The president of the West Virginia University Figure Skating Club and a 2010 graduate of the College of Creative Arts will highlight a Feb. 18 “Skate Against Hate” performance at the Morgantown Ice Arena.

Tickets to the performance, which will begin at noon, are $5 adults for adults and $4 for children. All proceeds will benefit the Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center of Monongalia, Taylor and Preston Counties.

The event will feature WVU’s skating club president, Angela Kreger, a senior nursing major, and Alicia Marcucci, who graduated from WVU in 2010 with a degree in theater. Both women are widely considered the area’s best figure skaters.

Kreger, who started skating not long after she learned to walk, recently passed her senior freestyle test, the ultimate test of a skater’s ability. Marcucci, who started skating as a young girl in imitation of her older sister, has been skating for a decade and-a-half with the Mason-Dixon Figure Skating Club, a skating group based in Morgantown. Both Kreger and Marcucci will perform solos in the show.

The director of WVU’s Creative Writing Program, Mark Brazaitis, an associate professor in the Department of English, is writing the show’s script.

“If I can’t soar on ice the way these tremendous skaters do, I can hope my words do the soaring for me,” Brazaitis said.

The show’s organizer, Eliska Hahn, hopes to raise at least $800 for the Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center, which offers a 24-hour help line and a safe house for battered women.

“One in four women experience domestic violence in their lifetime,” Hahn said. “This is over twice the number of women who will be diagnosed with breast cancer.”

“Skate Against Hate” will also include 20 local skaters, who have all been coached by Kreger, Marcucci or both. It will conclude with an ensemble performance skated to the cast of Glee’s rendition of “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

This will be the third year of the “Skate Against Hate” event. Marcucci has participated in all of them. “I have become a big supporter of spreading awareness of domestic violence and dating abuse,” she said. “I think that supporting events like these are something we can do on a smaller level to make our community stronger.”

In addition to WVU’s and Morgantown’s finest skaters, the event will feature an appearance by Miss Pittsburgh 2011, Stephanie Scarci. Refreshments will be available for purchase.

Visit the event page at: http://www.facebook.com/events/268258133236582/

For more information, contact Mark Brazaitis, assistant professor of English and director of creative writing, at (304) 293–9707 or Mark.Brazaitis@mail.wvu.edu.

-WVU-

cs/2/7/2012

CONTACT: Rebecca Herod, Director of Marketing and Communications
304-293-7405 ext. 5251, rebecca.herod@mail.wvu.edu

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