THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 5, 1995 TAG: 9510030087
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 23 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Theater Review
SOURCE: Montague Gammon III
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
The premiere of Leonard Watkins' one-act play, ``Rainbow'' last weekend was as notable for the promise it carried as for the author's smooth craftsmanship.
Playwright and director Watkins is a Norfolk resident, an actor and president of the Players Guild of Norfolk. This continued activity of the Guild, which two seasons ago returned to producing plays after a break of about five years, is itself one especially positive feature of ``Rainbow.''
The Guild was founded 63 years ago and is thus the second oldest community theater in Tidewater and one of the older such African-American groups active anywhere. In the dark years of the Depression and of institutionalized segregation it provided black performers a chance to play roles they could have undertaken nowhere else. After maintaining a strong presence into the 1980s it became inactive for several years.
The Guild regained strength and returned to production in March 1994 with Lorraine Hansbury's melodrama ``Raisin in the Sun.'' Offerings since have included another of Watkins' scripts, ``Beyond the Darkness'' and the Christian play ``The Last Supper'' by board member Julia Beale Williams.
Three more productions are scheduled for this season. Ntozake Shange's familiar ``For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf'' will be produced in early December. ``The Last Supper'' will return in April, and ``Any Wednesday,'' by Muriel Resnix, will run in June.
``Rainbow'' shares with ``Beyond the Darkness'' a strongly autobiographical element. It is a simple tale, told straightforwardly. The year is 1932. A 10-year-old black boy lives with his mother in Winston-Salem. Though his eyes are failing him, he shows a talent for art.
In the first scene, young Hope York is preparing for an assembly where he will draw a picture while his partner, a girl named Elita, will speak. They are one of several student pairs vying for a prize in this public contest. Elita is described as ``looking like a white girl, '' and is therefore scorned by others in their segregated school.
While Hope is outside playing, his ne'er-do-well father, Stone York, reappears. He had abandoned the family five years before, yet expects his wife to welcome him as if they still lived together. She sends him packing.
In scene two Faith York and her sister Charity, a young widow, await Hope's return from the art contest. When Hope gets home they find that Elita had frozen into speechlessness when she appeared on stage, losing the contest for herself and Hope. After saying ``Poor Elita,'' and explaining that she knew how the little girl felt as the scorned outsider, Faith suffers a heart attack. Hope tells his aunt that ``Momma's gone,'' saying that he just saw her face in the rainbow he was going to draw as part of his art contest picture.
It is an affecting tale, which Watkins relates gracefully. The short piece is largely exposition, yet there was a natural feel to the dialogue that reveals his ear for the speech patterns of everyday life.
By itself, the script should find a ready market with junior and senior high school groups, and would be a good piece for collegiate players and community theaters to enter in drama festivals.
The acting was competent and believable throughout, after the performers took a few minutes to shake off opening night nerves at the show's very beginning. Carvin C. Jones Jr. seemed quite at home with the role of Hope. Melanie Renee Matthews played his mother and Louis Angelo Wilson his neighbor and friend Jazz.
Brad Paul Breckenridge took the part of the father Stone York. Janice Cooper played Charity, and Myrna Nelson Matthews appeared briefly as neighbor Liddy Mae. The lighting, which was especially effective at the beginning of scene two, was by Charles Pittman Jr. and the set was designed by Dr. Clarence W. Murray Jr.
A talented high school student, Christopher Clark, opened the evening with a rendition of Dvorak's ``Warsaw Concerto'' for piano. After ``Rainbow,'' singer Shirley Smith Nottingham performed ``You'll Never Walk Alone.'' ILLUSTRATION: AT A GLANCE
What: ``Rainbow,'' by Leonard Watkins.
When: The production ran Sept. 29 through Oct. 1.
Where: Brown Hall Theater, Norfolk State University.
Information on the Players Guild: 626-2401 or 622-5185.
by CNB