Theater Review

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The African American Repertory Theatre’s play “A Lesson Before Dying,” though muddled with redundant speech patterns and melodrama, has a poignant, often overlooked theme that centers around the harsh realities of racism in the U.S. justice system of 1948.

The African American Repertory
Theatre’s play “A Lesson Before Dying,”
though muddled with redundant
speech patterns and melodrama, has
a poignant, often overlooked theme
that centers around the harsh realities
of racism in the U.S. justice system
of 1948.

The injustices of the system have all
but claimed the life of Jefferson, a black
teenager growing up in Bayonne, La.

Present in a liquor store robbery
turned gun-fight gone wrong, Jefferson
is pegged with a triple homicide
including the murder of the white store
owner, he didn’t commit.

Mentally and emotionally scarred
by the legal process and sentenced to
the electric chair, a broken Jefferson is
left with no hope.

In addition to the members of her
community, the person most afflicted
by the tragedy is Jefferson’s godmother,
Miss Emma Glen, played by the experienced
and soulful Diana Carver. Glen
calls upon her nephew Grant Wiggins,
played by a convincing J. Ron Fleming,
to console her godson and activate
the nobility inside him that has been
stamped out by his oppressors.

Though reluctant, Wiggins accepts
the task of visiting the inmate. Positive
interaction between the two men is
slow at first but progress is eventually
made despite the negative treatment
Jefferson and his guests receive from
the vile Sheriff Sam Guidry, played by
tiring David Zimmerman.

Although the situation at the courthouse
is bleak, the one decent person
employed there is Deputy Paul Bonin,
played by Logan Conner, who sees the
sheriff’s bigoted ways as malicious and
unnecessary. Easily the most comfortable
with his role and acting in general,
Conner represented the VCU theatre
department well.

While balancing a job, love life and a
position at a horribly under funded public
school, Wiggins receives criticism
from all fronts, including the church
in the form of Jerry Shaw’s somewhat
irrelevant character, the Rev. Moses
Ambrose. Ambrose warns Wiggins of
the gravity of neglecting Jesus during

the courthouse storeroom visits with Jefferson. That, or the shallow
character is simply jealous that a teacher was picked over a preacher
to watch over the death row inmate in his final weeks.
Wiggins also is supported and scrutinized by his counterpart,
the vivacious Vivian Baptiste. Whitney Tymus does well in letting
her emotions surface while playing this character, though her sales
pitch lacks development, and her Nine West shoes lack historical
accuracy.

Set design and lighting were remarkable considering the oddly
shaped space and select working lights.

Although Count Basie was played to death during the nightclub
scenes, the authentic blues guitar interludes provided the right spice
for the evening.

Even though the acting was generally oversold, the message
and current relevance of such a play was delivered in full force.
The notes from the director highlighted the connections between
Jefferson’s character and the Jena 6, a group of black high school
students who were charged with second-degree attempted murder
for beating a white kid at school. Director Derome Scott Smith poses
the question: “Are we going backwards?”

Grade: C

“A Lesson Before Dying” by Romulus Linney, based on the book
by Ernest Gaines, will run until Nov. 18 at the Pine Camp Cultural
Arts Center. For more information, visit africanamericantheatre.
org or call (804) 355-2187. A portion of the proceeds will go to
the Unequal Justice Fund to benefit the Jena 6 and other victims of
unfair treatment in the justice system.

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