Patriot Players’ next show features songs by President Godwin and VP Dr. Greg Hodges

Patrick Henry Community College President Dr. Angeline Godwin and Vice President of Institutional Advancement, Effectiveness and Campus Life, Dr. Greg Hodges, have revealed their songwriting and composing talents by creating two original songs for the Patriot Players’ Growing Up Gospel 2: The Revival Revue which premieres next week.

Dr. Godwin, a woman of many talents, not only leads the community college, but has been writing southern gospel songs as a private hobby for over 40 years. Dr. Hodges and his wife Renee write southern gospel music for the church he pastors and have had a few songs recorded by southern gospel artists. When artistic director Devin Pendleton discovered that these two pillars of the college are also song writers, he asked both to create an original song for the Patriot Players’ next performance, Growing Up Gospel 2.  They gladly agreed.

After delivering the message on a Sunday morning, Hodges said the idea for their song came to him. “I was preaching a message out of Exodus on the rescue of the Israelites out of Egypt, and at the end of the message, I looked at my wife and said ‘I think I’ve got the song.’ After throwing down some lyrics, my wife put them to music, and our daughter Lydia, who is an outstanding singer, helped us find the melody… It’s something we really enjoy doing as a family.”

For President Godwin the chance to contribute was an opportunity to return to her roots. “Growing Up Gospel 2 taps into my childhood memories. My love of music began with the hymns of my parents and grandparents. Much of who I am – what drives me in everything that I do – was crafted while sitting on an old pew at a sacred harp singing convention, or at a tent revival’s makeshift seat as a little girl in rural, southern Alabama. ”

For this song, Godwin chose to focus on the answer to questions people ask when they meet suffering. “It just hit me,” says Godwin when she explains how the idea for her song came to her.  She describes the process of writing a song as being “simply the scribe” to a musical composition. “When I sit down, I just say a little prayer and then capture what is given to me.  I have written hundreds this way.”

Growing Up Gospel 2: The Revival Revue is the sequel to the Patriot Players’ 2014 show Growing Up Gospel: Music Revue. The show features traditional, contemporary, and modern gospel performed by a cast of twenty. The Patriot Players are diverting from traditional drama to bring the community a tribute to the music that resonates with the culture and history of southern Virginia.

Growing Up Gospel 2 runs September 23-24 at 7 p.m. and on September 25 at 3 p.m. in the Walker Fine Arts Theatre at PHCC. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door. Tickets are available online at phccpatriotplayers.com/tickets, at the Martinsville-Henry County Visitor Center, or at the PHCC Switchboard Office on campus. For more information, call 276-638-8777 ext. 0460 or visit phccpatriotplayers.com.