THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
Arts & Entertainment Theater page 13 | Film/TV page 15 | Jazz page 19
January 6, 2022 - January 12, 2022 • 13
Pg. 16 Your Stars
Jacob Ming-Trent as Falstaff and Joshua Echebiri as Pistol in “Merry Wives,” a hilarious adaptation by Jocelyn Bioh of Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” (Joan Marcus photo)
2021: The Year in Review in Black theater: reinvention, retrospectives, reflection
By LINDA ARMSTRONG Special to the AmNews
2021 was a year like no other in theater as the pandemic continued to shut down regular theater and had theater companies having to figure out a new normal to present productions. Creative people got more creative and found a different way. It was also a year of reflection on different levels. Jan. 17, 2021 set a mark for a banner year for Woodie King Jr. and his New Federal Theatre as this theatrical treasure marked its 50th anniversary. The New Federal Theatre has been producing plays since 1970 and has presented over 450 mainstage productions. It does and has always served as a vehicle for people of color and women to have the opportunity to create and tell our stories! With COVID raging, theaters had to find a safe way to create and present their works. In February, New Federal Theatre was there as it presented a virtual play reading series to quench the public’s appetite for theatrical fare. It presented “The Meeting” by Jeff Stetson, which
told the story of a meeting between Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in a hotel room. It was powerfully performed by Beethovan Oden as Malcolm X and Joseph L. Edwards as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., along with Tyler Fauntleroy as Rashad. This engaging production utilized split screens to show the actors and was mesmerizing to watch. It also had phenomenal direction by Ajene Washington. Viewers were asked for a donation. The next reading in the series was of Mfundi Vundla’s “Widows” and it featured Zoleka Vundla, Phinki Wilson and Tanya Nomaziko Zondo with direction by Clinton Turner Davis. COVID meant that theaters in general had to reinvent themselves. In February, Manhattan Theatre Club decided to do a virtual Curtain Call Series for free, which spotlighted plays from the past. Richard Wesley’s “The Past Is the Past” was a moving production that featured the riveting Ron Cephas Jones as Earl Davis and Jovan Adepo as Eddie Green. It told the tragic story of a father who meets his son that he abandoned years before. The play focused on the issue of Black men planting seeds in our communities, but
not staying around to be fathers to their children. This production had stunning direction by Oz Scott. February also saw the virtual premiere of “Freedom Summer,” a dramatic production written by Cynthia G. Robinson and brilliantly presented by North Carolina Black Repertory Company under director Jackie Alexander. While other virtual productions showed actors in isolated areas, this production gloriously was done in a theater with full set and costumes. That alone began to warm my heart. This play told the story of two Black sisters in 1964—the younger sister Carrie and older sister Nora. Nora is passing for white and about to marry a white man. The two actresses were spellbindingly captivating and were Nikyla Boxley as Carrie and Mariah Guillmette as Nora. One of the most important aspects of telling our stories is capturing our theatrical history. While this was not presented on a stage, documentary filmmaker Juney Smith—the same man who previously documented Woodie King Jr. in “King of Stage: The Woodie King Jr. Story”—now turned his lens to docu-
menting the journey of theater veterans such as actors Arthur French, Count Stovall and Marie Thomas, along with playwrights Richard Wesley and Dominique Morrisseau, Crossroads Theatre Company founder Ricardo Khan and Black lead Broadway producers—Stephen C. Byrd and Alia Jones-Harvey in his film “King Arthur & The Count,” which came out at the end of March. In April Audible gave audiences a theatrical experience to remember as it recorded and presented Liza Jessie Peterson in her phenomenal one-woman show about the criminal justice system and its mistreatment of Blacks and minorities—“The Peculiar Patriot.” The performance was recorded live at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theater in Manhattan in front of a live audience. This poignant work got its first breath of life at the National Black Theatre in 2018 and three years later it’s on Audible! In May, Woodie King Jr. announced that after 50 years he would retire as producing director of New Federal Theatre. June 30th would be his last day. Then this precious jewel would be in See REVIEW on page 14
