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Eddie George stars in Nashville Rep’s TOPDOG/UNDERDOG

NASHVILLE PRIDE — Nashville Repertory Theatre is proud to present TOPDOG/UNDERDOG

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By Cass Teague

Nashville Repertory Theatre is proud to present TOPDOG/UNDERDOG, starring Eddie George and Joel Diggs. Written by Suzan-Lori Parks, this play is an exploration of two brothers struggling with women, work, poverty, gambling, racism, and their troubled upbringings. One strives to make an honest living as the other tries to luck his way into fortune. While Lincoln and Booth cannot change their names or upbringing, they can change their paths in life.

Lincoln and Booth’s lives have always revolved around each other, but their center of gravity is shifting as both struggle to define themselves and claim their place. Tension arises as the men fail to agree on the best way to live their lives, and a dispute about a family inheritance only makes matters worse. Driven by pride, love, desperation, and dreams, they are forced to go head to head to learn what it takes to come out on top.

Directed by Jon Royal, the show runs from February 9 through the 24, with previews February 7 & 8, in TPAC’s Johnson Theater. Nashville Rep will host talkback events on February 15 and February 22 after the Friday evening performances.

Audiences who attend on a Saturday night will have the chance to meet Eddie George and Joel Diggs when they do Meet & Greet events in the lobby after the show.

TOPDOG/UNDER-DOG won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 2002 and received a Tony nomination for Best Play among other accolades.

“The meaning of the play isn’t just confined to a man’s experience,” says the playwright, Suzan-Lori Parks. “It’s about what it means to be family and, in the biggest sense, the family of man, what it means to be connected with somebody else. The play speaks to who the world thinks you’re going to be, and how you struggle with that.”

Jon Royal is thrilled for the opportunity to direct this show.

“Both of these brothers are ensnared in the American Dream, which dominates their past and present, and it is embodied in the 3 Card Monte hustle which Link is so adept at and Booth is desperate to take part in,” he says. “This game sells the very myth and promise that America is forged on: ‘opportunity.’ Who actually has a shot at winning, in a ‘dog eat dog’ world?”

Since 1985 Nashville Repertory Theatre has been a critically acclaimed regional theater, creating the highest quality professional productions and serving as a cultural, educational, and economic resource in Nashville and Middle Tennessee communities. Nashville Rep produces work that is designed, built, and rehearsed in Nashville by highly skilled actors, designers, directors, and technicians. A non-profit theatre, Nashville Rep is committed to bringing classic and contemporary theatre to Nashville that inspires empathy and prods intellectual and emotional engagement in audiences.

InsideOut of the Lunch Box: Topdog/Underdog, Feb. 12, 2019, at Noon, is a free event, but reservations are required; go to tpac.org. The first 250 to register get a free box lunch.

This article originally appeared in the Nashville Pride

Activism

Alternative Outcome to Slayings by Police Explored in One-Man Play

BLACK MEN EVERYWHERE! is the explosive new one man play written, directed, and performed by Jinho “Piper” Ferreira. Set against the backdrop of a presidential election, the play explores how political and cultural leaders wield the myth of the dangerous Black man to manipulate the masses for personal gain. Piper penned the follow-up to his ground-breaking solo play, “Cops and Robbers,” after an impromptu cross-country Black history tour. 

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BLACK MEN EVERYWHERE! is the explosive new one man play written, directed, and performed by Jinho “Piper” Ferreira.
BLACK MEN EVERYWHERE! is the explosive new one man play written, directed, and performed by Jinho “Piper” Ferreira.

Special to The Post

What would happen if police officers who have gotten off for killing unarmed Black people started turning up dead?

BLACK MEN EVERYWHERE! is the explosive new one man play written, directed, and performed by Jinho “Piper” Ferreira. Set against the backdrop of a presidential election, the play explores how political and cultural leaders wield the myth of the dangerous Black man to manipulate the masses for personal gain.

Piper penned the follow-up to his ground-breaking solo play, “Cops and Robbers,” after an impromptu cross-country Black history tour.

“My wife and I had been talking about it for years,” Ferreira said. They had taken their three children to Brazil several times and West Africa but had yet to explore their history as Black people in this country. “It was Juneteenth last year and I realized we had a few weeks to make it happen, so we just jumped in the car and left” Piper said.

Three weeks later the family had seen everything from the African American Museum of History and Culture in Wash., D.C., to the phenomenally preserved Whitney Plantation in Louisiana. They’d stood outside of the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., and paid their respects at the Africa Town cemetery – where the passengers of the Clotilda (the last known U.S. slave ship to smuggle captured Africans into this country) were buried near Mobile, Ala.

“We had the kids keep a journal of the trip and my wife and I took notes, but once we got back home, I knew I had to make the pen move,” he said.

Ferreira plays 21 characters in the 60-minute emotional roller coaster ride; personalities we all know. While brilliantly weaving in themes of revolution, treachery, and revenge, “Black Men Everywhere!” is surprisingly — more than anything else — a love story.

“I wrote the play for Black men and everyone who loves us,” Ferreira said. “The play is narrated by a sistah and performed in front of the deeply spiritual artwork of Nedra T. Williams, an Oakland priestess of Olokun. It’s called ‘Black Men Everywhere!’ but we don’t exist without the Black woman.”

For tickets, please go to: http://tinyurl.com/5dm3mhra

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Art

City of Stockton Seeks Applications for Public Art Murals

The City of Stockton Arts Commission (SAC) has announced the opportunity for artist(s) and/or artist teams to apply to design and paint original artwork on City-owned property through a Public Art Mural Program. The deadline for applications is Friday, March 8, 2024, at 5 p.m. Applications and additional information are available online at www.stocktonca.gov/publicart.

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The Public Art Mural Program incentivizes mural installations by providing city funding and the means of curating the City’s collection of murals.
The Public Art Mural Program incentivizes mural installations by providing city funding and the means of curating the City’s collection of murals.

City of Stockton

The City of Stockton Arts Commission (SAC) has announced the opportunity for artist(s) and/or artist teams to apply to design and paint original artwork on City-owned property through a Public Art Mural Program.

The deadline for applications is Friday, March 8, 2024, at 5 p.m. Applications and additional information are available online at www.stocktonca.gov/publicart.

The Public Art Mural Program incentivizes mural installations by providing city funding and the means of curating the City’s collection of murals.

This program has $50,000 in available funds for artist(s) and is also available for those who have already identified funds and would like to complete a mural project on city-owned property. Applications will be reviewed on a competitive basis and selected by the SAC.

To learn more about the Stockton Arts Commission (SAC) or qualifications and eligibility for Public Art Mural Program, please visit www.stocktonca.gov/publicart or call the Community Services Department at (209) 937-8206.

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Art

Black Nativity: A Unique Adaptation of the Christmas Story

“Black Nativity” is a cultural adaptation that tells the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. Created by the poet, novelist, playwright and activist Langston Hughes, and performed by an all-Black cast, this unique musical production showcases traditional Christmas carols sung in a gospel style, along with some new songs specifically written for the show.

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Poet, novelist, playwright and activist Langston Hughes.
Poet, novelist, playwright and activist Langston Hughes.

By Tamara Shiloh

“Black Nativity” is a cultural adaptation that tells the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. Created by the poet, novelist, playwright and activist Langston Hughes, and performed by an all-Black cast, this unique musical production showcases traditional Christmas carols sung in a gospel style, along with some new songs specifically written for the show.

The show made its debut Off-Broadway on Dec. 11, 1961. It was a groundbreaking moment because it was one of the first plays written by an African American to be staged in New York City. The play gained popularity quickly and even toured Europe in 1962, with one notable performance at the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds in Italy.

“Black Nativity” has become an annual tradition in Boston, since 1970. It has been performed at various locations, including the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts, Boston Opera House, Tremont Temple, Roxbury Community College, Northeastern University’s Blackman Auditorium, and Emerson College’s Paramount Theater. This production is considered the longest-running rendition of the Langston Hughes’ classic.

The original cast included 160 singers, classified by age group and vocal range. They were accompanied by soloists, a narrator, and unique portrayals of Mary and Joseph, who communicated without speaking. Musicians and American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters added depth to the performance.

The show begins in complete darkness as barefoot singers, dressed in white robes and carrying electric candles, walk in while singing the classic hymn “Go Tell It on the Mountain.” This creates a captivating and atmospheric start to the performance.

One of the most dramatic moments in the play is the portrayal of Jesus’ birth. The stage transforms from orange and blue lights to a deep red hue. African drums and percussion are used to echo Mary’s contractions, adding a unique touch to the story. The Three Wise Men, often prominent members of the local Black community, play their roles without singing.

The show concludes with the chorus singing a reprise of “Go Tell It on the Mountain” as they exit in darkness. A final soliloquy delivered by a young child brings emotional closure to the performance.

Originally, the play was named “Wasn’t It a Mighty Day?”

Notably, Alvin Ailey, a renowned dancer and choreographer, was part of the original Off-Broadway cast. However, both he and Carmen de Lavallade left the production due to a dispute over changing the title to “Black Nativity.”

In 2004, a documentary film was made about the world premiere performance and the creation of the best-selling gospel Christmas album, “Black Nativity – In Concert: A Gospel Celebration.” This original cast performance took place at the Immanuel Baptist Church in Portland, ME.

A film adaptation of “Black Nativity” directed by Kasi Lemmons and starring Forest Whitaker and Angela Bassett was released on Nov. 27, 2013, bringing this remarkable Nativity story to a broader audience.

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