THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 11, 1996 TAG: 9604110039
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARSHA GILBERT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
BETTY BROWN'S 93-year-old mind raced back to a bygone era when adults were expected to help raise the children in the neighborhood.
``My nieces and nephews did what I said when they were growing up,'' recalled Brown, a silver-haired, spry woman whose voice can still command attention.
She said she provided the love and discipline necessary in raising her two nephews and two nieces as if they were her own.
``Now you can't say anything to other people's children,'' Brown said. ``And it's called abuse if you touch one.''
Brown, who worked as a domestic, shared her memories as part of a panel of five African-American women, ages 51 to 93, last Thursday at the dress rehearsal for the Generic Theater play ``Shakin' the Mess Out of Misery.'' Theater officials invited the women to view the production to see if they had had similar experiences growing up.
The play by Shay Youngblood is directed by Karen Turner Ward, who heads the department of fine and performing arts at Hampton University.
The two-hour show is about a young African-American woman reminiscing about her childhood. She is abandoned by her real mother but gains six new ones as women in the community act as role models. The women teach her by example about love, pride, business, dancing, relationships and religion.
``The acting brought back memories,'' said Emma C. Dixon, 69, who stood jingling her keys while preparing to leave after the play ended at 10 p.m. ``All those different personalities, that's the kind of neighbors we had. Everybody looked after everybody's children.''
The other women smiled and nodded in agreement.
``I remember having to get switches for my own beatings, and I'd better not say anything,'' said Dixon, who spoke with the authority acquired from having been a Gary, Ind., elementary school principal.
Laughter and applause erupted to acknowledge a kinship with Dixon's comments, as she took a bow and turned to leave. Signs of shared memories could be seen on the faces of the rest of the panel members, who were only casually acquainted. They sat on the first two rows of the 100-seat theater and took turns sharing their memories.
``Watching the women tell stories brought back memories,'' recalled Martha Williams, 51, executive director of the day care center Places and Programs for Children. ``People don't take the time to talk to children any more.
``I remember how women passed on information to their daughters around the kitchen table. It was real showing them going to church, segregated schools, riding on the back of the bus, people dipping snuff, and black people not talking back to white people but believing that God would take care of the problem.''
Throughout the discussion the women agreed with each other's comments, yet found something different in the play that was close to their own experience.
``Growing up, the girls always stayed with the women,'' added Martha Vann, 53, who grew up in Chesapeake as the second youngest of 12 children. She now works with senior citizens as a recreation specialist for Chesapeake Parks Association.
``It was one large community everybody pulled together,'' Vann added.
``Yeah, I had aunts like those characters who prepared me for life,'' said Martha Brown, an associate professor of history at Old Dominion University.
The play stirred up memories in the women. They seemed to enjoy briefly reliving their youth as much as watching the show. They continued laughing and talking as they left to go to the parking lot. by CNB