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Date: June 23, 2005
Contact: Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
V: 847/742-5100 F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL: _CoBNews@AOL.Com_ (mailto:CoBNews@AOL.Com) 
 

CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN NEWSLINE
June 23, 2005
 
Dunkertown Workshop tells Brethren stories
 
June 23, 2005 (Elgin, IL) -- A new project by two Church of the Brethren  
writers is designed to help preserve the Brethren story. Dunkertown Workshop
is  
the brainchild of Steve Engle of Alexandria, Pa., and Frank Ramirez of 
Everett,  Pa., who hope through recordings, theatrical productions, and
writing to 
tell  some lesser known Brethren stories and to revive stories that may have 
been  forgotten.
 
The first Dunkertown collaborative Ramirez-Engle venture was the musical  
"Angels Everywhere" about Catharine Hummer, a Brethren teenager in 1762 who
said  
she saw angels. With a cast from several Middle Pennsylvania District 
churches,  the musical has been performed at six different venues in middle
and 
eastern  Pennsylvania, with more performances scheduled for the fall. A CD 
recording also	is in production.
 
A four-disc audio recording of "The Meanest Man in Patrick County and Other  
Unlikely Brethren Heroes" by Frank Ramirez (Brethren Press, 2004) is the
first 
 Dunkertown CD to be released. Stories are read by the author with Jennie  
Ramirez, Steve Engle, and Joan Engle. The CD also features an original
ballad,  
"The Meanest Man in Patrick County," penned by Engle and Ramirez and sung by 

Andy Murray. (Order the CD for $18 plus shipping and handling, or the book
for 
 $10.95 plus shipping and handling, from Brethren Press at 800-441-3712.)
 
Dunkertown Workshop has re-released "Ted Studebaker in Vietnam Life Is	Good,

Yea!" on CD (available from Brethren Press for $15 plus shipping and  
handling). For decades, the album has been out of print. Studebaker was
murdered  by 
the Vietcong in 1971 while in alternative service. Gary and Sue Studebaker,  
with help from Engle, put together an album of cassette recordings Studebaker
 
sent home. The album includes songs, audio letters, and an interview about
his 
 work. The CD also features "Brave Man From Ohio" by Andy and Terry Murray, 
and a  national ABC News report aired at the time of Studebaker's memorial  
service.
 
A future Dunkertown project is the "Andy and Terry Murray Songbook." Engle  
plans to work with the Murrays in transcribing their music, most of which 
exists	only as recordings or lyrics.
 
The website _www.dunkertownworkshop.com_ (http://www.dunkertownworkshop.com) 

offers	other CDs by Engle, books by Ramirez, releases from the Murrays, the 
opportunity  to hear songs, and purchasing information. Engle and Ramirez 
invite Brethren  artists who have their own websites to join them in this 
collaboration, so that	links can lead Brethren to their work. 
 
The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to  
continuing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its
faith  in 
community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith  
traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrates its
 300th 
anniversary in 2008. It counts about 130,000 members across the United	
States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Brazil, the  
Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nigeria.
 
# # #
 
For more information contact:
 
Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
Director of News Services
Church of the  Brethren General Board
1451 Dundee Ave.
Elgin, IL 60120
847-742-5100  ext. 260
_cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org_ 
(mailto:cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org) 
 
*****************************************************************
The  Church of the Brethren Newsline is produced by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford,

 director of news services for the Church of the Brethren General Board. 
Newsline  stories may be reprinted provided that Newsline is cited as the
source. 
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