Staging a revolution

~ The River City Players hope to attract the black performers who have been noticeably absent from their productions.

Stage lights come up in the River City Yacht Club to illuminate Robin Phelps, standing alone, dressed in red and white, channeling the spirit of the deceased playwright Lorraine Hansberry.

"I'm audacious enough to think of myself as an artist," Phelps tells the audience. "Tonight I hope we can share some illuminations together about each other."

Those illuminations will deal with race, America's history of black oppression and the life of Hansberry, whose art spoke to the heart of the civil rights movement in its early days.

The play is called "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" -- an episodic drama based on the life of Hansberry.

Hansberry stands as a revolutionary of black theater in America, the first black and the first woman to have a play -- the racially charged "A Raisin in the Sun" -- produced on Broadway.

With this play, the River City Players hope to start their own racial revolution -- one that will attract the black performers who have been noticeably absent from their stage. Black performers, including a talented 9-year-old named Taylor Dumars, make up most of the cast.

This production and Southeast Missouri State University's upcoming "Romeo and Juliet" are significant breaks with a past.

"We really haven't had many take part, and I don't know why other than maybe we just haven't been able to get the word out to people who may be interested," said Lloyd Williams, co-director of "To Be Young, Gifted and Black." Williams is black and an 11-year veteran of the River City Players.

The Players had a definite agenda in choosing to produce a play on Hansberry's life, said director Dr. Sharon Bebout-Carr.

"This privileges the African-American experience instead of just inserting an African-American performing into a predominantly white cast," said Bebout-Carr. "What we're not seeing any of in this community is opportunities for theater for African-Americans."

Originally the Players had planned to produce August Wilson's "Fences," a drama requiring a large black cast. Weeks of casting calls went by. The theater group had problems getting enough black performers in to fill the cast. "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" was substituted at the last minute, since it could be performed with a smaller cast but still speak to the black experience in America.

'Gives you more options'

Members of the local theater community aren't sure why so few blacks and other minorities take part. The Players and Southeast have welcomed minority performers, but not many have come forth until now.

"Philosophically and artistically it just gives you more options," said Southeast theater and dance chair Dr. Kenn Stilson. "There's so much great literature and things you can do if you have diversity amongst your acting pool."

"Romeo and Juliet" is far different than the Players' production, which speaks directly to the black experience. However, Stilson, who directs the Shakespeare classic, made unconventional casting choices that brought more diversity to his play. Romeo is black, and Lord Montague is biracial.

It wasn't a purposeful decision, just a decision based on the best actors for the part.

Freshman Desmond Gray, a theater performance major from the suburbs of Chicago, plays Romeo. In Chicago he heard Southeast Missouri had a reputation as "hickville," Gray said, and he noticed a lack of black performers in productions he saw here during his senior year in high school.

The university is billing "Romeo and Juliet" as its biggest production of the year. Gray hopes a black actor in a lead role will get people to think more about onstage diversity.

"Maybe this will help the department grow and get rid of the idea that it's just one race, one mindset," Gray said.

Tony Poston, a biracial senior acting and directing major, has been in the cast of several Southeast productions over the past two years. In "Romeo and Juliet" he plays Romeo's father, Lord Montague. He jokes the play has 1 1/2 black actors, since he's half-white, half-black.

"I've been here for two years, and this is the first chance I've had to work with black actors," Poston said.

Poston, who went to high school in Poplar Bluff, Mo., said no minorities participated in theater at his high school. He says the area could be missing out on some great talent.

"I know there are people out there who can do stuff like this," he said. "Two blocks away there's the next Denzel Washington, but nobody's given him a chance."

Victor Reese, also a Southeast student, may not be Denzel Washington, but he is a talented young actor making his debut in "To Be Young, Gifted and Black."

Like the others in the production, Reese plays a variety of characters.

About halfway through he takes on the role of Walter Lee Younger, the hero of "A Raisin in the Sun." Younger is a hard-working black man trying to support a family and about to move them into a house they bought in a predominately white suburb. His white neighbors don't want the family next door and try to buy them out.

Like his character, Reese and his colleagues are moving into a predominantly white area -- local theater. Unlike the character, Reese and the other black performers are welcomed with open arms.

Now that they've found each other, the Players see Reese's talent and want to keep him on the roster. It was just a matter of hooking up.

"I lived here for three or four years. I just didn't know they existed," said Reese, whose previous acting experience is a few high school plays.

The connection was made through contacts at Southeast, like minority programs director Trent Ball. Without those connections it's unlikely the Players would have found the actors and actresses they needed.

Seeds need water

Judy Pratcher, another member of the "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" cast and a former Southeast theater major, said more focus should be put on getting talented young blacks to stay with the arts.

"The arts are a dying thing to begin with, and I think more blacks should be into the arts," Pratcher said. "It's not because they don't have the talent. It's because we're not pushing it, we're not cultivating it. If you plant a seed, it's not going to grow unless you water it."

But being a lone minority in a white world can be intimidating, Pratcher said.

"When I was a theater major, I was the only black theater major, and I certainly dealt with the issues there," she said. "I chose not to run away but to embrace it. I live in Cape Girardeau. This is what I do, and this is what I want to do."

Pratcher said it's up to minorities who want to be involved to get involved. This production marked the first time she auditioned for the Players, and she wants others to do the same.

The inability to cast "Fences" illustrates the lack of participation, she said.

"They tried, I saw that," Pratcher said. "Don't complain about what they won't do when I saw them try to do this and the community didn't respond."

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182