[ad_1]
By Micha Green
AFRO D.C. Editor
[email protected]
One good way to celebrate Black History Month and the greatness and complexity that is Black Americanism, is by taking a visit to Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Sidney Harman Hall for a production of James Baldwin’s The Amen Corner. Featuring a cast full of some of D.C.’s most celebrated Black talent, The Amen Corner, directed by Whitney White, will run from now until March 15, at Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F Street, Northwest.
A celebrated playwright and writer in his own right, Baldwin, uses The Amen Corner as a moment to examine the role of the church in Black society and as said by White, “the characters in this world are vivid and real.
With a place like Shakespeare Theatre Company footing the bill and providing the space, as a director, White has had the freedom to make this production big, bold and beautiful.
“I feel like I’m bringing as much as I humanly possible can, because for once I have the time and spaces and resources to do it,” White told the AFRO.
In an exclusive interview with the AFRO, White shared how this production of The Amen Corner will not only be entertaining, but necessary in today’s society and a beautiful moment to witness unapologetic, beautiful Blackness in it’s full glory.
AFRO: What are you bringing different to The Amen Corner?
White: Well I think the privilege and honor of working on The Amen Corner at Shakespeare Theatre D.C. is that we’re in this huge, gorgeous hall- the Harmon Hall- which is one of our most epic stages in the country. And I was able to have a huge cast… We have this beautiful large ensemble and so what I’m bringing to it, I think, different than what you’ve seen, is a Black story on a truly epic scale. We are on the largest stage we could be on for this story. And Shakespeare Theatre has brilliantly given us the time and space. So…. you’re going to be overwhelmed in a wonderful way. You’re going to see all the life that’s on stage. There’s so many men and women breathing and moving and singing and dancing and worshipping- so it feels like a very large theatrical event. And so often our stories, I feel are relegated to the smaller spots, the smaller space, a smaller cast, and that’s not all due to racism, it’s also due to the fact that theatre is a business that operates off of scarcity and limited resources, and we’re increasingly in a time where writers are encouraged to write two-person plays or four-person plays on one set. This, however, we’re allowed to live and be Black and full on an epic scale, like you would see a Shakespeare, and our stories do deserve to be explored on that level.
AFRO: Why The Amen Corner and why now?
White: I was raised by a very fierce, single mother in Chicago. She’s incredible. She’s my guiding light and she very fiercely tried to carve out a life for me, in which I could feel safe and successful, and live and thrive, which we know in America that’s not easy to do for any person of color, or any minority, and sometimes the lengths that we have to go through to keep each other safe in our communities can feel like a lot… I feel like growing up while Black in America, kind of has a warning to it, that we all need. So you see in this play, this young boy, David, who loves music and is this musical prodigy, and you see his mother do everything she can to keep him safe, to keep him close to her, and ultimately some of those methods are very questionable. It’s like: ‘How much can we lie to our children for their own good?’ And at the end of the play we see this woman, who is the leader of a community and a mother, go through this incredible crucible where she kind of loses it all, and I think the audience is forced to see her in a complicated way. She wasn’t right, but she wasn’t wrong, she was just a human. And sometimes when we’re human we try to protect those things closest to us, we make mistakes.
For tickets and more information, visit http://www.shakespearetheatre.org/events/the-amen-corner-19-20/.
For the full story and interview, visit www.afro.com.
[ad_2]
Source link