Joan Pringle

To many TV viewers, Joan Pringle still is best known for her portrayal of high school vice principal Sybil Buchanan on "The White Shadow" from 1978-81. But the actress is now enchanting daytime audiences with her role as the driven Ruth Marshall on "Generations." "Ruth is trying to get a piece of the American pie for herself and her family through hard work and perseverance," says Pringle.

Set in the mountains of West Virginia, Kevin Arkadie's drama "Up the Mountain" at Theatre Geo is a richly complex portrayal of child abuse, the legacy of racism and the healing power of family. A memory play, "Mountain" shifts in time from the past to the present. Polly (Joan Pringle), Lucinda (Veronica Reddforrest) and Margaret (Hattie Winston), African American women raised poor in a traditionally racist region, are now career women who have scattered across the country.

Set in the mountains of West Virginia, Kevin Arkadie's drama "Up the Mountain" at Theatre Geo is a richly complex portrayal of child abuse, the legacy of racism and the healing power of family. A memory play, "Mountain" shifts in time from the past to the present. Polly (Joan Pringle), Lucinda (Veronica Reddforrest) and Margaret (Hattie Winston), African American women raised poor in a traditionally racist region, are now career women who have scattered across the country.

To many TV viewers, Joan Pringle still is best known for her portrayal of high school vice principal Sybil Buchanan on "The White Shadow" from 1978-81. But the actress is now enchanting daytime audiences with her role as the driven Ruth Marshall on "Generations." "Ruth is trying to get a piece of the American pie for herself and her family through hard work and perseverance," says Pringle.

Brandon Tartikoff, president of NBC entertainment, marked the first anniversary of the daytime soap "Generations" Tuesday by establishing a $10,000 college scholarship to benefit minority students seeking a career in the dramatic arts. "Generations"--which stars Taurean Blacque, Debbi Morgan, Jonelle Allen, Joan Pringle and Richard Roundtree--is the first daytime drama to feature a black family among its core characters.

Some plays surprise you because you couldn't see where they were headed. Some surprise you with their breathtaking simplicity. Still others surprise you to divert your attention from the fact that they have nothing to offer but the disclosure of lame, totally unbelievable secrets from badly written characters. Welcome to Jack LoGiudice's "In the Moonlight Eddie."

In a generous but solid round of recognition for the accomplishments of black theater artists in Los Angeles, members of the NAACP's legitimate theater committee have announced a total of 93 nominees in 20 categories for the groups's second annual Theatre Awards. Topping the list in a close race were George C.

Lonne Elder III's "Ceremonies in Dark Old Men" is a remarkably sturdy play. At age 18, it is only slightly creaky, a bit long, doggedly realistic, but it has kept its shape and a great deal of its power--at least in the hands of the capable actors who are reviving it at the Beverly Canon Theater.

Although many daytime soaps have brought in black characters from time to time, none has ever featured a black family on an ongoing basis. That will change today when NBC introduces "Generations"--the story of two Chicago families, one black and one white, whose lives have intertwined through three generations.

At Gardner Elementary School in Hollywood, the school year started out much as it ended--with one long list of annoying problems. There were eight toilets, two drinking fountains and one large wash basin for the nearly 500 students returning to school. There was no running water in the nurse's room to wash cuts. Many of the classes were without books and other materials. The library was shut down. There were no buzzers or intercoms to communicate between classroom bungalows.

'Drama speaks more powerfully when love shows through in the small victories. You don't get any big victories," playwright Kevin Arkadie explains, revealing a pivotal theory underlying his play "Up the Mountain," which just moved to the Stella Adler Theatre. "I was thinking of Chekhov when I was writing this play. Chekhov's idea was to focus his drama on the little moments--the itty-bitty moments where someone makes the decision that dramatically changes his life.