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 "Photo: Courtesy Chris Nelson")
Tragedy, folklore, history and passion will permeate the stages when two plays open at the Bonstelle and Hilberry Theatres on Feb. 20. The theatre students will be presenting two tales; one based on the life of a real person, and the other on genuine life experiences.
“Zora Is My Name” is a production in celebration of Black History Month and will show through March 1. Written by award-winning actress Ruby Dee, the show examines the life of Zora Neale Hurston, a writer and one of the prominent figures of the Harlem Renaissance.
“Zora” director Aku Kadogo sought to have accurate portrayals of the real-life characters while also presenting an original take on the production.
“I had the company listen to many recordings taken in churches and the fields of the south from 1920 – 1940,” Kadogo said. “We have endeavored to find our own authentic sound.
“This is what became most important: authenticity, so the actors could own the performances and convey a story about another time in history.”
Kadogo also emphasized her original take in stylizing the show in order to leave the audience with a more memorable experience.
“We have taken a very imaginative approach to telling the folktales that are in the script,” she said. “We have created our own versions of the blues, field hollers and churches that we think will engage our audience.”
Zora is played by graduate student Safiya Johnson. While Johnson will portray the character with genuine fervor, she does add her own bit of flavor to the role.
“The director and I agreed from the beginning that I would not emulate Zora Neale Hurston,” Johnson said. “But we still tried to stay authentic to the style of folk tales that she presented.”
Also opening will be Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons,” an award-winning play showing at the Hilberry through May 16. Directed by Wayne State theatre professor David Magidson, the tragedy chronicles a Midwestern American family shortly following World War II.
Magidson avoided completely re-imagining the show, as was done in a recent Broadway revival. Instead, he worked on presenting it as the late Miller would have.
“We have avoided any spectacular distortion of the play, but we have also avoided complete realism,” Magidson said. “The brilliant settings feature a kind of off-kilter edge that makes people understand that all is not right in the happy Keller household without explicitly telling what it is that is wrong.
“The result is an even deeper identification with the characters. That’s what I think Arthur Miller would find very satisfying.”
Brian Sage will play Joe Keller, the main character who is haunted by his shipping-damaged airplane cylinders that resulted in the death of 21 pilots during that war. In order to provide the actors with a more authentic feel of the time, the Hilberry company collaborated with the Yankee Air Museum.
“We took a trip to the Yankee Air Museum and were able to take a look at some of the planes from the time period,” Sage said. “A gentleman showed me the engines and gave me an idea of what the cylinder head may have looked like that Keller’s company was producing.”
For Sage, his experience being in an Arthur Miller play and preparing for and portraying the role of Joe Keller has been remarkable.
“‘All My Sons’ has very rich material in terms of the relationships between characters,” he said. “They are very real people dealing with very real issues.
“Many of Miller’s plays focus on the common man and his attempt to carve out a living in a society fascinated with the American Dream; issues that are still very resonant today.”
Magidson held similar feelings.
“This play is as current now as the day it was written,” he said.
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