By Tiffany Bramwell
This past weekend Dallas experienced a fresh approach to theater and the arts when 7th Stage Productions presented Stage Black: A Festival of New Plays at the Black Academy of Arts & Letters’ Clarence Muse Café Theater. The “Festival” consisted of 5 short plays all written and directed by local talent.
7th Stage Productions was conceived by Jiles R. King II who was born and raised in Dallas, TX. After King graduated from Morehouse College he returned to Dallas to teach at Skyline High School. King is quoted as saying, “our motto is to strive to inspire and affirm the African-American aesthetic.” He started the group because he recognized a need for an African-American Dallas theater company located in Dallas near downtown.
For these specific plays, King and his team conducted a national writers search. They received work from as far away as New York, but as a luck would have it, all the writers he chose were from Dallas. Everyone that worked on the production was also from the area, which provided a great opportunity for local artists.
The “New Festival of Plays” tackled subjects or “scenes” that we have all witnessed before. “To You with Love”, written by Skyline High School student Tyler Fite, was a compelling story of the perils of high school love. It was refreshing to see high school students realizing their dreams on stage.
“Black Jack Love” written by Latoya Guy and directed by Catherine Montgomery, was a story of suspense, deception and lust. Monique Vasquez, played a woman caught between 2 loves, her current boyfriend and her high school sweetheart. She thinks a good game of “Black Jack” will help her choose who she should be with, but does she choose the right hand? This play kept us on the edge of our seats and Crystal Smith provided the comic relief as the nosy former classmate.
From "Trees Please" left to right: JR Bradford, Nik Hobson, Douglas Carter, Calvin Gabriel and Isreal Henry
“Trees, Please” written and directed by Buster Spiller was a look into the family dynamics of an uncle schooling his nephew in the lessons of life and dominos. Uncle Harry played by Calvin Gabriel was fabulous as the old school uncle, who put it down with knowledge as well as an old fashioned butt whipping on the “bones.”
“Freedom Ballot” written by Cherie Monique Williams and directed by Jon Luke told the story of an old man reminiscing back to when he ran for 10th grade class president during the 1950’s, while listening to the Obama Inaugural Speech. Quentin Jones plays a compelling Henry Parker Johnson as he persevered through being beaten by white kids and discouraged by his mother as he ran for class president.
And finally, “Job 2010” written and directed by Jiles R. King II was a modern adaption from the Bible story of Job. J.R. Bradford and Kenneisha Thompson rip at our heart strings in the familiar story of a man who looses his entire family but continues to trust in God to meet his needs. And Kennesha is the woman who is his “Angela” that saves his life while saving herself.
These plays all told the many stories and perspectives of African Americans, which is the goal of 7th Stage Productions. When asked about upcoming theater productions, King, said they will be “performing ‘The Colored Museum’ in October, and for the first time we will be taking my adaptation of ‘A Christmas Carol’ to 3 Texas cities.”
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