|
|
 The Civil Rights Movement…
It was a war fought with prayer and song. And bodies put in the way of danger.
Live on stage, MY SOUL IS A WITNESS is a vivid retelling of this time.
From tragic assassinations to explosive debates over non-violent protest, from the great public gatherings to narrow escapes from vigilantes—the events come to life through reenactments so real it’s as though they’re happening now.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, President John F Kennedy—all the great names are here—in their crucial moments, both public and private. There are unsung heroes too, like the young people who faced down firehoses and police during Dr. King's march for Freedom in Birmingham, Alabama. MY SOUL IS A WITNESS testifies to the passion, courage and sacrifices of all these people and many more.
This extraordinary new play also celebrates the power of theatre as a storytelling medium. Great music—from soaring gospel to pulsating protest songs—is used as it was then, to soothe the heart and raise the spirit. Then there are the scenes themselves. Wrought with clarity and deep emotion, their strength and immediacy cannot be denied.
Voices From Our Past...Dreams For The Future...A Battle That Still Rages...
MY SOUL IS A WITNESS is a rousing look at people and events that still resound today. And its message will always be universal...
If we don’t know, if we ignore, if we forget our history—we’ll be condemned to repeat it.
|
Playwright David Barr III, Author of My Soul Is A Witness |
 David Barr III’s first full length work, The Death of the Black Jesus, received numerous awards and earned him a 1995 Illinois Arts Council Fellowship. First presented by Kansas City’s Unicorn Theatre, Black Jesus made its Windy City debut in 1996 at the Chicago Theatre Company. It was printed that same year by Dramatic Publishing Company.
David’s stage adaptation of the Walter Mosley novel, A Red Death, had its world premiere in 1997, also at the Chicago Theatre Company. The play won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best New Play in 1998.
His two-act drama Black Caesar, the story of a controversial African-American newspaper publisher, became the first piece published for the New Plays Series in PerformInk, Chicago’s foremost entertainment paper. This acclaimed work received its professional premiere at Pegasus Players in the winter of 2007.
David received a second Illinois Arts Council Fellowship for Playwriting/ Screenwriting and won the Unicorn Theatre Company’s National Award for Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit, a musical about the legendary American contralto Marian Anderson. Presented in Chicago in 2000 by Pegasus Players, this piece was also published by Dramatic Publishing Company.
In 1999, David was fortunate enough to have two more world premieres in Chicago. The first, The State of Mississippi vs. Emmett Till, written with Mamie Till Mobley, is based on the life and tragic death of her son Emmett Till. The play won wide-ranging acclaim, both regionally and nationally.
His other premiere that year was a work he co-adapted entitled The Journal of Ordinary Thought. Drawn from poems and monologues by authentic inner-city voices, Journal was produced by the Chicago Theatre Company and was named one of the Best Plays of 1999 by both the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times.
David’s play The House That Rocked! is a musical drawn from the artistic and life-story legacies of Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, and Little Richard. It completed a successful run at Chicago’s Black Ensemble Theatre. In 2005 another major work, The Upper Room, premiered at Pegasus Players, winning that season’s Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Play.
Produced by the JENA Company, David’s Civil Rights docudrama, My Soul Is A Witness, premiered in January 2005 on the campus of the University of Mississippi. It completed a 30 city national tour at the University of Missouri in March of that year. A subsequent JENA tour of the play was seen at performing arts centers and universities nationwide from January through March 2006.
David’s dramatic sequel to My Soul Is A Witness is the Civil Rights chronicle, Jackie, Vi & Lena. Produced by The JENA company for a 2007 national tour, this new piece celebrates the courage and achievements of three extraordinary people—Jackie Robinson, Lena Horne and Viola Liuzzo.
In the summer of 2007, a Pegasus Players production of My Soul Is A Witness appeared at the Hindu MetroPlus Theatre Festival in Chennai, India. The play then embarked on a three city Indian tour that included Kolkata, Mumbai, and Delhi.
David’s screen adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “The Gilded Six Bits” was aired on Chicago station WTTW (the city’s PBS affiliate) in February 2007. The film was recently added to Yale University’s permanent collection of African-American literature.
Written with Christopher Benson, David’s screenplay adaptation of Mamie Till Mobley’s book, The Death Of Innocence, has been purchased for a major film project by HBO.
|
|
| |
Guests: 1, Members: 0 ...
most ever online: 32
(Members: 0, Guests: 32) on 16 Nov : 03:03
Members: 6
Newest member: amiels
|
|
