Free Southern Theater

Last updated

The Free Southern Theater (FST) was a community theater group founded in 1963 at Tougaloo College in Madison County, Mississippi, by Gilbert Moses, Denise Nicholas, Doris Derby, and John O'Neal. The company manager was Mary Lovelace, later Chair of the Art Department at U.C. Berkeley. The company disbanded in 1980.

Contents

The Free Southern Theater was a part of the emerging Black Theatre Movement and also closely allied with the civil rights movement—O'Neal and Derby were also directors of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). [1] They presented plays by Langston Hughes, John O. Killens, James Baldwin, and Ossie Davis [2] as well as providing a space for their members to write their own plays.

The founders sought to introduce free theater to the South, both as a voice for social protest, and to emphasize positive aspects of African-American culture. [3] O'Neal, Derby, and Moses outlined the philosophy of the troupe in a founding document: [4]

Our fundamental objective is to stimulate creative and reflective thought among Negroes in Mississippi and other Southern states by the establishment of a legitimate theater, thereby providing the opportunity in the theater and the associated art forms. We theorize that within the Southern situation a theatrical form and style can be developed that is as unique to the Negro people as the origin of blues and jazz. A combination of art and social awareness can evolve into plays written for a Negro audience, which relate to the problems within the Negro himself, and within the Negro community.

Mission

In 1963, John O'Neal, Doris Derby, Gilbert Moses, and William Hutchinson drafted "A General Prospectus for the Establishment of a Free Southern Theater, Jackson, Mississippi." This document outlined the goals of the theater company and how they would accomplish them. They included:

  1. To acquaint Southern peoples with a breadth of experience with the theater and related art forms
  2. To liberate and to explore the creative talent and potential that is here as well as to promote the production of art
  3. To develop an appreciation of the theater and related art forms- an understanding of the technical problems as well as ideas and concepts
  4. To bring in artists from outside the state as well as to provide the opportunity for local people with creative ability to have experience with the theater
  5. To emphasize the universality of the problems of the Negro people
  6. To strengthen communication between Southern Negroes
  7. To assert that self-knowledge and creativity are the foundations of Human Dignity [5]

With these goals in mind, they solidified a mission statement: "Our objective is to stimulate creative and reflective thought among Negroes in Mississippi and other Southern states by the establishment of a legitimate theater, thereby providing the opportunity for involvement in the theater and associated art forms." [5]

History

The Free Southern Theater was formed in September 1963 when Gilbert Moses and John O'Neal met in Mississippi while working with the civil rights movement. Their first production, In White America, toured 16 towns and cities ranging in size from Mileston in Holmes County, Mississippi, to New Orleans. [6] Gilbert Moses recalls: "The Holmes County people came in from the farms to see us. We had to play in the afternoon because they wanted to get back home by dark." [6] For professional help in theater management the Free Southern Theater began working with professor Richard Schechner, then at Tulane University, who joined the theatre as one of its producing directors. [7] They toured rural Louisiana and Mississippi presenting plays such as Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot . Initially consisting of both black and white actors, the company gradually became exclusively African-American and presented only plays by black playwrights such as the controversial LeRoi Jones (later known as Amiri Baraka).

From the first, the company was plagued by artistic and managerial disagreements; [1] [8] and, with free admission as a primary objective, money was always in short supply. Following their January 1965 tour, the company did fundraising performances in New York. [6] Under financial duress and hoping to draw on a larger middle class black population, the troupe moved to New Orleans in 1965 [9] where they purchased an office space and gathered a board of directors. The company went from eight members to twenty-three. [6] In 1966 Moses, Schechner, and O'Neal left, and the company was taken over by African-American poet and writer Thomas Dent assisted by Val Ferdinand (later known as Kalamu ya Salaam).[ citation needed ]

The company launched workshops for actors and introduced plays written by their own members. [10] Charles Kerbs produced at least one of these workshops. [11] They adapted the play In White America by Martin Duberman to depict the murders of Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) field workers James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman, killed in Philadelphia, Mississippi, by the Ku Klux Klan. [12] They also performed Waiting for Godot in whiteface. [13] and Ossie Davis's "Purlie Victorious". [14]

But in spite of grants from the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, and support from celebrities including Harry Belafonte, Arthur Ashe, Bill Cosby, and Julian Bond, The Free Southern Theater gradually lost its creative momentum and financial support. [4] In 1980, The Free Southern Theater closed, however the 1985 production A Funeral for the Free Southern Theater: A Valediction Without Mourning, honored the company "featuring a jazz funeral and a three-day conference of art for social change". [15] John O'Neal's theater company Junebug Productions strives to carry on the legacy of the Free Southern Theater. [15]

In addition to John O'Neal and Gilbert Moses, well known actors who appeared in FST productions included Roscoe Orman, [1] and Denise Nicholas. [16]

Founding members

Gilbert Moses

Gilbert Moses, a founding member of The Free Southern Theater and noted theater director, was born in Cleveland in August 1942. As a student at Oberlin College, Moses studied for a year at the Sorbonne in Paris before leaving school to join the civil rights movement. During his time in Mississippi, Moses served as a journalist for the Mississippi Free Press. New York Times theater critic Mel Gussow observes that an interest in the work of Jean Vilar and the Theatre National Populaire led Moses to pursue more "socially relevant theater". [17] Following his involvement with The Free Southern Theater, Moses directed stage productions both on and off-Broadway. In 1969 Moses won an Obie Award for Amiri Baraka's 1969 play Slave Ship. Reflecting on a 1972 New York Times interview with Moses, Gussow observes how he "called for a deeper investigation of the lives of black people in the United States". [17] He quotes Moses, "We as blacks are starved for images of ourselves all over this country". [17] Moses died of multiple myeloma in April 1995.

Doris Derby

Born in either 1939 or 1940 in the Bronx, New York, Doris Derby’s long career has spread across a wide array of disciplines, ranging from theater to education. From an early age, Derby expressed strong interest in community activism and civil rights and joined a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) youth group in the Bronx. [18] As a student at Hunter College in New York, Derby was a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). [19] The department of African American studies at Mississippi State University observes that the SNCC "organized voter registration drives, self help economic and educational initiatives and carried out protests at such places as segregated local, statewide and national governmental facilities, public movie theaters, parks, medical facilities and churches". [19] Derby's work within the SNCC was centered, primarily, in New York, Georgia, and Mississippi. In Mississippi Derby taught adult literacy through the SNCC and helped found The Free Southern Theater. In 1990, Derby joined the faculty of Georgia State University and served as the founding Director of the Office of African American Student Services and Programs, as well as, Adjunct Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology. [19] A noted photographer, as well, Derby's work has been exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution and the Bronx Museum of Art. Her documentary photographs are known to "depict the life of struggling Americans who defied the post-emancipation status quo brought about by political, economic, social and cultural domination and exploitation". [19] In 2012, Derby retired from Georgia State University following a successful 22 years of service. [19]

John O'Neal

Like fellow FST founder, Doris Derby, John O'Neal worked for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Mississippi as a field director. O'Neal also served as national field program director of the Committee for Racial Justice. The recipient of the Award of Merit from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters and a Ford Foundation Award, O'Neal has written eighteen plays, a musical comedy, poetry, and several essays. [20] In 1980, The Free Southern Theater produced their final performance, a solo piece written and performed by O'Neal titled Don't Start Me to Talking or I’ll Tell Everything I Know. The play features the character Junebug Jabbo Jones, "created by the SNCC members to represent and symbolize the wit and wisdom of common folk". [21] This performance marked the final production of the FST, but also signified the creation of O'Neal's new theater company, Junebug Productions. [20] John O'Neal currently serves as the Founding Director and Artistic Director Emeritus for Junebug Productions.

Notable productions

The first productions put on by the Free Southern Theatre were In White America and Waiting for Godot . These productions toured through the poor areas of the south, especially in Mississippi, where the company was founded. As part of their mission, the shows never charged an entry fee and performed in public places like churches and community halls. As mentioned in the History section, their production of Waiting for Godot was performed in whiteface since most of the cast was African American at the time. The theater also performed Purlie Victorious . In a New York Times article, a company member only referred to as "James" (James Cromwell, who played Pozzo) describes the enthusiasm that Godot received from the audiences in Mississippi. [22]

Outreach

In addition to free performances throughout its existence, the Free Southern Theatre remained rooted in its Civil Rights roots. They had workshops for the community and college students at various stops on their tours, an acting apprenticeship, and a sponsorship program for local artists in Mississippi. [23] Their partnership with the SNCC was essential for them to gain funding and support in order to continue their mission.

The Free Southern Theater had to end its operations in 1980. Their mission did not entirely end, however, as Junebug Productions was formed in the shadow of the Free Southern Theater. [24] This company is still working in several communities in the south in order to bring arts to areas that need it most. Their biggest project is the National Color Line Project in which the company travels and collects stories surrounding the Civil Rights Movement and uses them to archive history as well as bring new light to the current racial situation in the USA. [25]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Civil rights movement</span> 1954–1968 U.S. social movement

The civil rights movement was a social movement and campaign in the United States from 1954 to 1968 that aimed to abolish legalized racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement in the country, which was most commonly employed against African Americans. The movement had origins in the Reconstruction era during the late 19th century, and had modern roots in the 1940s. After years of direct actions and grassroots protests, the movement made its largest legislative and judicial gains during the 1960s. The movement's major nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience campaigns eventually secured new protections in federal law for the civil rights of all Americans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee</span> Activist organization during the US civil rights movement

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and later, the Student National Coordinating Committee was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Emerging in 1960 from the student-led sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Nashville, Tennessee, the Committee sought to coordinate and assist direct-action challenges to the civic segregation and political exclusion of African Americans. From 1962, with the support of the Voter Education Project, SNCC committed to the registration and mobilization of black voters in the Deep South. Affiliates such as the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and the Lowndes County Freedom Organization in Alabama also worked to increase the pressure on federal and state government to enforce constitutional protections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freedom Summer</span> 1964 voter registration campaign in Mississippi, U.S.

Freedom Summer, also known as Mississippi Freedom Summer, was a campaign launched by American civil rights activists in June 1964 to register as many African-American voters as possible in the state of Mississippi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ella Baker</span> African-American civil rights activist (1903–1986)

Ella Josephine Baker was an African-American civil rights and human rights activist. She was a largely behind-the-scenes organizer whose career spanned more than five decades. In New York City and the South, she worked alongside some of the most noted civil rights leaders of the 20th century, including W. E. B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, A. Philip Randolph, and Martin Luther King Jr. She also mentored many emerging activists, such as Diane Nash, Stokely Carmichael, and Bob Moses, as leaders in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

Mary Elizabeth King is a professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at the United Nations affiliated University for Peace, a political scientist, and author of several publications. She is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and received a doctorate in international politics from Aberystwyth University in 1999. She is also a Fellow of the Rothermere American Institute and a distinguished Scholar at the American University Center for Global Peace in Washington D.C.

Richard Schechner is University Professor Emeritus at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, and editor of TDR: The Drama Review.

James Forman was a prominent African-American leader in the civil rights movement. He was active in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Black Panther Party, and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers. As the executive secretary of SNCC from 1961 to 1966, Forman played a significant role in the Freedom Rides, the Albany movement, the Birmingham campaign, and the Selma to Montgomery marches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Moses (activist)</span> American educator and activist (1935–2021)

Robert Parris Moses was an American educator and civil rights activist known for his work as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) on voter education and registration in Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement, and his co-founding of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. As part of his work with the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), a coalition of the Mississippi branches of the four major civil rights organizations, he was the main organizer for the Freedom Summer Project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Negro Theatre</span> Community theater group in New York City

The American Negro Theatre (ANT) was co-founded on June 5, 1940 by playwright Abram Hill and actor Frederick O'Neal. Determined to build a "people's theatre", they were inspired by the Federal Theatre Project's Negro Unit in Harlem and by W. E. B. Du Bois' "four fundamental principles" of Black drama: that it should be by, about, for, and near African Americans.

Annie Bell Robinson Devine (1912–2000) was an American activist in the Civil Rights Movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doris Derby</span> American photographer (1939–2022)

Doris Adelaide Derby was an American activist and documentary photographer. She was the adjunct associate professor of anthropology at Georgia State University and the founding director of their Office of African-American Student Services and Programs. She was active in the Mississippi civil rights movement, and her work discusses the themes of race and African-American identity. She was a working member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and co-founder of the Free Southern Theater. Her photography has been exhibited internationally. Two of her photographs were published in Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC, to which she also contributed an essay about her experiences in the Mississippi civil rights movement.

The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) was a coalition of the major Civil Rights Movement organizations operating in Mississippi. COFO was formed in 1961 to coordinate and unite voter registration and other civil rights activities in the state and oversee the distribution of funds from the Voter Education Project. It was instrumental in forming the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. COFO member organizations included the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Gilbert Moses III was an American director. He was also known for his work in the Civil Rights movement, as a staff member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and founder of the touring company, the Free Southern Theater toured the South during the 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson</span> American activist

Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson worked with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from its earliest days in 1960 until her death in October 1967. She served the organization as an activist in the field and as an administrator in the Atlanta central office. She eventually succeeded James Forman as SNCC's executive secretary and was the only woman ever to serve in this capacity. She was well respected by her SNCC colleagues and others within the movement for her work ethic and dedication to those around her. SNCC Freedom Singer Matthew Jones recalled, "You could feel her power in SNCC on a daily basis". Jack Minnis, director of SNCC's opposition research unit, insisted that people could not fool her. Over the course of her life, she served 100 days in prison for the movement.

Thomas Covington Dent was an African-American poet and writer. Dent came from a prominent and socially aware family. Due to this, he was able to receive multiple levels of education at differing institutions. He attended college at Morehouse College and served as editor-in-chief of the college newspaper, The Maroon Tiger. Upon graduation, Dent enrolled in graduate studies at Syracuse University, before joining the army for a two-year stint. He then moved to New York and worked towards the advancement of civil rights. Later, he returned home to New Orleans and began cultivating and mentoring young African-American writers.

Hollis Watkins was an American activist who was part of the Civil Rights Movement activities in the state of Mississippi during the 1960s. He became a member and organizer with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1961, was a county organizer for 1964's "Freedom Summer", and assisted the efforts of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to unseat the regular Mississippi delegation from their chairs at the 1964 Democratic Party national convention in Atlantic City. He founded Southern Echo, a group that gives support to other grass-roots organizations in Mississippi. He also was a founder of the Mississippi Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judy Richardson</span> American documentary filmmaker and civil rights activist

Judy Richardson is an American documentary filmmaker and civil rights activist. She was Distinguished Visiting Lecturer of Africana Studies at Brown University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles E. Cobb Jr.</span> American journalist and civil rights activist

Charles E. "Charlie" Cobb Jr. is a journalist, professor, and former activist with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Along with several veterans of SNCC, Cobb established and operated the African-American bookstore Drum and Spear in Washington, D.C., from 1968 to 1974. Currently he is a senior analyst at allAfrica.com and a visiting professor at Brown University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Endesha Ida Mae Holland</span> American activist, and playwright

Endesha Ida Mae Holland was an American scholar, playwright, and civil rights activist.

David J. Dennis is a civil rights activist whose involvement began in the early 1960s. Dennis grew up in the segregated area of Omega, Louisiana. He worked as a co-director of the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), as director of Mississippi's Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and as one of the organizers of the Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964. Dennis worked closely with both Bob Moses and Medgar Evers as well as with members of SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. His first involvement in the Civil Rights Movement was at a Woolworth sit-in organized by CORE and he went on to become a Freedom Rider in 1961. Since 1989, Dennis has put his activism toward the Algebra Project, a nonprofit organization run by Bob Moses that aims to improve mathematics education for minority children. Dennis also speaks publicly about his experiences in the movement through an organization called Dave Dennis Connections.

References

Notes
  1. 1 2 3 The Legacy of the Free Southern Theater in New Orleans, Interviews by Rachel Breunlin.
  2. ↑ Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities at Vanderbilt University: The Free Southern Theater.
  3. ↑ Harding, p. 145.
  4. 1 2 Civil Rights Movement Archive Website: Free Southern Theater Founded
  5. 1 2 Free Southern Theater (1963). "A General Prospectus for the Establishment of a Free Southern Theater, Jackson, Mississippi". Tulane University Online Exhibits. Archived from the original on 21 November 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Gilbert Moses, John O'Neil, Denise Nicholas, Murray Levy, Richard Schecner, "Dialog: The Free Southern Theater (1965)", in Bean, Annemarie, A Sourcebook of African-American Performance Plays, People, Movements. London: Routledge, 1999, pp. 102–113. Print.
  7. ↑ Dent, p. 23.
  8. ↑ Harding, p. 56.
  9. ↑ Dent, p. 53.
  10. ↑ Harding, p. 87.
  11. ↑ "Obituaries - AMBUSH Mag 2000 - Gay New Orleans". Volume 20, Issue 6. Ambush Magazine. 2002. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  12. ↑ Dent, p. 188.
  13. ↑ Dent, p. 190.
  14. ↑ Dent, Schechner, Moses.
  15. 1 2 Jason Foster, Kiyoko McCrae (February 2, 2016). "From Script to Screen Documenting the Free Southern Theater". Alternative Roots.
  16. ↑ The University of Southern Mississippi: Digital Collections.
  17. 1 2 3 Gussow, Mel (1995-04-18). "Gilbert Moses Is Dead at 52; Award-Winning Stage Director". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  18. ↑ Civil Rights History Project, US, Joseph Mosnier, and Doris Adelaide Derby. Doris Adelaide Derby oral history interview conducted by Joseph Mosnier in Atlanta, Georgia, 2011-04-26. Atlanta, Georgia, None , 4, 2011. Video. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2015669107/ .
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 Dev, ITS Web. "Freedom Summer Conference :: African American Studies :: College of Arts & Sciences". www.aas.msstate.edu. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  20. 1 2 "Board Members | Junebug Productions". junebugproductions.org. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  21. ↑ "The Ground at 20: John O'Neal, Free Southern Theater & Junebug Productions". Theatre Communications Group.
  22. ↑ Minor, W.F. (31 January 1965). "They Are Waiting for Godot In Mississippi, Too". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  23. ↑ "The Free Southern Theater - Google Arts & Culture". Google Cultural Institute. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  24. ↑ Papatola, Dominic P. (May 8, 1998). "Echoes of activism: Junebug Productions makes a festival of socially conscious message". Times-Picayune. New Orleans, La. pp. E1.
  25. ↑ Yuen, Cheryl; O'Neal, John; Holden, Theresa. "Junebug Productions. Color Line Project" (PDF). American for the Arts.
Sources


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.