award-winning TV drama are on tap for Sunday, Sept.
28, through Friday, Oct. 3, to commemorate National Disability Employment
Awareness Month.
The American Movie Classics drama has won 16 Emmy Awards
since its debut in 2008. It centers on Walter White Sr., a chemistry teacher
who becomes a drug kingpin to shore up the family finances after he is diagnosed
with Stage III cancer and told he has two years to live.
The centerpiece of the week will be “An Evening with RJ
Mitte,” the actor who portrayed Walter White Jr. on the program, at 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 1, in Tucker Theatre.
Mitte, like his character, has cerebral palsy. However, the
disability was not treated as the focal point of the character’s existence on
the program. Dr. Lance Alexis, director of MTSU’s Disability and Access Center,
said such roles all too often have gone to non-disabled actors.
“In many cases, they’re coveted roles because they have won
numerous awards,” Alexis said.
“He’s going to talk about navigating this career with this
disability because it’s not easy in the acting world for anybody, and it’s
probably more difficult for somebody with a disability like cerebral palsy,”
said Sara Read, the center’s testing coordinator.
The 23-year-old Mitte, whose other credits include “Switched
at Birth” and “Hannah Montana,” is the youth spokesman for the National
Disability Institute’s Real Economic Impact Tour. The campaign works with
low-income persons with disabilities to help them improve their financial
situations.
Mitte also is a spokesman for “I AM PWD,” an advocacy
campaign for actors with disabilities sponsored by the Screen Actors Guild,
Actors’ Equity and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
In addition, Mitte works on an awareness campaign for the
National Center for Bullying Prevention.
The MTSU Disability and Access Center will provide American
Sign Language interpretation. Other disability-related accommodations will be
made available upon request by calling 615-898-2783 in advance.
“Breaking Worse: Synthetic Drugs of Abuse,” a discussion
about the lethal side effects of synthetic drugs and the struggle to regulate
them, is slated for 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 28, in Room 221 of the Learning
Resources Center.
Posters representing characters and events in “Breaking Bad”
will be on display from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 29, in the second-floor lobby
of the Keathley University Center.
Teams of two students each will fan out across campus to
uncover clues about MTSU’s many assets in the “Breaking Bad Amazing Race” from
8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30, starting from the Disability and Access
Center in Room 120 of the KUC.
The Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (WISTEM)
Center will present a lecture by Dr. Donna Nelson, a science adviser on
“Breaking Bad,” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, in Tucker Theatre.
Nelson examined scripts, provided dialogue, drew chemical
structures and wrote chemical equations to enhance the credibility of the main
character, chemistry teacher Walter White Sr.
She also will talk about the benefits of using the media to
help the general public better understand and appreciate the work of
scientists.
Teams of four students each will compete in a “Breaking Bad
Trivia Contest” from 1 to 3 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, in the Tom Jackson Building.
All events are free and open to the public. For more
information, contact the Disability and Access Center at 615-898-2783 or dacemail@mtsu.edu.
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