FOR THE LOVE OF FREEDOM

For the Love of Freedom
Revisited

For years Levy Lee Simon and I have talked about adapting Levy’s trilogy about the Haitian Revolution of 1793. The telling of the story of how enslaved Africans freed themselves from French colonial slavery is the stuff of myth based in fact and makes for epic theatre that is ultimately truth. The rise of the Haitian Triumphrate Toussaint L’Overture, Jean Jacques Dessalines, and Henri Christophe and there subsequent taking of the island, liberating the enslaved Africans, establishing a constitution, and ultimately defeating the French is a captivating story.

Robey’s production of the Trilogy over a 4 year period is a high point and we felt that the intial draft could be adapted to less than the original 11 hours running time. To that end Levy has been working on the adaptation and on July 24th a company of 36 actors many who had been in the original productions along with Musical Director Leon Mobley and percussionist Malik with the original Production Stage Manager John Freeland Jr. read Lee’s adaptation for an audience of 150 plus. There was a break where Haitian food was served to the actors and audience and with almost 3 decades of history to cover our audience rotated and new members came and joined in to hear the powerful tale of how Africans now Haitian took their country back.

Next reading New York City.

Ben Guillory
Producing Artistic Director
RTC

CAMP LOGAN READING!

Based on the 1917 Court- martial and execution of 19 Black soldiers of the 24th Infantry the play Camp Logan by Celeste Bedford Walker was read on Sunday May 29th in Theatre 2 of LATC. Directed by Alex Morris with Kirk Bovill, Sammie Wayne IV, Dorian C. Baucum, Bill Lee Brown, Dwain Perry, Lee Stansberry, and Kaylon Hunt the audience of one hundred plus that attended the Camp Logan reading recieved a glimpse of what will be a Spring production in Robey’s LATC 2012 season. The reception that followed and open conversations prompted much excitement and anticipation about the up coming season and seeing a fully mounted production of Celeste Bedford Walker’s award winning play. Look for Camp Logan in April.














The Audience














The Cast!

Bronzeville at Manzanar: Breakdown

2007 June: Tim Toyama caught me in the hallway one day to talk about his idea for a play, and his feeling that partnering with an Afro-American playwright would bring authenticity to the story.

2007 July: I introduced Aaron Woolfolk to Tim, and we went to work, meeting once, sometimes more, a month to bring the story of Japanese-American Tahara, and the African American Goodwin families to the Robey stage. The James Irvine Foundation provided funding support for this commissioned piece. The fit between Tim and Aaron was good. The collaboration worked.

Rehearsal at LATC

2009 July: As a result, the Los Angeles Theatre Community was presented with the World Premiere of Bronzeville. The five week run went well. Audiences responded enthusiastically, critics approved, houses were sold out from the first preview to the last added performance. The Japanese American community, some of whom had been interred at Manzanar, were tremendously moved by the performances and responded by returning bringing friends, relatives and even purchasing entire houses. The Robey Artists, staff, designers, and technicians were extremely proud of this work, and Judith Bowman, Robey’s Development Director, had an idea. Take the play to Manzanar!

Manzanar

Manzanar is a National Historic Site. In the early months of 1942, following America’s entry into World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the U.S. Army to remove nearly 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry from their homes and communities on the west coast; two-thirds were American citizens. Manzanar was one of ten remote war relocation centers to which they were sent. Enclosed by barbed wire, the square-mile camp area contained barracks, mess halls, and other buildings, and was home to more than 11,000 internees between March 1942 and November 1945.

Today, the Manzanar National Historic Site, as a unit of the National Park Service, preserves and interprets the many stories of Manzanar’s past.

Robey felt it was an appropriate setting to present Bronzeville to the Inyo County population, especially the students of that area. The story of the Tahara and Goodwin families in Bronzeville is inspired by the experience of a young Japanese-American student, Robert Hirahara and a Black family of Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo, who respected his efforts to avoid internment. Bronzeville tells the story of the families’ interaction, the relationships that develop, the choices made, and the ultimate consequences of their actions.

Again, The James Irvine Foundation’s Rick Noguchi pledged support. The schedule was set, and Tim & Aaron set out to work on the adaptation of the play for the Bronzeville @ Manzanar dates.

Richard Potashin, a member of the Manzanar Interpretative Staff, was our initial contact at Manzanar and introduced us to Les Inafuku, Manzanar Site Superintendent and plans were laid out. Much of 2010 and 2011 were spent putting the pieces together for Robey’s first off-site production. Manzanar is located on U.S. Highway 395 in Inyo County, between the very small towns of Lone Pine (population 2035) and Independence (population 660), 225 miles north of Los Angeles.

Manzanar meeting - l to r Liz McAteer, Les Inofuku, Tom Meleck, Judith Bowman

Lynn Cooper, Inyo Council for the Arts Executive Director, along with Liz McAteer, the Council’s School Arts Coordinator, and husband, Terry McAteer, Inyo County Superintendent of Schools, were brought on. Judith and I met each of them several times along the way, and with many emails and phone conference calls in between, the plans were laid.

The five ton

May 15th 2011: Sunday, early afternoon, the first 5-ton truck, loaded with steeldeck platforms that would become the stage rolled out of Los Angeles. Inside: the set designed by Tom Meleck and built by Vision Scenery; costumes designed by Naila Alladdin Sanders; set furniture, once again, generously provided by Cal State LA’s Tech Director Elizabeth Pietrzak, and props acquired by Prop Master Robert Clements. With Ben Guillory at the wheel, and actor Larry Luv Powell in the passenger seat, the four hour drive to Manzanar began.

5:30 pm: We arrived at Lone Pine none the worst for wear, and parked the truck at the Whitney Portal Hostel, where the actors, crew, and technicians would reside for the nine-day stay.

Entering the museum

Museum playing area before the build

Tony Brockliss, our Master Carpenter, had driven in from LA and was already there, awaiting the load-in that would begin Monday morning, with the arrival of the second 3-ton truck, loaded with lighting equipment and accessories, driven by Production Stage Manager, Sammie Wayne with actor/director Dwain A. Perry escorting him in his trusty pickup truck.

8:00 pm:Tom Meleck, the set and lighting designer, and his son, Michael, arrived and awaited the Monday load-in. Judith Bowman and her shotgun passenger, actor Robert Clements, arrive and settle in.

May 16th: Monday, 7am load-in begins: The steeldeck is put in place and the set is assembled. Sammie and Dwain arrive late morning. With our work crew fourteen strong, plus the generous help of the Manzanar Ranger staff, and an electrcian or two brought into make sure all is well with the museum’s power source, we unload the three ton of equipment and the theatre inside the museum begins to take shape. The remaining cast members arrive throughout the day. Judith, our Road Manager, makes certain all are accommodated and settled into the hostel. Over the next four days we work fast and furiously.

The build begins

The build continues

The set is complete

May 18th: By Wednesday we succeeded in transforming the Manzanar space into a 120 seat theatre, complete with a smoke machine. Preparations go forward for our first on-site rehearsal. Tech/dress rehearsals commence under the watchful eye of the Director, PSA Sammie, and designer Tom Meleck.

Throughout it all, the veteran cast remain excited, focused, poised, and reverent, deeply conscious of the value of what we were doing and about to accomplish, mounting five performances of Bronzeville on the Manzanar site.

May 19th: Thursday, 7pm, evening preview: This had its share of hiccups. The audience, noting they were viewing a preview, was sincerely moved by the actors work and the content of the play.

May 20th: Friday morning, 11am: Our first student matinee began with busloads of young people from various schools in the county, many who had never been to Manzanar, arriving excitedly, anticipating the performance. Teachers had been given study guides prepared by Robey, and the students were familiar with the circumstances surrounding the play. They were very impressed with the company and story, and said so during the Q & A following the performance.

7:00 pm: The Friday evening performance for the general public played to a full house and we welcomed Robey Board member Karen Chappelle, accompanied by several supporters, who made the drive from Los Angeles to attend performances.

Purchasing tickets for opening night

Karren Chappelle and Judith Bowman prepare to distribute programs

Student matinee audience

The Audience

May 21st: Saturday’s 7pm performance: Again, there was an enthusiastic and receptive audience. Staunch arts advocate, Irving Meyer and wife, artist Kathy Lyn Foley, also made the drive, mentioning they’d been in the audience of the original LATC World Premiere performance of Bronzeville in 2009. Friends of the cast also came and appreciated the work, and the fact that we’d mounted the play on hallowed ground of the Manzanar Camp. The company was delighted to see that playwright Tim Toyama, and Naomi were able to make the drive and attend this performance.

Performance in progress

A poignant moment

A standing ovation

Curtain Call

Standing l to r: Sammie Wayne, Larry Powell, Tim Toyama, Ben Guillory, and Robert Clements Sitting l to r: Dana Lee, Adenrele Ojo, Dwain Perry, Iman Milner, Jeff Manabat, CeCe Antoinette

Iman Milner and Jeff Manabat

May 22nd: Sunday 3pm: The matinee was sold out, with the help of word of mouth endorsements from local residents and a radio interview of the play’s Director Ben Guillory, by Sierra Wave CEO, Benett Kessler. Local city administrators attended this performance and expressed an interest in future performances of Bronzeville in Inyo County.

May 23rd: Monday morning, 11am: The student matinee, again, played to a full house of students from local schools who, after being prepped by their teachers armed with the Robey study guide, were well prepared and aware of the circumstances which set the sequence of events in motion resulting in camps like Manzanar. The Q&A that followed included the actors answering questions about the preparation for the work presented.

He had interred there almost 50 years ago

The Inafuku family, Dawn, Les, and Nikki

Naomi and Tim Toyama

Later that day, the majority of the company of actors left to make the trip home, while the crew remained to strike the set. Seven hours later, the set, stage, and lights, were loaded into the two trucks and all that remained were goodbyes to the Manzanar staff and other crew members, along with sincere expressions of appreciation as to what had been accomplished there and the drive home the following morning.

It should be said the experience of bringing Bronzeville to Manzanar and the dramatic presentation of some of what happened there to the students and local residents, many of whom had not been to Manzanar and knew little of what had occurred there, was of great value. The circumstances leading to the displacement of tens of thousands of Japanese-Americans and its grim and despicable consequences, is something that should be viewed as a tremendous telling of one more chapter in the history of the United States’ rush to judgment and condemnation based in fear of a specific people, without due process and apparently, little remorse once called to make reparations for these acts of injustice. The work of the Robey Theatre Company has always been to present socially conscience productions that enlighten, as well as entertain. We are hopefully providing our audiences with revelations that provoke thought sometimes in areas uncomfortable, but are in dire need of being examined if we are to continue to mature as humane beings.

Bronzeville at Manzanar, the work done by playwrights Tim Toyama, Aaron Woolfolk, the gifted cast of the production, Judith Bowman’s vision of setting the play on the ground from which the story was cultivated, the entire creative team, and the collaboration of all the parties in Inyo County with Robey, has been a profound experience, and we are honored to tell the story.

Larry Powell

Sammie Wayne

Dana Lee

Dwain Perry

Judith Bowman and Ben Guillory

l to r: CeCe Antoinette, Jeff Manabat, Larry Powell, Adenrele Ojo and Dwain Perry

Thank You for Your Support.

Ben Guillory
Producing Artistic Director
Robey Theatre Company

Superior Donuts / Anthony B. Phillips

The Robey Theatre Company would like to send a congratulations to company member, Anthony B. Phillips, for booking the lead role of Franco Wicks in Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning author Tracy Letts hot new play "Superior Donuts" with the San Diego Repertory Theatre Company.

Opening Night: Feb 11th, 2011.

For more information click here: http://www.sdrep.org/event2.aspx

L.A Stage Times Article!

The Robey Theatre Company

by BEN GUILLORY | October 12, 2010

Ben Guillory

(Artistic Director / Co -Founder)

“Robey” was the legendary actor Paul Robeson’s athletic nickname when he played college football at Rutgers and became an All-American.

Co- founder Danny Glover and I had long admired Paul, understanding what he stood for in terms of social consciousness and humanitarian efforts. It was natural then that when Danny and I came to LA and felt a need to fill a void we found that would give audiences here an opportunity to hear Artists of Color particularly Black Playwrights- we chose Robey believing that was a very appropriate name.

The Robey Theatre Company’s creative standards are grounded in the spirit & legacy of its namesake, the Renaissance Man who was able to transcend barriers to achieve artistic success for the betterment of all humanity.

In that spirit, Robey’s Mission is to develop, explore, and produce plays written about the global Black Experience sometimes reinterpreting works that have become classics. We believe that one of the theatre’s responsibilities is to tell stories that reflect our relationships as human beings. In theatre, we are allowed to examine how we behave toward each other. How circumstances and events bring us together and more time than not, keep us apart. Robey is dedicated to offering an environment for telling those stories from a black perspective.

Robey began in 1994 as a readers’ theatre. Mostly the classics and not limited to black work. We quickly became aware there was very little support for Artists of Color who were interested in the creative process. We realized that there was further need not only for classes and workshops but for an actual environment– a community that would be a place to safely nurture those who needed support, time, and an acknowledgment for the belief in the continued development of the Black aesthetic as a priority.

Toyin Moses and Jacob Sidney

Robey’s collaboration with artists, audiences, and especially our playwrights has cultivated relationships & trust that is the foundation of our collective. It is the force that drives the Company.

The past two years have been particularly satisfying. During that time, Robey has produced five plays.

Bronzeville was commissioned by Robey based on an idea presented to me by playwright Tim Toyama. Tim worked with co-writer Aaron Woolfolk in 2009 and then later that year, Robey selected Joseph A. Walker’s Tony Award winner The River Niger an American classic. Both plays and Robey’s production-cast & designers were recognized this year by seven NAACP Theatre Awards Nominations.

Early this year featured a collaboration with The Towne Street Theatre resulting in the premiere of a commissioned work by playwright Bernardo Solano. The play, Nicolas & Langston, recounted the moving relationship between Langston Hughes and Cuba’s poet laureate, Nicolas Guillen.

This year we produced three plays, all developed over several years through Robey’s Playwrights Program. We started the year with Melvin Ishmael Johnson’s The Emperor’s Last Performance. That play helps audiences understand and recognize the significance of Charles Gilpin often lauded as one of the early great actors of African descent in the US. Gilpin was tapped by Eugene O’Neill to star in the legendary playwright’s play, Emperor Jones on Broadway. That was a first in this country. No Black actor had ever headlined a multi-racial cast on Broadway til then. Melvin took audiences backstage and allowed a glimpse into those two men’s psychological and philosophical struggle over language in that play. Kellie Roberts’ Transitions turned out to be a real crowd pleaser. The play was really three one-acts united by a theme. Family members in each vignette-just two in each scene-asking to connect with the other family member and just not quite being able to. We’re now in production until the end of October with Kimba Henderson’s The Reckoning at the LATC.

Tiffany Boone and Kendrick Sampson

It’s important to understand that each of the playwrights has gone through a rigorous process of development in the program with our writing instructor, Aaron Henne & dramaturge Dylan Southard working two, three, & four years bringing the work to where it was ready for production.

The program consists of three 10-week sessions each year. The playwrights meet 10am -1pm and 2pm - 5pm. Those who are interested in further details please visit our web-site www.robeytheatrecompany .

The historical & archival value in developing these plays speaks to Robey’s Mission of exploring & developing work about the Black Experience as seen through our own eyes. Other institutions can’t explore aspects of Black history & the black experience with the same insight & sensibility.

Making these works available to new generations of all ethnic backgrounds is an ongoing mandate of Robey. Robey’s creative staff feels strongly that preserving the events through dramatic depiction that have shaped the history of Black culture is an exciting way to ensure the future of our community’s voice.

The Reckoning production photos by Carlos San Miguel.

Ben Guillory is the Producing Artistic Director at Robey Theatre Company.

( Source: http://www.lastagetimes.com/2010/10/the-robey-theatre-company/ )

PHOTOS FROM THE RECKONING!!!

Actor Tarnue Massaquoi, Actor Terese Aiello, Actress Toyin Moses

and Actor Alex Morris

Actor Tarnue Massaquoi and Actress Terese Aiello

Actress Tanya Lane and Actor Kendrick Sampson

Photo Credit John Freeland Jr

RECENT REVIEW ON THE RECKONING!!!

By Joe Straw

“You clean up nice.” – Nicholas Burnside

Somewhere, locked away in a dusty cedar chest, is a journal. In it are the juicy tidbits, and the unpredictable innermost secrets of family life.

It is opened and gazed upon only when there is a sincere interest in family history. But then one discovers some ugly truths: that families steal from each other.

They steal not with guns but signed pieces of paper, side agreements, and notes laid out in a family journal for future generations to see. Generally, the keepers of the land keep that journal, locked away, behind closed doors, “until it’s time”.

(“We don’t talk about the dead.” is a favorite expression among my southern relatives. It’s a need to know thing: “And, you don’t need to know.”)

And by the time one is curious about one’s family history, the participants are dead. All forgotten but there in the book, for that day, the day of reckoning.

The Robey Theatre Company, Ben Guillory Producing Artistic Director in association with The Los Angeles Theatre Center presents The Reckoning written by Kimba Henderson and directed by Ben Guillory.

Set in 2005 The Reckoning is a fantastic story of a family struggling to keep a crawfish plantation running in Louisiana. It is an engaging story from the opening moment to the end, filled with wonderful characters. Spread out over countless generations with loitering ghosts who believe they are the rightful heirs and who ultimately know a day of reckoning will come. And for that reason they wait. Even in death, families never forget. Run to see this production because it closes October 24, 2010.

The play opens on a day a figurehead with a bad ticker comes home from the hospital. Nathalie Robillard (Toyin Moses) is putting up a “Welcome home Daddy” sign and Ashley Robillard (Terese Aiello) is upstairs dancing to some very loud music. Nathalie asks her to turn it down and when that happens we hear chimes and whispers and know that ghosts inhabit the home they call Rubaiyat.

Helene (Tanya Lane) is an old friend of the family and drops by to tell Nathalie, who has recently gotten her doctorate, that she will try to get her into a professional society Sigma Phi Pi. Nathalie also tells her she has applied for a job with Tulane University and wants to leave the farm.

Christophe Robillard (Tarnue Masaquoi) a former professional football player and now the official playboy of the family has ideas of taking over the farm himself much to the dislike of his father LJ Robillard (Alex Morris).

LJ wants his daughter to run the farm and so announces it to the entire family. After all she is the brains of the family and recognizes that a well though out studied process can correct any misconceptions others may have about running a successful farm. But she is conflicted because she feels her life is better suited elsewhere.

Christophe, hearing the news, is devastated and runs off with Helene for a few days leaving his wife, Ashley to fend for herself.

In the meantime a farm worker, Nicholas Burnside (Jacob Sidney) comes to the farm to look for work. LJ takes a liking to him and says he can sleep in the cabin. Later LJ invites him to live in the house.

Nicholas is immediately enchanted by Nathalie but Nathalie wants nothing to do with him because Nathalie is in love with Philipe (Dorian Christian Baucum) a doctor living nearby who wants to take a job in Atlanta and bring Nathalie with him.

Nicholas runs into the ghost of Captain Burnside (Michael Harrity) a former relative who gives him instructions to burn Rubiayat to the ground. Unfortunately Captain Burnside tried this long ago but was caught in the fire that cause his unfortunate demise.

As the story progresses and Nathalie reads the journal and the audience is transported back in history to the lives of Natty (Tiffany Boone) and Auguste Robillard (Kendrick Sampson). Auguste has taking a liking to Natty but because of her race he is forced to marry Katherine (also Terese Aiello) daughter to Captain Burnside.

Auguste unable to have children with Katherine at first has turned to Natty and as luck would have it now has two women who are with child. Katherine finds out about it leaves the marriage and Rubiayat altogether much to the dismay of Captain Burnside.

Morris as the patriarch LJ gives us another incredible, magical performance. His moments are captured effortlessly. It is also a physical role that has him falling down a small flight of stairs. His objective moving us toward the ultimate reckoning is flawless.

Massaquoi, last seen in The River Niger, gives another wonderful performance. He wears many hats, slightly off centered as he moves from being a landowner, to a womanizer, to a lion of redemption.

Moses as the sophiscated enchanting Ph.D. is a match for any man that may want to take over Rubaiyat. She fights her way through the maze of men seeking her attention. And never gives an inch in her quest for the ultimate goal.

Baucum as Philippe wears a very proper mantel. His mistake is thinking that others will blindly follow his path. It is a miscalculation that keeps him out of harm’s way.

Lane as Helene lets her hips do the thinking. Making a play for a control of Rubiayat seems to be her motive in capturing Christophe. This is a very fine performance.

Sidney as Nicholas is an amazing actor with a characterization that grows on you as the story unfolds. He is a seasoned professional with a Robert Stack like voice that keeps the audience guessing with his next passing remark. His southern trailer park trash like manners, appropriate or inappropriate, hit the mark. At one point he sits on the porch holding the shotgun, knowing family matters can sometimes get out of hand. His family or hers, it doesn’t matter. Still, he caresses the shotgun like an old family friend. It is a wonderful moment of many moments in this play.

Sampson as Auguste fills out the cast nicely with his girlfriend Natty (Tiffany Boone) playing ghosts from another time that haunts the house. These are young roles that need work on character and also needs strengthening the physical relationship.

Aiello as Katherine/Ashley Robillard offers us a fine performance but one is not sure of her objective. Is it as imaginative as it could be? There is more here in this character’s objective than witnessed on this particular night. Nevertheless, this was a very fine performance.

Harrity as Captain Burnside/Gentry plays the big bad white guy. He was serviceable in the role but not imaginative. Possibly, not that mean, not that driven, not that evil, or physical. Certainly this is a role of someone whose has seen the depths of hell and wants to recreate it here on earth. It’s a role that needs a little more exploration.

Kimba Henderson has written a play that in some respect is old fashioned, but don’t let that fool you. This is an exciting play, with clever dialogue, and characters rich in every respect. One would like to roll around it in its richness.

Ben Guillory has directed a very fine play and has done a masterful job. The after dinner scene was fantastic, subtle and beautifully choreographed. These silent moments were quite incredible and subtle in execution. There were things that were objectionable, the rubber shotgun, which bent as actors were leaning it against the fence. Also, the choreographed shootout, which had audience members laughing for reasons not quite clear, needs reworking.

One of the things I find interesting is that from another time period, men and women were quite proper. Four feet away from each other and acting all prim and proper. It’s a wonder anyone ever had babies. And yet everyone got pregnant and the relationships remained the same.

Naila Aladdin Sanders did a fine job with the costumes.

www.robeytheatrecompany.com

Ticket Reservation: 866-811-4111

(Source: http://joestraw9.blogspot.com/2010/10/reckoning-by-kimba-henderson.html)