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Our stories are being told but we're not there to see them.

11/17/2018

I just saw The Justice Theater Project’s production of A Doll’s House and Playmakers Repertory Company’s Skeleton Crew. Both performances received rave reviews from audiences and critics. They both have great casts, unique sets and special stories about our community. They were both written by young African American female playwrights.

There is another thing the shows have in common. They did not have enough African Americans in the audience. It is heartbreaking to see such wonderful plays with African American casts and only a few of us there to experience them. In the Skeleton Crew playbill, there was a "Rules of Engagement" from the playwright. Here are some excerpts:

You are allowed to have audible moments of reaction and response. My work requires a few "um hmms" and "uhn uhnns" should you need to use them.This can be church for some of us, testifying is allowed. Please be an audience member that joins with others and allows a bit of breathing room. Exhale together. Laugh together. Say "amen" should you need to. This is community. Let's go.

It is clear who she was thinking of when she wrote her rules. She created her play for us. And we should be there. You know what? You will LOVE both of these shows! And your friends and family will love you for bringing them. And the actors, playwrights and theater companies will love that you were there. So please provide your support. I promise you'll be glad that you did!

By Sherri Holmes, Triangle FAAA Founder & Director

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African American Theater: Why We Need to Be in the Audience

12/10/2017

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On December 4, the Triangle Friends of African American Arts attended the play Dot at PlayMakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill. It was an amazing show about an African American family in West Philadelphia. It was funny, touching and dramatic. You could see our lives reflected on the stage. There were wonderful actors and a great set. And PlayMakers has such an intimate theater that every seat had a great view. And yet, when I left the show I felt disappointed.

That is because when I looked around the audience there were lots of empty seats and only a few were filled by people of color. And it is such a loss for our community. There are so many reasons to attend an African American play or musical. You’ll have a wonderful experience. You’ll receive gratitude from the family or friends that you bring (“This was such a great show. Thank you for telling me about it.”). And you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that you supported African American arts and artists.

When we fill up the audience for an African American play or musical, the African American performers feel energized and appreciated. I once spoke with an African American actor after a play and she said that it was a different show when we were in the theater. We respond. We encourage. We laugh at the right moments. The success of African American plays and musicals, enables theater companies to present shows that will provide more work for African American actors and playwrights. And it ensures that we will have more opportunities see our history, our culture, and our lives in the stories that we see on the stage. So support African American theater in the Triangle is a wonderful way to make a difference!

On January 14, 2018 at 7:00 pm, The Triangle Friends of African American Arts is bringing together several performing arts organizations to showcase the wonderful African American plays and musicals that will hit the stages in 2018. This special evening will include dramatic readings, songs and scenes from upcoming performances.

Photo credit: Yolanda Rabun performing at the 1st annual Triangle African American Theater Preview in 2017. By Beth Mann/Early Bird Photo on behalf of ArtsNowNC.

African american theater preview tickets

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Why You Should Go To The Opera

9/3/2015

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For over 160 years, African Americans have been a part of the opera world. In 1853 Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield debuted at New York City’s Metropolitan Hall to a packed audience of 4,000. The Coloured Opera Company performed in Washington, DC and Philadelphia, PA in 1873. Harry Lawrence Freeman became the first African American to compose a full length opera in 1891. And yet, despite African Americans’ great history with the opera, most have never experienced it.

Soprano Shana Blake Hill is the great granddaughter of Aaron McDuffie Moore, one of the founding fathers of Durham, North Carolina’s Hayti community. Hill has performed with the Los Angeles Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Philadelphia Symphony and North Carolina Symphony. Hill also recorded the title track for the blockbuster film The Sum of All Fears.

Hill feels that the African American community can easily connect to the opera. She said, “For African Americans there is an ease of expressing oneself through song that I believe comes from the church, the blues . . . from being vocal with one another in a fully actualized fully felt physical and emotional way that lends itself beautifully to the operatic art form. The struggle of the black community in this nation and the pressures that are put on black lives even today often causes overwhelming emotions. Opera allows a community to explore big emotions: anger, death, love, passion and complicated relationships. All of these sorts of things are worked out on the operatic stage. There is a reason that soap opera has opera in the title. It is because these things came first.”
Many members of the African American community may have stayed away from the opera because of a lack of sensitivity and diversity in the performances. It was just last month that the Metropolitan Opera, the largest performing arts company in the nation, finally gave in to public pressure and announced that it would no longer use blackface makeup for singers who play characters of African descent.

Still, there are many opera companies that already strive to remain relevant and do not put limits on their casting or programming. The North Carolina Opera features performances with diverse themes and artists. Last year it presented an opera about Muhammad Ali. Its upcoming production of Madama Butterfly will feature African American Soprano Talise Trevigne in the title role.   Another significant part will be performed by African American Baritone Michael Sumuel. According to Eric Mitchko, North Carolina Opera’s General Director, “Opera is very much a vibrant living art form and the way to demonstrate that is by doing a broad range of pieces. Of course we try to do it at the highest possible level artistically. Opera is really about singing. What matters most is what someone sounds like and we just try to get the best singers that we can.”

Talise Trevigne has performed with the Opera Parallel in San Francisco, the Almedia Opera in London and the Washington National Opera. Trevigne is thrilled to perform Madama Butterfly and feels that it is a great opportunity to introduce people to the opera. She said, “I think that there is a fear of not understanding opera or it being inaccessible. When you can get someone to let down their guard and just be open to the experience, they often find that not only are they able to understand the plot but they really get into the story. The music is so moving. There is really nothing like live theater and live music. We are bombarded so much with instant social media and everything that we have forgotten the joy of actually being in theater. Madama Butterfly is a wonderful first opera. If you have never gone to the opera before this it would definitely be one that I would break into. It’s just a timeless classic. It’s one gorgeous line after the other. This is definitely a great first.”

Shana Blake Hill also feels that Madama Butterfly is an opera to which everyone can relate. She said, “Who hasn’t been profoundly misunderstood or left by a lover at some point in their lives? Who has not had to stand up for what they believe in despite everyone around them thinking that is a bad idea? Who hasn’t had a cultural clash where ones sensibilities are just not reading with somebody else? There is a reason why singing in church lifts everybody up. You’re affecting one another on a really profound level and so when you look at opera from that stand point when you look at the fact that so many things in our lives are derived from our response to music and in a dramatic way telling a story then you can (appreciate) how it connects to you and your life.”

Opera is an accumulation of several art forms. The elaborate sets and costumes, the powerful singing, the dramatic acting, the beautiful orchestral music and often dancing, all combine to make opera the most glorious of the arts. Today the opera has become even more accessible. Performances sung in foreign languages often have English supertitles. Audiences don’t have to wear floor length gowns or tuxedos. No one has to bring opera glasses. An opera can be inspiring and transformative. So if you haven’t experienced it yet, you definitely should go to the opera.

The North Carolina Opera will present Madama Butterfly on October 30, 2015 and November 1, 2015. For more information about the performance or preview discussions visit www.ncopera.org. If you want to attend Madama Butterfly with a group go to www.africanamericanarts.org.

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Hillside High School -- Creating Stars of the Stage & Screen

7/28/2015

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Wendell Tabb has been the Director of Hillside High School’s Theatre Program for almost 30 years. He has developed an exceptional theater arts program that prepares students for success. It provides them with real life experiences, technical training, and an environment that nurtures their talents. According to a former student, "When you think of Durham, NC you don’t think of professional arts training. Durham is called the City of Medicine or the Bull City. People don't realize that there’s this jewel of a program where students can go into conservatories or to professional acting or other careers in the performing arts."

Veronique MacRae

Veronique LaShell MacRae is the Founder and Director of Act Trinity Performing Arts Company which is based in Durham, NC. She has her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Performance from North Carolina Central University and a Master of Arts in Christian Studies from Duke University. MacRae works as a playwright, producer, director and actor. This summer her plays will be performed at the Black Theatre Festival and the Capital Fringe Festival in Washington, DC. She has also created a new play that is scheduled to open this fall.

When Veronique LaShell MacRae entered Hillside High School, she wanted to play with the band. She had signed up for a music class but because of a mistake by a guidance counselor, she ended up in theater arts. MacRae was initially upset but then she found something special in Mr. Tabb's class. She said, "Theater arts gave me an avenue to share my voice where previously I had allowed my voice to be hidden. That space allowed me to express myself in a way I hadn’t done before. I was able to carry that into my everyday life and learn who I was and grow as a person. There was such leadership and mentorship in his arts program. We learned a lot about teamwork and collaboration. It was never just about the play."

When MacRae began her career she realized that the training she received at Hillside allowed her to stand apart from her peers. She said, "Mr. Tabb cross trained us so you didn’t just study acting but you learned all areas of production, including the business side. And that is something that you don’t get a lot. You’ll find a lot of actors who don’t understand how to market themselves or how to carry and present themselves in an audition. But the way Mr. Tabb taught, you learned vocabulary, technique and professionalism. You were given real life examples. To be early was to be on time. You had to be prepared. We received an overall experience.”

When MacRae lived in New York, she found that the technical skills she learned were also invaluable. She said, "I’m trained as a stage manager. I’m trained as a production manager. I’ve done professional lighting. I’ve built sets. So I have an understanding of backstage and that allowed me to enter the field in various doors. You may not get the acting gig. But if you have the ability to do tech work then you may meet the person you can give your headshot or resume to which allows you to get on the stage.   Some people say that you should be the master of one thing and not the jack of all trades but because Mr. Tabb gave us a foundation in every area it allowed us to become strong in whatever area we wanted to master."

MacRae once worked in a program for suicidal teens and found that she was able to connect with the students through the arts. "I was able to do that for them because Mr. Tabb did that for us. I had a mom who was very ill and I went through a lot in high school but I was always able to come to the stage and to that classroom and know that it wasn’t just about a teacher trying to get good scores but about someone who really cared and was invested in our holistic whole being. That is what stuck with me. I wanted to pay it forward."

MacRae will be forever grateful for that guidance counselor's mistake. She said, "God has a way of working things out because if I hadn’t attended Mr. Tabb’s class, I wouldn’t have discovered my passion for the theater. Now what I do with my arts organization enables me to help people discover their gifts and give a voice to those who may feel voiceless and bring a way for people to discover who they are. I learned from Mr. Tabb that there are no limits and whatever gifts I have in me, that I am supposed to use them to help others.”

April Parker Jones

April Parker Jones has appeared on several television shows including NCIS, Young & the Restless and Scandal. Today she stars on Tyler Perry’s If Loving You is Wrong and just landed a recurring role on How To Get Away with Murder.

April Parker Jones was also not supposed to be in Mr. Tabb's class. She was originally scheduled to attend Jordan High School but at the last minute she was reassigned to Hillside High School. According to Parker Jones, "Without that, I would not have had the opportunity to train under Wendell Tabb who was and still is very influential in my life. In that four years at Hillside I learned everything that I needed to know about the industry. ‘Competence breeds confidence’. I felt that. I felt that he had equipped me for what I needed to succeed in this industry. Mr. Tabb is an amazing educator.”

Parker Jones experience at Hillside’s Theater Arts program had a profound impact on her. "Mr. Tabb was just so passionate about what he does.” she said.”There were times that he would be so proud of us that he would cry.   He gave us that freedom to be okay with expressing ourselves and our emotions and I really credit him with helping me fall in love with acting. He played a huge role in the relationship that I have with the industry and with the art. I’ll forever be grateful to him."

Parker Jones went on to study theater arts at North Carolina Central University. After receiving acclaim for her performance in a one woman show, Parker Jones decided to leave college to pursue acting in New York. While there she had a daughter and met her husband who is also an actor. They later moved to California where she had another daughter and her career began to gain momentum. In 2014, she joined the cast of Tyler Perry’s If Loving You is Wrong.

Parker Jones was grateful for the opportunity. She said, “Being on the Tyler Perry show has exceeded my expectations. It was a dream come true from the crew to all the people involved with running the studio. Everything is run in such a spirit of excellence. It was such a joy because I had never experienced so many wonderful beautiful black people like that in Hollywood. I was so proud of everybody and everything. It was a joy.”

If Loving You Is Wrong made history as the most watched premier on the OWN network. The show was well received and continued to deliver solid ratings. Parker Jones said, “The actors all meshed well together and it was so harmonious. I can’t wait to get back there to shoot another season. I am really looking forward to working with Tyler Perry and the rest of the crew again and really excited about the future of the show. I hope that the fans will continue to support it so that we can continue to have more seasons.

When asked about her plans for the future, Parker Jones said, “I would like to see my career continue to evolve and work in this industry until the day that I die. I see myself teaching and sharing my experiences and helping the next generation of artists to develop their careers. I see myself using this platform is to be of service and encourage others. I think that is why we are all here. Everybody’s purpose is to somehow be of service. And I just see a long prosperous life with a lot of love.”

Fate led both Veronica LaShell MacRae and April Parker Jones to Hillside High School Theater Arts program. Wendell Tabb fostered their passion for theater arts and helped them to grow as performers and individuals. They are both determined to follow in his footsteps and inspire another generation of performers. Despite the challenges of being an artist, they are committed to their community and their craft. As MacRae said, “I’m still doing theater arts. It is like once I ended up in Mr. Tabb’s class I never left.”

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A Cinderella Musical Transformed for Today

11/21/2014

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With the swish of a magic wand and a Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo, Disney’s Cinderella of yesteryear has vanished. She is no longer a damsel in distress waiting to be rescued. She isn’t a girl who needs a whole crew made up of a faithful dog, tweeting birds and a team of mice to get herself together. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella sings “I can be whatever I want to be”. This Cinderella isn’t afraid to speak her mind, even to a prince. In fact, her timely direction and encouragement ultimately saves the kingdom. When Cinderella arrives at the ball she doesn’t just look beautiful but her leadership and kindness changes the spirit of the event. And Cinderella doesn’t just hope for the prince to find her, she makes it happen. Today’s Cinderella is resourceful, confident and smart. After all, isn’t that what you want your daughter to become?

The Rodgers and Hammerstein’s version of Cinderella was originally created in 1957 for CBS and was watched by 100 million people which was about 60% of the US population. Rodgers and Hammerstein were known for producing shows that were not only entertaining but also addressed issues of racism, classism and sexism. In 2013, Cinderella was reworked for Broadway by Douglas Carter Beane and it was nominated for 9 Tony awards. Some wonderful African American actresses have appeared in television and stage productions of Cinderella. These include Brandy, Whitney Houston, Whoopi Goldberg, Eartha Kitt, Keke Palmer and Sherri Shepard. The current Broadway tour stars African American actress Kecia Lewis as the Fairy Godmother.

Cinderella has all the elements needed to make it a dream come true: enchanting set, luxurious costumes, elegant dancing and romantic music. And if that isn’t enough to make you feel like a princess, you can even purchase your own tiara in the lobby and take a picture at the ball. Soon you too will be singing “Impossible/It’s possible”.

In the audience there are lots of little Cinderellas in their gowns and crowns watching the performance intently. And today they can experience the magic, wonder and excitement of a fairy tale come to life as well as be inspired by a Cinderella who can create her own destiny. Because “happily ever after” shouldn’t be about finding your prince, it’s about finding your voice.

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella will be at the Durham Performing Arts Center until November 23, 2014. For more information, visit www.dpacnc.com.

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Our stories are being told but we're not there to see them.

African American Theater: Why We Need to Be in the Audience

Why You Should Go To The Opera

Hillside High School -- Creating Stars of the Stage & Screen

A Cinderella Musical Transformed for Today

Sherri Holmes

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