Last Wednesday, March 20th and Thursday, March 21st, I was at Gettysburg College participating in their Theatre Arts program's inaugural New Play Festival. Dr. Susan Russell directed and starred in a mostly student reading of my play, Our Man Beverly Snow. (One cast member was a local reverend and Susan read as Constable Jeffers!) Professor Kathryn Kawecki directed a student reading of Christine Evans' play, Weightless.
Our respective readings and post show discussions were quite successful and wonderfully productive. We had an enthusiastic and attentive audience of theater students and students who were friends of the casts. My cast included Joseph Donnella as Beverly Snow, Carl Jones as Reverend Frank Cook, Wes Jackson as Arthur Bowen, Maria Lawson as Maria Bowen, Kay-Chelle M. Waterton as Julia Snow, Angelo D'Amato as Andrew Laub, Brendan Morgan as Reuben Crandall, Susan Russell as Constable Jeffers and Audrey Bowler as Stage Directions.
While I won't be able to work on rewrites of Our Man Beverly Snow until after The Hampton Years has opened at Theater J, I'm excited to integrate all that I learned in development with these sharp, talented and generous folks at Gettysburg. Mainly, I'm letting go of the one location set, which will open up the world of the play in a useful, active and more compelling way. As a playwright, I had been interested in exploring the one location set, but it doesn't work for this play. After all, this is a revolution. There are several key participants and significant locations. This play is also begging for a darker, more lyrical tone and two more characters.
In addition to the reading, I lead a playwriting workshop with a handful of students and that wasy just wonderful. It was great to get to know them and where they were in both their academic and artistic journeys. It was also greats speaking with them about life as a playwright.
Overall, my time at Gettysburg was inspiring and rejuvenating. However, it was all too short! It was wonderful to be in an academic environment clearly supported by the larger institution. I hope to come back when I have more time not only to work with the students and faculty, but also to explore this amazing, historic city. I managed to take some photos of our time together and am happy to share them with you now.
This quote, which serves as the opening inscription of my new play, OUR MAN BEVERLY SNOW, comes from Joseph Anton - A Memoir written by the brilliant, bold and incomparable novelist and essayist, Salman Rushdie. In 1988, Salman Rushdie published a novel, The Satanic Verses. I was ten years old at the time and had no idea who Mr. Rushdie was or what happened to him as a result of him writing this highly acclaimed and controversial novel. My favorite books at that time were The Fabulous Five and Anne of Green Gables series.
I eventually did read The Satanic Versus in undergrad. It was an enthralling, majestic, devastating and terrifying read. It reminded me of how I felt when reading Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince for the first time. I was enchanted by this lovely, wise and forlorn tale. I read it page for page with my sister. At that time, my world was as a big as Tennessee Colony, a small rural farming community in East Texas, and only stretched as far as Palestine, a small city where we'd go to buy groceries and visit the library. We raised farm animals and kept a vegetable/herb garden. So I understood the tenderness of the Prince's description of his own planet, his devotion to his rose, the vigilance needed to combat the baobab trees and the taming of the fox. I loved stories of adventure and so was captivated by the Prince's visits to each planet. But when he meets the snake, I was afraid to turn the page. I felt a flash of heat and was filled with an ominous and foreboding feeling. Having grown up on the Bible, I knew what was coming and grew quite sad. I asked my mother to sit with us while we finished reading it.
I am fascinated by what happened to Salman Rushdie. He is an artist. He wrote The Satanic Verses in an attempt to talk about the nature of revolution. He did what I feel an artist is meant to do: ask questions, make observations and call attention to what is happening in the world. And he was punished severely for it.
OUR MAN BEVERLY SNOW is a play about revolution. It is the story of a young slave, Arthur Bowen, who in a drunken rage, picks up an ax and demands his freedom. It is the story of an abolitionist, Reuben Crandall, who--at the risk to life and limb--travels to D.C. to join in the fight to end slavery. It is the story of a reverend, Frank Cook, who preaches the word of God, teaches free people of color how to read and write and gathers a group of Black men together for enlightened discussion. It is the story of an immigrant, Andrew Laub, trying desperately to hold on to his piece of the American Dream. It is the story of a constable, Madison Jeffers, who believes strongly in the institution of slavery, thinks very little of free people of color and despises abolitionists, but is honor bound to protect those in his custody regardless of their beliefs. It the story of a culinary artist, Beverly Snow, who travels to the nation's capital, brings culture the masses and creates magnificent cuisine. He didn't discriminate and opened his doors to slaves, slave owners, auctioneers, and abolitionist alike. Yet, it is his name that is dragged through the mud, his restaurant that is ransacked and he, who is run out of the nation's capital. It is the artist who is punished severely.
"The democratic revolutions of England, America, France, and Mexico gave rise to such historic figures as Cromwell, Hampden, Pym, and Vane; Washington, Jefferson, Otis, Henry, and the Adamses; Danton, Marat, Mirabeau, and Robespierre; Carranza, Madero, and Obregón. The communist and nationalist revolutions of the twentieth century have catapulted into prominence such men as Lenin and Stalin, Mao and Chou En-lai, Ho and Giap, Castro and Guevara, Arafat and Habash, Nkomo and Mugabe. All these men are bent on destroying the existing social order and replacing it with a new one. How they differ among themselves is a question that seldom has been addressed.
The Founders (Francis Scott Key) - Represent a mature, solid, middle-aged, middle-class group. Typically members of the establishment in their own societies, most of them appeared on the revolutionary landscape in response to situations of national crisis or emergency.
The Professional Revolutionaries (Rueben Crandall) - Came from the middle or lower social strata and were radicalized quite early in life. They generally had long histories of antiregime activity, were arrested with regularity, and spent long periods of time in prison, exile, or both.
The Scholars (Frank Cook) - Come from the predominantly middle-social stata of their societies. Regardless of their specific professions (most often law, medicine, teaching, journalism, the ministry), they write extensively on a variety of subjects and contribute heavily to the theory and practice of revolution.
The Agitators (Andrew Laub and Arthur Bowen) - they characteristically combine shades of leftist doctrines—anarchism, socialism, communism—with strong nationalist commitments. The Agitators share some characteristics with The Professional Revolutionaries, but in contrast, their commitment is not firm, final, and unwavering. Given appropriate circumstances, The Agitators may turn opportunist.
The Generals (Madison Jeffers) - constitute a professionally educated group, consisting most likely of middle- or high-ranking military officers who become involved in revolutionary activity late in their careers, either because of acute dissatisfaction or as a response to situations of national emergency.
However, there is seemingly no role for the artist. The one who helps the rest of us see our way through the madness and destruction to a place of peace and understanding. The one who fashions chaos and fear into a poem, a song, a mural, a sculpture, a novel or a dance. The one who is accused of inaction and ridiculed for their dreams. The one who asks questions, makes observations and calls attention to what is happening in the world. The one who is punished cruelly for bearing witness and giving voice.
Commissioned, developed and presented by Active Cultures, the reading of OUR MAN BEVERLY SNOW was directed by Colin Grube with dramaturgy by Otis Ramsey-Zoe and featured Maryam Foye, Eric Humphries, James J. Johnson, Julian Elijah Martinez, Dane Petersen, Colin Smith, Dawn Ursula and David Lamont Wilson. Here are some pictures from the reading.
Tomorrow at 8:00pm, Active Cultures Theatre will present a staged reading of my new play, OUR MAN BEVERLY SNOW as part of their annual Diving Board Festival. My play is one of four plays having a reading, so I hope you can take part in some if not all of the weekend's activities.
This past July, Active Cultures Artistic Director Mary Resing sent me a Washington Post article about Jefferson Morley's book Snow-Storm in August. Set in 1835, Morley chronicles the historical events and key figures in one of D.C. earliest race riots. Since Active Cultures is interested in local history, art, culture, politics, and culinary practices, this story was perfect for them. What struck us both about the riot was the man who became a target of the violence, Beverly Snow, who the chef/owner of the Epicurean Eating House. He was attacked for being a successful Black man at a time when many White men were struggling financially. To me, this racially fueled violence seemed similar to the response that President Obama received upon being elected the first African American president of the United States. I knew I had to write this play.
At the time, I was already working on play about district attorney and author our national anthem, Francis Scott Key. The play, BEND AND SWAY, DON'T BREAK, is set in 1816-1817 around another true life event that has Key defending the rights of two free people of color who had been kidnapped. The case exposed a notorious interstate slave trading ring in the heart of the nation's capitol. Sadly, this play may never be written as I was meant to finish it twice already, but it was usurped by LOVE BROTHERS SERENADE and THE HAMPTON YEARS. While Key doesn't appear in my play, he was a central figure in the two trials that followed the race riot, serving as district attorney in U.S. versus Reuben Crandall and U.S. versus Arthur Bowen. Arthur Bowen was a young slave who drunkenly wielded an ax in the doorway of his owner's bedroom. Reuben Crandall was an abolitionist charged with publishing seditious libels and circulating publications of the American Anti-Slavery Society. While Crandall's trial was heralded as the most sensational of Key's career, both trials changed the dialogue about slavery and freedom in this country.
In early September, I reached out to historians at the Library of Congress and the National Archives for research. I read newspapers that reported on the riots and the trials. I even read both trial transcripts and diary entries of Anna Maria Thorton, the woman who owned Arthur Bowen and wife of Dr. William Thorton, who designed the Capitol, the White House, and other historic buildings. I learned as much as I could about what life was like for whites, German and Irish immigrants, slaves and free blacks in Washington, D.C. What's more, I studied cookbooks, fashion, and popular songs from the early to mid-1800's. It was really quite wonderful! Then, in November, I started to write the play.
Last night's rehearsal was a culmination of this fast-paced, concentrated effort and it was exhilarating, fun and informative! I feel so fortunate to have a smart, passionate, talented, funny, and enthusiastic team of theatre artists coming together in the development of a new play. Director Colin Grube and dramaturg Otis Ramsey-Zoe guided the cast, which included Maryam Foye, Eric Humphries, James J. Johnson, Julian Elijah Martinez, Dane Petersen, Colin Smith, Dawn Ursula and David Lamont Wilson through a quick and dirty read-through of the script. We stopped to flesh out confusion about the plot, make new discoveries about character and discussed how truly interesting the story of these people are. It's an exciting new play, even at these early stages.
Tomorrow, I'm going to feature the cast and artistic team. For now, here are some great photos from our work together!