RITA DOVE'S LATEST WORK OLYMPICS-BOUND
	Andrew Young to Read "UMOJA - Each One of Us Counts" Sunday
in Atlanta

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., July 18 -- Rita Dove, former U.S. Poet
Laureate and Commonwealth Professor of English at the University of
Virginia, will see her latest literary works premiered in
spectacular settings this month.  The first occasion is an official
event during the opening weekend of the Olympic Games.  On Sunday,
July 21, the World Youth Symphony Orchestra will perform composer
Alvin Singleton's symphonic composition "UMOJA - Each One of Us
Counts," for which Dove wrote the text.  "UMOJA" has the distinction
of being the only piece of classical music commissioned for the 1996
Olympics.  Dove's poetic text, which forms the basis for the music,
will be spoken by former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young.  Both poet and
composer will be in attendance at the Atlanta Symphony Hall.
Dove's New Play - "The Darker Face of the Earth" - Premieres in
Oregon
	Dove will also be present on Saturday, July 27, when the
Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon mounts the world
premiere of her play "The Darker Face of the Earth." The stage
production, which will run in OSF's Angus Bowmer Theatre through
Oct. 27, was developed in association with Crossroads Theatre in New
Brunswick, NJ.  Crossroads' artistic director Ricardo Khan directs a
cast of 17 actors and two musicians in a scenic design by Richard L.
Hay.  (Crossroads Theatre will present Dove's epic drama in 1997.)
	Dove's play, set in antebellum South Carolina, tells a story
of love and revenge in the shadow of slavery.  Amalia, a plantation
owner's daughter who becomes the mistress of the place, sets out to
break the newly purchased Augustus, but finds herself irresistibly
drawn to him.  The brutal system of slavery traps them both as they
play out their fateful relationship against the backdrop of a slave
rebellion.
	The Oregon Shakespeare Festival received a $100,000 grant
from the W. Alton Jones Foundation for the development and
production of "The Darker Face of the Earth." For its upcoming
production Crossroads Theatre was awarded a grant from the Fund for
New American Plays at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing
Arts in Washington, D.C., with support from American Express Company
in cooperation with the President's Committee on the Arts and the
Humanities.
	Story Line Press, a not-for-profit publisher of first-rate
literature, printed a first book edition of the play in 1994.  In
conjunction with the play's premiere at the Oregon Shakespeare
Festival, Story Line Press will publish a revised edition of the
final stage version later this month.
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July 17, 1996
	For additional information on the Atlanta event, contact the
Cultural Olympiad's Wayne Brown at (404) 548-2149.  For information
on the Oregon Shakespeare Festival premiere, contact OSF's Deborah
Elliott at (541) 482-6811.  For information on the play's book
version, contact Story Line Press, Three Oaks Farm, Brownsville, OR
97327-9718, Fax, (541) 466-3200, phone, (541) 466-5352.

	Television reporters should contact U.Va.'s TV News Office
at (804) 924-7550.