[087] MTSU presents ‘My Father’s War’ Sept. 13 at Tucker Theatre

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — A World War II veteran’s memoir will be brought to life in storytelling and song during the Sept. 13 performance of “My Father’s War: A Story of War, Survival and Grace” at MTSU.

The campus community and public are invited to this special free performance, which is set for 9:40 to 11:05 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 13, in Tucker Theatre. It is sponsored by a Distinguished Lecture Grant and the Department of Theatre and Dance at MTSU.

A special adaption of the war memoir, “Ponder Anew,” written by Lt. Herschel Ponder, the performance features Ponder’s middle daughter, Carol Ponder, and her husband, Robert Kiefer. Both theater and music professionals for over 40 years, the couple have toured the show for nine years, including three weeks at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. Kiefer’s other works have been seen in K-12 schools, colleges and universities, and in arts centers around the country.

In “My Father’s War,” the two actors have adapted the memoir into a two-person performance created in the great tradition of storytelling and song from Ponder’s family home in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina.

On July 4, 1989, 44 years after the end of World War II, Lt. Herschel Ponder sat down at his kitchen table to write his war memoir. The story describes his fears, joys and struggle to remain human during and after the war, but also tells the story of a soldier going to war and coming home again.

A searchable campus parking map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParkingMap. Off-campus visitors attending the event should obtain a special one-day permit from MTSU’s Office of Parking and Transportation at http://www.mtsu.edu/parking/visit.php.