Washington, DC. 1980s. A local music icon is dead. A barber grapples with his shop’s future as his relationship with his adult son evolves and his once-Black neighborhood gentrifies.
That’s the broad strokes of “The Death of Chuck Brown,” a new play written and directed by Gavin Lawrence that will have its world premier at American Players Theater on June 24 and run through September 25 in the indoor Touchstone Theater.
Lawrence, the cast, assistant director Jyreika Guest and voice coach Jacqueline Springfield will be in Madison on Friday evening from 7 to 8:30 pm at the Black Business Hub, 2352 South Park Street, for a community dialog. It is free to attend for anyone interested.
“This is a Black community play, so the event is geared toward the Black community in Madison,” but all are welcome, said APT community engagement coordinator Anna Gonzalez. “It’s not just, ‘Hey, there are Black actors here.’ The story in this play is really going to connect with your experience.”
Lawrence, a core company member who’s acted in and worked on APT productions for 10 years, developed the play through workshops, readings and collaboration with APT artistic director Brenda DeVita over the last two years. It’s emblematic of the theater company’s effort in recent years to engage broader audiences.
An evolving theater
APT got its start in 1980, primarily performing Shakespeare in an outdoor theater near Spring Green, about 40 miles west of Madison. Safe to say the audience was not very melanated for quite some time.
“I remember walking out on stage and seeing the audience for the first time, and I was completely taken out of the play because of how predominantly white our space was,” said Alys Dickerson, an artistic associate who has appeared in productions over the last four seasons. “Now I walk out and it’s different. Our audience has definitely evolved.”
The audience has evolved along with the work the company produces. Not long ago it was almost all Shakespeare with some other “classics” by playwrights like Anton Chekov and George Bernard Shaw sprinkled in. Dickerson said that after 2020, the artistic staff started rethinking what “classic” means exactly, and whether any future classics might be available now.
“The reason we do (classics) is because it can still speak to people today, as it did back when it was first originated,” Dickerson said. “We look at plays that have the potential to do that. Could a play that we write today mean the same thing, or have the same impact, in 50 100, 200 years? Could this be considered a classic, and could it be timeless? And that’s not an easy question to answer.”
And, importantly, those “classics of tomorrow” are going to feature and appeal to more diverse communities.
“Audiences I work with want to see actors of color who have put in the time and work,” Gonzalez said. “They want to see what those stories look like for them… It’s not just about putting on a play. It’s really thinking about what reflects the times we’re in and what’s going to have an impact.”
Some of the more contemporary works produced in recent years include Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom by August Wilson and The Mountaintop by Katori Hall. The company has engaged in community conversations around some of those productions as well.
Expansion of the repertoire accompanied expansion of the space as well, as the company added the indoor Touchstone Theater to extend the season into the colder months.
APT staff recognize the distance can be a barrier. Gonzalez said APT works with community organizations whenever possible to arrange transportation from Milwaukee and Madison.
But communications coordinator Patty Heaston said removing yourself from the city can actually enhance the experience.
“It really does help that your phones don’t work out there,” Heaston said. Heaston. “It really does help that you’re kind of stripped of all of the crutches that you have in the ‘real world.’”
Anyone interested in attending Friday can RSVP to [email protected].
