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September 25, 2000 For Immediate Release | |
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Media contact: Alice Iseminger (440) 775-8171 Friday, Oct. 6 Sunday, Oct. 8 Hall Auditorium Central Ticket
Service Located in the lobby of Hall Auditorium, 67 N. Main St. between the Oberlin Inn and the Allen Art Museum. Open 12 to 5 pm,
Oberlin College |
THE AFRICAN COMPANY PRESENTS RICHARD III TO BE PERFORMED NEXT WEEKEND, OCTOBER 6, 7 & 8, AT OBERLIN COLLEGE Rooted in Theatrical
History in a Slave-holding America.
Photos and complimentary media tickets available: (440) 775-8171 OBERLIN,
OHIO- In
New York circa 1821, the African Company is forced to relocate its
production of Richard III after
staunch competition with a rival white theater company prompts authorities
to shut down their African Grove stage. In a retelling of the history of
America's first African American theater company, playwright Carlyle
Brown's The African Company
Presents Richard III highlights what Director Caroline Jackson Smith
describes as "the tension of Afrocentric and Eurocentric cultures
colliding to create American performance
traditions." Despite
the upset, The African Company led by entrepreneur William Henry Brown and
actor James Hewlett, reestablishes itself at the City HotelÛright next
door to Park Theater which is preparing its own production of Richard III with star Junius
Brutus Booth making his American debut. The resulting conflict points to
the beginnings of African American dramatic literature.
The
African Company Presents Richard III
explores the human experienceÛhumor, romance, ambition and tragedyÛwhile
exploring the complexities of slave-holding, pre-civil war American
culture. A New York Times
reviewer raves that, "the well-worn opening monologue of Shakespeare's
most villainous monarch takes on a new, electrifying resonance. . . [as
the] familiar embittered soliloquy becomes a startling cry of racial
outrage." As critic Laura V. Blanchard, Vice Chair of the Richard II
Society, remarks, "Performance histories of Richard III often chronicle
the eccentricities of some nineteenth century performances." However, "The
reality is wrenchingly different, and the dissonance is given powerful
dramatic treatment in Carlyle Brown's The African Company Presents Richard
III." The
members of the African CompanyÛvisionary founder, William Henry Brown
(Melvin Jimenez, '04), the leading man, James Hewlett (Channing Joseph,
'03), a shy leading lady, Ann Johnson (Chaunetta Jones '03), a character
actress and costumer, Sarah (Shinnerrie Jackson, '02) and the Caribbean
sage they call Papa Shakespeare (Michael S. Preacely, '01)Ûexplore their
own painful personal histories and social identities to find passion and
belief in the power of language and theater, and the emergence of the
African American theater in American tradition. Hewlett, the company's
star, remarks, "It's all glass that I know how to polish and make clear.
So that any man can see that I am any man." The other members of the
Oberlin student ensemble breathing life into Brown's script include: Dan
Keegan, '04 (Stephen Price); Adam Marvel, '02 (The Constable-Man); Shannon
Forney, '01 (Mrs. Van Dam); Allison Curseen, '04 (Ann Johnson understudy);
and Kevin Moreno, '01 (William Henry Brown,
understudy). The
production staff is comprised of costume designer Chris Flaharty,
associate professor of theater; scenic designer Michael Louis Grube,
associate professor of theater; sound designer, Jen Groseth, lecturer in
theater; lighting designer Charlotte Phillips, '01; Alana Bailey, '02,
stage manager; Aqila Mayle, '02, assistant director; Caleb Miller, '03,
production assistant; Chris Miller, '01, production assistant; Janice
Reddick, '03, production assistant; and Daryl Williams, '03, production
assistant. Playwright
and DirectorÌs Bios Caroline
Jackson Smith
(director), an
Associate Professor of Theater and African American Studies at Oberlin
College, has directed widely both locally and nationally. Last season she
directed the world premiere of Crossroads Dancing by Irish
American playwright Margaret Lynch at the Dobama Theater; The Colored Museum at Oberlin
College; and August Wilson's Seven
Guitars at Karamu's Performing Arts Theater. Most recently she was a
participant in the biannual conference of the Toni Morrison Society and
spoke at Dallas Theater Center. Jackson received the 1993 directing from
the Theater Communications and the NEA. She made her New York debut at the
New York Public Theater in 1995 when she directed Adrienne KennedyÌs Funnyhouse of a Negro for the
Signature Theater Company. She has directed and/or worked as a dramaturg
for the Portland Stage, Cleveland Playhouse, Great Lakes Theater Festival,
Karamu House, and the Cleveland Public Theater on such productions as The Women of Plums, The Talented
Tenth, Ma RaineyÌs Black Bottom, Our Town, Jitney, and an abridged
production of Lorraine HansberryÌs To Be Young, Gifted and Black.
Since coming to Oberlin in 1989, Jackson Smith has directed a number of
plays for Oberlin, including The
Gospel at Colonus, To Be Young, Gifted and Black, The Resurrection of Lady
Lester, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, and for colored girls who have considered
suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, and The Darker Face of the Earth.
After receiving her BA and graduate training in Afro-American Studies at
Yale University, Jackson Smith went on to serve as the head of their
Afro-American Cultural Center for eight years. |
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