[Press Release for THE EMPEROR JONES]
Deaf, Black and Performing
On the Great "White" Way
by
Peter Haggerty
Del-sign Newsletter Editor
pjhnce@rit.edu
716-820-7901
NEW YORK CITY—Two native New York City African-Americans
will lead a talented cast of Ebony Club
members in a unique, 42nd Street Del-sign production of Eugene O’Neill’s
controversial and emotionally charged
1920’s play, THE EMPEROR JONES.
Troy
Chapman from Queens will play the title role, while
Karriefh Norman, also of Queens, will have lead
parts in the powerful prison and slave ship scenes when the drama opens
at the West Side Dance Project Theater on Friday, June 22, 2001.
Almost since its debut, THE EMPEROR JONES has been
recognized as a powerful influence in African-American cultural and political
life.
"The work of art that perhaps galvanized the Harlem Renaissance's fascination
with black nationhood (and black leadership) was
Eugene O'Neill's 1920 play THE EMPEROR JONES." (Haiti and Images of
Black Nationhood)
Current cast members have also seen these elements in the play.
"I know this play is loathed by some Black
people and praised by others," said Mr. Chapman. "But I see it as
a play that tells the truth, a truth
about the Black community that is as relevant for Black people today as it was
60 or 70 years ago."
Mr. Chapman is a graduate of the Lexington School for the Deaf in Queens.
Manhattan's Interborough Repertory Theater (IRT)
has joined with the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) and the
school's Ebony Club to bring this unique production to Manhattan’s theater
district.
THE EMPEROR JONES brings home its meaning not only
to the audience but also to the actors in very visceral ways.
"I never really knew about the suffering my people went through until I
performed in this play," said Mr. Norman, a graduate of
Martin Van Buren High School
"I read a lot of history books about slavery
and discrimination in America, but when I played a prisoner on a chain gang
and a slave on a slave ship……. wow, those past realities of my ancestors
really hit home for me," said Mr. Norman.
Michael Spady,
a graduate of Blind Brook High School in Westchester County, who joins Mr. Norman
in several scenes, echoed these sentiments.
"When I act the part of an African on a slave ship, I can feel what it
must have been like for my people to suffer in that way.
I feel the awful horror of that situation in a way I never knew before."
THE EMPEROR JONES is a classic piece of American
Repertory Theater that places the audience at the mercy of their own subconscious.
The plot of the one-act play is simple: Brutus Jones, an African-American Pullman
porter, is hired by a White slave trader to help
control the West Indian people on a little-known island. After arriving on the
island, however, Jones proclaims
himself Emperor and begins to oppress the native people and enrich himself while
impoverishing them. When the scam is uncovered,
the West Indian people have their own form of revenge.
The Del-sign technique uses American Sign Language(ASL)
actors to represent the physical manifestation of the characters while
voicing actors represent the spirit or subconscious of the same characters—a
technique that makes the play accessible
to both Deaf and hearing audiences, while at the same time illuminating and
enhancing many of the play’s hidden concepts.
"I like using Del-sign for this play because
it allows me to make some invisible things visible in way I couldn’t without
it," said the play’s director, Luane
Davis. Ms. Davis is the Artistic Director and founder of the Interborough
Repertory Theater Company (IRT), a 15-year-old Manhattan-based company specializing
in theater that provides access for people, such as Deaf and black performers,
underrepresented in mainstream theater.
This performance of THE EMPEROR JONES features stunning African and Afro-Caribbean
rhythms, choreography by the internationally-known dancer Thomas
Warfield, and striking costumes by Damita Peace, Artist in Residence at
NTID. The spare set by Ken Parks focuses attention on the actors and their inspired
performances, as does the evocative lighting by Josh Liller.
THE EMPEROR JONES will open Friday, 7:30pm, June
22 at the New 42nd Street Theater (West Side Dance Project Theater), 348 42nd
Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues. Other performances are set for Saturday,
June 23, 7:30pm, Sunday, June 24, 2pm; Wednesday thru Saturday, June 27 thru
30th at 7:30pm; and Sunday, July 1 at 2pm.
Tickets are $12.
For reservations and information phone 716-475-6251(voice/TTY)
or email: ntidtix@rit.edu.
Additional information about and contacts for this
production are also available at THE EMPEROR JONES New York City announcement
page:
http://www.rit.edu/~pjhnce/e_j_announc_page.html
Mr. Norman, Mr. Chapman, Mr Spady, Mr. Warfield and other members of the cast are available for interviews by contacting Ms. Davis.