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R.J. Reynolds Story

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.–In show business, before each performance, the word backstage is "break a leg." But Jeff Bullock is careful not to take the phrase literally.

This summer, when many college freshman would be happy to serve hamburgers in a fast-food restaurant, Bullock is dancing his way through a 20-city touring production, presented by the North Carolina School of the Arts (NCSA) where he is a freshman.

He is a dancer in Jazz Is [[italized]], a five-week national touring show on the history of jazz sponsored by R.J. Reynolds Industries, Inc.

"I love to dance, I love jazz and the different time periods captured in the show make it fun," says an enthusiastic Bullock. 

Although he has appeared in numerous other NCSA productions, including "The Nutcracker," "Concerto," and "Graduation Ball," he was one of six to be hand-picked to dance in the more than 40 performances in the school's first national tour. At 18, he's the youngest of the 25-member cast and crew, all NCSA students or alumni.

The Clinton, N.C. native, says "I'm getting a chance to travel and do what I like best–dancing. I'm getting to see the country, the West Coast and I'm dancing. It's great!"

Jazz Is traces the history of jazz and its influence on other American musical forms, including gospel, ragtime, the Charleston era, the blues and today's contemporary sound. The show is directed by its author, Duncan Nobel, assistant dean of Dance at NCSA, the nation's only state-supported school for professional training in performing arts from junior high school through college.

R.J. Reynolds is funding the production, providing tour management and promotion. The tour will end August 5 in San Francisco.

R.J. Reynolds Industries, with headquarters in Winston-Salem, N.C., is the parent company of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco.; Del Monte Corp. (canned and prepared frozen foods, beverages and fresh fruit); R.J. Reynolds Tobacco International, Inc. (containerized shipping; and R.J. Reynolds Development Corp.

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WASHINGTON, D.C.–When Houston and San Francisco Bay-area high school students traveled to the nation's capital recently, little did they know they would participate in White House interviews of three of President Reagan's top assistants telecast to 2,000 classrooms by a cable television network.

Presidential advisor Edwin Meese, communications director David Gergan and deputy assistant for political affairs Lee Atwater answered student questions during separate 30-minute interviews on Feb. 9. The taped interviews were telecast Feb. 11 to more than 2,000 classrooms nationwide by the Cable Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN) and Close Up.

The White House visit had been confirmed only a day before the students arrived in Washington to participate in a week-long government studies program run by the Close Up Foundation.

Formed in 1971, the Close Up Foundation provides government studies programs for high school students in their classrooms and through intensive one-week experiences in Washington, D.C. R.J. Reynolds Industries, Inc. is the leading corporate sponsor of the Close Up program and one of two sponsors of Close Up's C-SPAN programming.

The 90 students in the recent program were sponsored, in part, by San Francisco-based Del Monte Corp. and by Houston-based Aminoil USA, Inc. Both companies are subsidiaries of R.J. Reynolds Industries, Inc.

Questions posed to the three Reagan Administration officials ranged from U.S. support of El Salvador to farm policies. White House communications director Gergan was asked about the President's image, relations with the news media and speech writing, while deputy assistant Atwater was asked to comment on a variety of current political issues. The student asked Meese, one of the President's closest advisors, questions ranging from the President's economic policies and the role of government to what the Administration was doing about Moscow's involvement in Central America and Poland.

"I never thought I would get to talk to someone in that high a position," said Becky Tywoniak, a student at Presentation High School in San Francisco, of her interview with Meese. "We hear a lot about what the government says it is going to do, but it was really different to hear it explained firsthand by someone in power. I'll never forget this experience."

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