THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 7, 1996 TAG: 9603050097
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 17 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: MONTAGUE GAMMON III
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
Two performances of Terrance Afer-Anderson's locally written play ``For the Love of Jazz'' will benefit the ODU Theatre Arts Department this weekend and provide the playwright with a professional homecoming to a place where he has been a force in the local arts scene. Afer-Anderson has distinguished himself over the years as an author, director, actor and producer.
The show premiered in Norfolk in the early 1980s under his direction. It's a genuinely moving piece that partakes of the sentimental, the surreal and the spiritual in roughly equal doses. Afer-Anderson says that the piece has ``matured'' in years since it was last staged here, but even a decade ago it showed memorable strength.
Afer-Anderson is now based in the Northern Virginia-Washington area. When he lived in Hampton Roads he founded and directed at least two production groups and was crucial to the formative years of another. His Twin Cities Theater Project drew from the theatrical resources of Norfolk and Portsmouth to present shows throughout the area. Another group he founded, On Cue Productions, moved from place to place in downtown Norfolk, converting a couple of storefronts into small, intimate theatres that gained a reputation as venues for work that could not be found anywhere else in Hampton Roads.
Afer-Anderson was part of the Generic Theater in its first years in a small side room of the old Norfolk Center Theater and when it moved to its present, much larger, location. As a full-time staff member he had a voice in play selection, directed mainstage shows annually, staged special productions for young audiences, and found critical and popular acclaim as an actor.
At two downtown Norfolk locations, On Cue showcased the talents of local actors and became the region's only group that regularly staged new scripts by local playwrights. For the brief time it flowered, it was also the only active local troupe that emphasized works of the African-American community.
Afer-Anderson says that each time he visits Norfolk he still parks his car on Freemason Street, where On Cue last performed, and looks in the windows of the still-vacant space that he and a core of volunteers had refurbished to house their work.
He also says that this benefit for the ODU Theatre Arts Department is a chance to return something to the institution that eased his return to college after a 17-year absence from higher education, gave him a grant and what he points to as ``excellent training.''
The central character in ``For the Love of Jazz'' is a Washington, D.C., cab driver whose greatest love, and real talent, is music. E.Z. Robinson has even named his son Jazz, and sometimes lets his love for his art get in the way of expressing his very real, deep love for his young wife, Bel, and their son.
Just as E.Z. gets his big break, his beloved family is struck by a tragedy for which he blames himself.
The play then takes on its surreal side, never revealing until the powerful end just what is real and what has happened only in the now tormented mind of E.Z.
``For the Love of Jazz'' was a straight drama when last seen in Norfolk. Since then Afer-Anderson has added three songs and now calls the work ``a drama with music.'' His lyrics are set to music by Royzell Dillard, director of choirs at Hampton University.
The gospel and jazz group, ``Kyrie,'' along with Virginia Beach bandleader Tyrone Smith, also will be featured in this production. ``Kyrie'' has an album due for release in May; Smith is minister of music at the Morningstar Baptist Church. by CNB