The British have landed! The British have landed!
That's the battle cry for four exchange students from Bretton Hall at The University of Leeds, located in Leeds, England.
Twenty-year-old Eva Crompton, 26-year-old Daniel Gentley, 20-year-old Michael Cooper and 20-year-old Beth Pilleymounter are drama students who are studying theater for the semester through an exchange program at The University of Memphis.
The U of M has an agreement with Bretton Hall which sends students both from The U of M and from The University of Leeds to study abroad for a semester in their respective theater departments.
Gentley said he wanted to come here because of the Stanislavski acting method Americans specialize in.
"They follow the principles he set up," Gentley said.
Gentley had high praise for the faculty and the program which the others echoed.
"Josie ( Helming) is incredible," Pilleymounter said.
"The program here is excellent," Crompton said. "The moment we got here, everyone was so hospitable."
"It's more disciplined -- the support we get here is very good," Gentley said.
Cooper will be acting in "Charley's Aunt," playing the part of Brassett the Butler. All four students perform in Moving Line, a theater and education company that performs around local schools.
Cooper said he wants to keep working in the theater -- whether it is acting, producing or directing -- when he is done with his studies.
Pilleymounter also wants to act in the theater after graduation. She already works with handicapped people and helps them express themselves through drama and acting.
"It's very exciting to see them to be able to express themselves," Pilleymounter said.
Gentley said the students at The U of M are very self-motivated.
"They get off their ass," he said of their willingness to work hard.
Pilleymounter said she has been so busy immersing herself in her theater studies that she hasn't had time to do anything else. However, she and Cooper took time to go to Florida over spring break where they visited Disney World and Clearwater Beach.
Gentley took the Natchez Trace and ended up in New Orleans.
"I liked the seediness of it." Gentley said of The Big Easy.
