Center Theatre Group News & Blogs

"Hard Medicine to Take"

Center Theatre Group — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 11:33:00 -0700

The play follows Bigger Thomas, an African American man living in 1930s Chicago. But as he starts a new job that seems to promise greater success and acceptance, Bigger can’t escape malevolent societal forces and expectations that eventually see him take violent and tragic action as his world unravels.

This adaptation—written by playwright Nambi E. Kelley and based on Richard Wright’s 1940 novel—can be seen as somewhat of a departure from Antaeus’ usual fare. Antaeus is known for productions of classical theatre—think Shakespeare and Ibsen. But what makes a piece a classic isn’t when it was written—as explained by the Artistic Directors of Antaeus—but the historical and cultural significance of its themes.

A lot of the things that have to be done in this play are raw and tug at the history of America.

Native Son is a classic American novel, and it’s more timely than one would ever think unfortunately, said former Antaeus Artistic Director Rob Nagle. [The play] was a read that we could not put down when we got ahold of a copy of it. Kelley’s adaptation distills the scope of the original 500-page novel into a 90 minute, non-linear drama.

It’s about how fear and non-acceptance and oppression can take you to the depths of where you never thought you’d go, explained director Andi Chapman It’s about empathy.

Even with the critical acclaim Antaeus’ production garnered, Chapman highlighted the difficulties of producing a show with such intense themes. Reactions were mixed in the sense that it was heartbreaking and hard to take—it’s very raw. Positive—in that it was received very well—but it was hard medicine to take, said Chapman of the show’s initial run.

Nagle echoed a similar sentiment: audiences responded with shock, and horror, and profound movement, he explained. I think people were surprised with how much it spoke to today’s audiences despite being written in the 1940s.

Nonetheless, Chapman thinks that the play is more an opportunity for empathy than a shocking cautionary tale. What Nambi is saying is ‘America, look at this man who has been oppressed his entire life, and I am asking you to step into his shoes and see the world through his lens and see what you would do,’ she explained. It’s a totally different take than what Richard Wright had, which was trying to show a monster that was created by oppression.

Achieving this empathetic perspective meant building the play on an empathetic foundation. A lot of the things that have to be done in this play are raw and tug at the history of America, so we had to come together as a family, said Chapman.

Indeed, coming together is what Block Party, a celebration of L.A.’s diverse theatre community, is all about: Every neighborhood has its own collective ensemble of some kind, or several of them; the theatre community is vast, said Nagle. Antaeus itself was created in 1991 as a project of Center Theatre Group artists who felt that there was an opportunity to create a world-class theatre company from the immensity of raw talent and remarkable artists who call L.A. home.

For Antaeus today, that means being a theatre that is not only good in the classics…but also a company that is skilled at bringing new works to a new community, explained Nagle. I’d like to see the theatre reflect the community it’s in.

Empathy is Everything

Andi Chapman — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 11:33:00 -0700

Echoes of Atticus Finch, If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it. Skittles, I can’t breathe, Philando, Brown, had my cell phone in grandma’s backyard. Oh no, not Bland, and the list goes on and on and on…My prayer Lord is that it would STOP… this…identification of this man, this black man, this woMan as something other than huMan…I pray Lord it must STOP.

No one’s life is perfect. An accident, sometimes small, sometimes in great magnitude, can change the very trajectory of one’s life. Sometimes those mistakes are made because one believes that they entered this world dead on arrival, and every day that belief is tragically reinforced. This belief incites more tragedy until there is no catching this train. So…let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

The Bigger question asks, can you see me? I am human, I am no animal to be shot down at will. My life is of value, I am you, you are me, the same hue of blood runs through my veins as in yours. I will not be dismissed. See me America, the crime is that you refuse to SEE ME, that you do not regard me…you do not respect me…I am…human…See. Stop. Killing. Me. Take a walk in my shoes and understand you’ve tried to make me into something I am clearly not. I should not HAVE to take your constant firing, to cause me to have to fly—Above—you.

Your disregard says to me I, Bigger Thomas, am inhuman. But through this journey, I now understand:

I am BIGGER, through the words of my God and my ancestors—they sacrificed all their blood and tears to fight for the right for me to be who I am.
I am BIGGER, a King’s son no longer needing to follow insecure fearful voices and fulfilling prophecy spoken by those who have no gift
I am BIGGER, to follow my true purpose walking in the Bigger shoes that were formed for me before the beginning of time.

I am Bigger than…I am…A…Man.

Andi Chapman, Director

What is a "Classic?"

Antaeus Theatre Company — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 11:33:00 -0700

What makes a piece of writing timeless and fresh? What does a particular story have to say about our time, to our audience, to our community right now? We are always challenging ourselves to answer those questions.

When we came across Nambi E. Kelley’s new adaptation of Richard Wright’s groundbreaking novel Native Son on the Kilroys List of un- and underproduced plays by female and transgender writers, we knew we had found a piece that would both answer—and expand—our definition of what is a classic?

Ms. Kelley has distilled a vast, sweeping narrative into under 90 minutes of visceral theatre. In a cinematic style she cuts between the present and the past, from the rough streets of pre-war Chicago, where the iconic main character “Bigger Thomas” is trapped, to the interior spaces of his tortured subconscious.

The archetypal struggle in which Bigger finds himself is absolutely classical. Our tragic hero is trapped in circumstances beyond his own making, no less so than Oedipus is locked into his own tragic spiral. All the elements of fate force him to hurtle down a violent path toward its inevitable—yet empowering—conclusion. As an audience, we watch with both fear and compassion as Bigger’s tragic fate unravels before us.

What makes Native Son so particularly impactful for us today are the societal forces in America that have built the world that crashes down upon Bigger. It doesn’t require much power of observation to discern that “post-racial” America is hardly that at all. While many things have improved for people of color in the United States in the 75 years between the publication of Mr. Wright’s novel and Ms. Kelley’s adaptation, it is woefully and painfully clear every day that many things have not improved at all. The crushing vise of institutional racism, economic barriers, and the continued lack of opportunities for people of color continue to create modern-day Bigger Thomases throughout our nation.

We believe that stories with these kinds of rich, enduring themes are classics, which is why we are so proud and excited to produce Ms. Kelley’s work in Los Angeles. We think Native Son will compel us to open our eyes and ears to the truths around us as we immerse ourselves in Bigger’s world.

Bill Brochtrup and Kitty Swink

Co-Artistic Directors