The Play's the Thing!

It’s that time in a play rehearsal when I’m convinced there is just not enough time in the world to do everything that has to be done and learn all the lines and blocking that has to be learned.  No way, can’t happen.  We will fall flat on our faces or a---s, the audience will boo and I will have to wear the dog collar of shame.

Fortunately, my conviction is meaningless.  We have a dedicated cast who approach their roles with utmost professionalism, and a backstage crew second to none.   We will move you to tears, inspire and delight the audiences.  I am also convinced that is true.

This story is truly timeless.  It speaks of both the buoyancy of the human spirit, and the depths of man’s inhumanity to man.  It shows us we can never take good in our lives for granted, but must protect our rights and freedoms.

Our cast doesn’t just ACT in this play, they FEEL it.  We know these people; we are these people. Theater is magic.  All you need to do is buy a ticket, take your seat, and be transported to another time and place.  You may know the names of the people in the program; you will meet them on stage for the first time. 

No matter how many times I tell you how great an experience this will be, you won’t believe me until you see it for yourself.  I fell in love with live theater for the first            time on a field trip with George Gershwin Junior High School, JHS 166, Brooklyn, New York.  We went to the Shakespearian Theater in Stratford, Connecticut and saw “A Winter’s Tale”.  I will never forget the color and excitement.  I feel it every time the lights come up in any theater, anywhere. 

If you’ve never experienced live theater or you have but don’t think you can experience it in our little corner of the universe, you owe it to yourself to see this production.  Really.

Becoming Real

I feel like a cross between The Velveteen Rabbit and Pinocchio—I am, or rather we, as in Purlie Productions, are real.  We are producing The Diary of Anne Frank for the second time with an amazing group of people and watching it become is like the miracle of birth.

The play itself is an emotional roller coaster, with humor, anger and tragedy.  It is definitely appropriate to the fear of the future many of us are feeling now.  It is also a story of human love, endurance and acceptance.  I can’t say enough about the group we have now assembled to accomplish this, both old friends and new—wonderful new friends with Samantha and David Bruchie and Emily Drake.  The talented people I feel like I’ve known forever:  Tom and Benjamin Strait, Kim and Emily Beck, Julianna Lacefield, Warren Wilson and Neil Morris. And, of course, my own Lamar Deal who suffers many labor pains creating the set out of sweat, imagination and a lot of wood.   

Big big thanks to artist Xavius Toombs for the sketch recreation of our dear departed friend, Jimmie Burke.  As Elizabeth Welch said (and I can’t forget her for bringing us back into the fold of the Okefenokee Heritage Center), now Jimmie can attend every play we do.

I do want to share this joy with as many as possible; I hope some of you can experience even a fraction of the inspiration and excitement I have in helping bring this to the stage.   What the audience will see is the sum of all the parts involved. Maybe the rabbit and the puppet are not really the best analogy; Purlie Productions is a new, living, breathing, moving organism; watched over always by our loving guardian angel.  Here’s to you Jimmie!

Tick,Tick, Tick........

As I get older, as we all must, I find myself speeding up instead of slowing down.  I think I have always at some level seen myself as an activist, although not quite as active as some.  I still feel somewhat guilty that I never went to jail or to southern freedom marches.  I didn’t go to the historic March on Washington because I had a summer job, or that is what I told myself.  I was a frightened teenager, although I did participate in a lot of peace and civil rights demonstrations. But in NYC, I was always in a group of people who organized these things and the numbers were big enough that you didn’t stand out.  I wore all my buttons everywhere and belonged to the most left-wing group on the Brooklyn College Campus.  I’m glad I was there and saw what I saw.

Fortunately, I am no longer afraid. Things are different today and I do stand out in this small South GA community.  That’s okay.  I’m not a part of a large group, but the group I am in is slowly growing.  When you shout by yourself, you’re not heard.  There are so many ways now to communicate and it feels like it all has to be done and said yesterday. 

I am very proud of what I---we---have accomplished and of those who have joined me.  Things are changing rapidly—not just politically, but artistically and culturally.  To me that is a huge part of how people change—by what they see and hear personally, not by slogans, jargon, and hype.

So, we will educate by performing “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “Purlie Victorious”; by bringing black music to white citizens and vice versa.  By restoring an ignored historic black cemetery and by teaching children how to communicate on stage.  And, yes, we will demonstrate and verbalize as the situation arises.  We will write letters, post on Facebook, and Tweet.  Whatever, wherever.  History has given us lessons which we will continue to share, from Moses fighting Pharaoh’s army, to the Allied victory over Hitler and of course, to Martin Luther King making the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. 

To those of you who believe Jesus died to free us all must remember that many others have come after him to do the same thing.  Many others are doing that even as I write this, in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.  We should always be united in this fight and recognize that the enemy takes many forms. 

Once again, I can’t “agree to disagree”; there is no compromise on hate of “the other”, or depriving people of basic human rights.  Remember “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”?  That includes access to food, shelter, education and health care.  Our current leadership is showing us every day that is not the goal of this government.  We are in more danger than many of us would like to believe.  It won’t just “blow over”.  But it can be stopped.  Find your inner activist and speed up, we don’t have all day!