One more time!
Due to technical difficulties, for the first time in 3 years of producing and presenting on Zoom, our screening last week did not go as we had planned.
BUT, in theatre, one must be ready for anything, so we pivoted to our discussion with our wonderful panelists, Dr. Henry Ealy and Brooke-Renée Kinser Bonnell... which lasted for two hours! Read about it on our blog.
The discussion was so engaging and informative, that we agreed to come back after everyone has had a chance to view the play. Black Annie & The Pastor can now be seen on our YouTube page.
Black Annie & The Pastor - Round II
March 12th at 1 pm PST
If you would like to contribute to this and more of our programming, please contribute what you will.
Towne Street Theatre's Reading Series presents
a repeat performance of
Black Annie & The Pastor
Written & Directed by Tony Robinson
In recognition of Black History Month and the groundbreaking and overdue passing of the Emmett Till Anti- lynching Bill, Towne Street Theatre (TST) presents a special online screening of Black Annie & The Pastor on Sunday, February 26 th at 4pm PST.
An audience Q&A and discussion will follow led by Henry Ealy, PhD, retired chair of the American Cultures Department and retired president of the Black Faculty and Staff Association at Los Angeles City College, and Brooke-Renee Kinser Bonnell M.A., Academic Advisor and Adjunct Instructor of Sociology at Ball State University.
“We proudly present this screening of Black Annie and the Pastor to preserve the memory of this historical event and inspire contemplation,” said Nancy Cheryll Davis Bellamy, TST’s co-founder and artistic director. “Through the powerful storytelling talents of today’s African-American writers and performers, TST brings together history and way over due efforts toward change like the passing of the anti-lynching bill.”
Black Annie & The Pastor by Tony Robinson, takes us behind the photograph and exposes the true story of that fateful day in August 1930. It, too, is a day that lives in infamy. A day that singer Billie Holiday immortalized in her heart-wrenching recording "Strange Fruit."
Director
Tony Robinson
About The Story
In August of 1930, a mob numbering ten to fifteen thousand white people dragged two African American teens, from their jail cells in Marion Indiana and lynched them on the courthouse grounds. The word went out that their bodies were to remain hanging to “send a message.”
Pastor J. E. Johnson and three other African American men from nearby Muncie, at a time when almost thirty percent of white Protestant men belonged to the Indiana Ku Klux Klan, defiantly drove to Marion, retrieved those bodies, and took them to be properly prepared for burial. This act of unheralded bravery has faded from memory… until now.
This new drama takes us behind the photograph and exposes the true story of that fateful day in August 1930. It, too, is a day that lives in infamy. A day that singer Billie Holiday immortalized in her heart-wrenching recording "Strange Fruit."
As you can see from the comments below, our audience loved it.
Love the pre-show music and graphics!
~
Interesting exploration of the rallying cry of Marcus Garvey...
~
OMGGG
~
Excellent writing... I enjoyed the performances.
~
Well done, Tony! Great performances! Loved the dialogue, humor and definition of characters.
~
BRAVO!!
~
Fantastically written and acted script... Wow!!!!
~
I loved it. The staging on Zoom was amazing. Congratulations to all of the cast and crew. All of the actors were absolutely wonderful and convincing.
~
Great job EVERYONE!!
~
Loved the show, great cast as story!
The Ensemble
Narrated by:
Produced by:
Graphic Design by Jaimyon Parker