Lexington, KY - Lexington, KY - The rehearsals for A Song for Coretta, a play by Pearl Cleage currently being produced by Agape Theatre Troupe, are a truly creative collaboration. Several weeks of rehearsals by the Lexington group have involved working out every detail.
The words of the original play are there, but this cast is putting its own mark on the piece, adding its own energy, heart and connection. The actors and director struggle, question, ponder, experiment and grapple with every scene, word, movement and position, deciding where there is a touch, a pause, an interruption, a line delivered with loud emotion. They determine where voices are quiet, working out a rhythm, making notes on their scripts, choreographing as if it were a dance. As they smooth out every scene, making it ring true, each troupe member seems invested in making the finished product worthy of Mrs. King herself.
This is a play that is poignant, dramatic and funny - a lot like life. The story opens on February 6, 2006, the day of the funeral of Coretta Scott King at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. The church opened at dawn that day, and 14,000 people stood in lines that wound down the street and around several blocks to pay their final respects to Mrs. King.
Stage lights illuminate five women who are among those still waiting to get inside the church very late on that unseasonably cold and rainy night. The women are among the last to arrive and have the longest wait. As women do, they talk, they share their lives, and they challenge and comfort each other, and each reveals why she has been compelled to come to see this touchstone of a woman one last time.
Director Deb Shoss, who has many productions to her credit, including her work with Actors Guild and Agape, is working with an accomplished cast that includes Tiffiney Baker Kavanaugh playing Gwen, a troubled young soldier on leave from Iraq. Eryn Dailey Demby plays Zora, a wide-eyed Spellman student struggling to grasp the impact and history of the civil rights movement, and Carolyn Garner performs as Helen, an activist still beating the drum for her beliefs and hoping the message gets through to the next generation. Cathy Rawlings plays Mona Lisa, an artist and Hurricane Katrina survivor who remains strong though carrying a heavy load of heartbreak and history, and Tammie Harris' character, Keisha, nicknamed "Lil' Bit," is a tart-tongued high school student oblivious to the history she is witnessing who serves as a bit of a lightning rod for the conversations, allowing all the women to open up and tell their stories. The affecting drama is laced with humor as each of the women arrives and they wait together to enter the church to see Mrs. King lying in state. These are women we can all relate to. They know grief and joy, heartache and strength.
After rehearsal, the director and cast shared some of their thoughts.
What does this play mean to you?
Tiffiney Baker Kavanaugh: That the struggle's not over. The character Helen's story says a lot about it, the struggles and the desire to pass the baton to a new generation. As an actor, I found I had to dig deep to play this soldier, Gwen. People go to war and they come home changed. That was an interesting process to explore.
Carolyn Garner: The play really hits close to home for me. I am close in age to my character, and my life experience is similar. My own father died two weeks after Martin Luther King was killed, so much of this feels very real to me.
Deb Shoss: The play talks about issues that most plays don't address and shows me characters I haven't seen on stage before. As a director, the play offers challenges and risks in terms of tone and pace and engages actors of various ages who must become an ensemble in order to tell the truth.
What does the woman Coretta Scott King mean to you?
Deb Shoss: She represents many of the best attributes of black women in America. She's an icon, the black Jackie Kennedy, and much more.
Cathy Rawlings: There's a place in the play where a character compares her to Our Lady of Guadalupe, and I do think of her as like a saint. She never remarried, she really continued to work in the movement and honored Martin Luther King's legacy, and I respect that.
Tammie Harris: The play shows five different characters, very different women coming from five different points of view, yet this one woman inspired them all.
Eryn Dailey Demby: Yes, I agree. I love that all these characters are such different women but Mrs. King touched all their lives and really meant something to each of them.
How important is storytelling in our culture?
Deb Shoss: Storytelling, especially in theater, can resonate like no other art form. Being in the same room with live actors on stage, participating in each moment just as one does at a sporting event, creates indelible memories and can change perceptions.
Where do you think we are now as a community compared to Mrs. King's time?
Cathy Rawlings: We have digressed. We seem to be going backwards. I think many in the African-American community have lost the values we used to cherish above all others: family, morality, God. I think Coretta Scott King would be horrified.
Eryn Dailey Demby: For many there is no substance, no morals. Who are our role models now? Kids are being sold a lifestyle of rappers and gangsters like it's so great. I think embracing that image now being portrayed in the culture as who you strive to be is leaps and bounds backward. The image of African-American women in videos and music is demeaning and disrespectful. It is not OK with me to be portrayed or treated that way.
Tiffiney Baker Kavanaugh: For young black men, it's all about being tough, and they think, "I won't live long anyway." They think being in trouble makes you a man. In Mrs. King's time, the fight was to hang on to what was right, and strength came from that and those kinds of bonds.
What would you like the audience to take with them after seeing the play?
Deb Shoss: I'd like them to feel the connections among all humans. The play gives you a look at today in light of history. There is a real hopeful message. We can find a lot of inspiration in people like Coretta Scott King who did what had to be done.
Cathy Rawlings: This play is about the human spirit. Each character is very
relatable.
What's it like to play the Opera House?
Deb Shoss: What a gem. It's intimate, well-equipped, affordable and entirely professional.
What do you hope for Agape Theatre Troupe from the Lexington community?
Deb Shoss: We hope to be able to continue to showcase the amazing local talent we have here in Lexington. We are grateful to our sponsors and for ad sales and all donors. We hope even more will get involved. Buying a ticket and coming to performances is also great support. It takes a lot to put something like this together. There's a lot on the stage and behind the scenes. Todd Pickett, a local set designer, is a genius, and we couldn't do this without him. The Imani Family Life Center is very supportive. All of that, plus the preparation and passion of the actors, is what you will see when you come to A Song For Coretta.
A Song for Coretta by Pearl Cleage will be performed by the Agape Theatre Troupe at the Opera House at 401 West Vine St. on Jan. 28 at 2 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. Tickets are $27.50 and $17.50. For more information about the play, the cast or how to support the Agape Theatre Troupe, check the website agapetheatretroupe.com.