ABE LINCOLN AND UNCLE TOM IN THE WHITE HOUSE
What advice would the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin have given to Abraham Lincoln as he pondered the moral and political issue of slavery leading to the Emancipation Proclamation? That question is the basis of Carlyle Brown’s “Abe Lincoln and Uncle Tom in the White House.” The play opened the 2009 season for the University of Louisville’s Department of Theatre Arts, whose African American Theatre Program commissioned the play with support from the Kentucky African American Heritage Commission. In it, a worried Lincoln ponders the many problems and ramifications of signing the Emancipation Proclamation in a hypothetical meeting with Uncle Tom.
The play is based on a premise of Lundeana Thomas, AATP director, who also directed the play. “I looked, but could not find a play with an African American view of Abraham Lincoln,” Thomas said. AATP selected noted playwright and actor Brown, director of an acting company based in Minneapolis, to write the play because of his knowledge of the period.
The production begins with an excerpt from Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. An added educational feature at each performance was a “talkback,” an interactive exchange between the audience and director, playwright and others about the play and other topics, including social commentary.
GEORGE WASHINGTON’S BOY - The University of Florida’s School of Theatre and Dance kicked off its 2008-09 season with George Washington’s Boy, a powerful new historical drama that explores our nation’s history from an unconventional perspective. It was directed by Dr. Mikell Pinkney. The playwright, Ted Lange, is a graduate of London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and a prolific actor of stage and screen. Lange is recognized around the world for his portrayal of Isaac Washington from the classic television show, “The Love Boat.” As a playwright, Lange has written 22 plays.
George Washington’s Boy provides us with a rare opportunity to glimpse into a new view of American history. The fight for freedom from the British, the Declaration of Independence and the first presidency of the United States is presented from the viewpoint of George Washington’s closest confidant—ironically, his slave William “Billy” Lee. Based on historical fact, Billy Lee served his master throughout these monumental times and was privy to the innermost thoughts and actions of George Washington and the birth of a new nation.
PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELLUSA, 2008, Director Gini RetickerEnglish. 35 mm. 72 min. You probably want to check out, if you haven’t already, this winner of the documentary prize at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival. It is an impassioned and inspiring film telling the extraordinary story of how a small band of Liberian women—both Christian and Muslim—came together in 2003 in the midst of a bloody civil war, took on the violent warlords and corrupt Charles Taylor regime, and won a long-awaited peace for their shattered country. Two years later, a woman (Ellen Johnson Sirleaf) was elected president of Liberia, becoming Africa’s first elected female head of state. “One of the truly heartening international political stories of recent years.” –The L.A. Times. www.praythedevilbacktohell.com/v2/
André De Shields in “Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory: From Douglass to Deliverance” by Lia ChangChanneling Frederick Douglass, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. and Barack Obama in Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory: From Douglass to Deliverance, award-winning Broadway star André De Shields was a powerful and mesmerizing tour-de-force for a standing room only audience on February 9, 2009. The special performance, in celebration of Black History Month, was presented by Actors Equity Association’s EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) Committee at SEIU District 1199, 310 West 43rd St in New York. (If you google “De Shields Mine Eyes” and go to the Liachang.wordpress.com site, you can click on an arrow to see an excerpt of the performance.)Conceived, researched and written by Mr. De Shields, Mine Eyes was directed by Alfred Preisser, Artistic Director, Classical Theatre of Harlem, where Mr. De Shields has frequently performed. Mr. De Shields noted that the months of January and February 2009 host “a constellation of precedent setting historic events: Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday (Jan 19); the inauguration of our first African-American President, Barack Obama (Jan 20); the Bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln (Feb 12) and the anniversary of Frederick Douglass’ birth. In my performance, I explore the life and achievements of the Great Emancipator, Frederick Douglass. Douglass began his life as a slave, through heroic efforts, became one of America’s most important and historically influential African American leaders.”The multiple Tony Award nominee has appeared in numerous Broadway, Off Broadway and regional productions as well as television and film, and returns to Broadway this season in “Impressionism,” the world premiere of a new play by Michael Jacobs, which stars Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons, and opens March 12. “The Johnson Chronicles” and the “In Love We Trust Tour” YYP & Associates, LLC (YYP) has done it again. The production company out of Los Angeles, CA brought us the first all African American celebrity cast to perform The Vagina Monologues. This year YYP added a wonderful new element to their contribution to the V-Day Movement; a sensitive and exciting complimentary piece to The Vagina Monologues from a male perspective, The Johnson Chronicles. The 2009 “In Love We Trust Tour” commenced in Washington DC on February 6, and continued to Dallas and Los Angeles, ending its run in Atlanta. “V-Day is a movement that is helping to empower women to say no to domestic violence, which is a condition plaguing women across the world. The African American community has always ignored this issue, but I was glad to see YYP’s Executive Producer, Yetta Young bring this issue to the forefront. It is time to stop talking about domestic violence and ignite solutions. V-Day is a gigantic step towards creating a solution and I am proud to be a part of the team.” Rhonda B. Reece, Co-Producer Yetta Young was driven by her personal experiences with domestic violence, to take a stand against abuse. As a teenager she suffered physical, verbal, and emotional abuse at the hands of a boyfriend 10 years her senior, but she always found solace in the theater and the healing effect it had on her life. She learned as an adult the mistreatment she received in her relationship was not uncommon among women. It was at that point her deep desire to fight violence against women was born. Since 2001 Yetta has been a fierce advocate of Eve Ensler’s V-Day Movement, producing shows nationwide with many of today’s top entertainers. Choosing to focus on the African-American community, she was the first person to produce The Vagina Monologues with an all African-American celebrity cast. What better way to combine her love for theater with her efforts to fight violence. She also expanded her work to include producing and raising money and awareness for organizations such as The Mary Magdalene Project, Alexandria House, The Rebecca Project, ULOAH, and Jenessee Center. Not satisfied to work only here in the states, she went beyond borders and took her battle global, raising money for LeMusica in Mozambique and the women of Afghanistan. She was also instrumental in mentoring and guiding sister V-Day productions in Toronto, Canada and Phoenix, AZ. “Our tour is a love letter to women, a healing balm for men and a call to everyone to end violence in any form. Men are the primary perpetrators of abuse and we can no longer afford to exclude them from the conversation,” says Executive Producer Yetta Young. “I’ve been asked why I named the tour “In Love We Trust.” It’s because I hope this tour will act as a facilitator of hope and reconciliation. If we just trust love in its highest form, I believe we can change lives, and theater can act as a bridge to healing,” stated Young. The new addition to the tour is The Johnson Chronicles, written by Peter J. Harris, founder and artistic director of the Inspiration House. He was inspired by a performance of The Vagina Monologues to create a piece that would speak directly to the hearts of men. Harris felt a need to stir feelings in male audience members that would help them understand the pain and deterioration violence against women brings to a community. He speaks directly to their hearts about sexual situations that are at times uncomfortable, but provoke funny, sensitive and personal conversations between both sexes. Audiences will be taken from boyhood to manhood with monologues about sex, fatherhood, intimacy and vasectomies. The Johnson Chronicles will speak to men as the vagina speaks to women, all in an effort to combat a serious epidemic which continues to cripple communities nationwide.
