“You don’t have to like everything I write,” says the character Josephine in C. Rosalind Bell’s new play “Under the Circumstances.” This is definitely not an issue with Bell’s riveting play, which recently debuted at the Tacoma Little Theatre.
The show depicts the relationship of two writers, one Caucasian and one African American, struggling with the publication of a derogatory epithet of the African American race. Although it is never explicitly stated in the show, the controversy of race is magnified as the negative impacts it can have are exploited.
This project was a commission by the Northwest Playwrights Alliance in correlation with the Tacoma Little Theatre to bring the community new art and new public discourse. Bell does just that as she honestly tackles the important issue of race. She does not try to hide anything from her audience and enlightens the story with a diction that crackles.
“This is a story that has been percolating in my mind for a long time,” Bell said. “It was screaming, ‘Tell me now!’”
The talkback after the performance sparked an impassioned discussion of race and the issues communities are often too shy to discuss. This open discourse was exactly the goal of the director of the show and Managing Artistic Director of the Tacoma Little Theatre, Scott Campbell.
“This is one of the most exciting projects I’ve ever been a part of,” Campbell said. “It utilizes grace and insight to address a difficult subject.”
The Tacoma Little Theatre was founded to enrich the community with quality live theatre while emphasizing five key values: self esteem, empathy, collaboration, responsibility and respect. TLT was ecstatic to be able to support Bell’s valuable new work.
“We are looking to foster and move forward, and these five key values were blooming when working with Rosalind,” Campbell said.
Bell’s works have notably been used as a tool to promote and further the discussion on race. “The New Orleans Monologues” told the story of six African American women coping with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This play was named a “Top Ten Entertainment” by The News Tribune.
Currently, Bell is the Dollover Artist in Residence at Puget Sound, and is continuing her ongoing dialect of the issues of race in another new work, “1620 Bank Street.” The autobiographical play follows the African American protagonist, Claressa Greene, through the trials and tribulations of being a black student at the time of integration. It also explores the lives of other students and families of the challenging time.
The play was written for its first reading in 2008 and Bell admits that the ongoing developing process has allowed the story to become a more cohesive unit.
Grace Livingston and Geoff Proehl, professors at Puget Sound, join Bell in bringing this play to life for the Race and Pedagogy Conference coming to campus from Oct. 28 to 30.
This year’s theme for the conference is “Teaching and Learning for Justice: Danger and Opportunity in Our Critical Moment.” The goal of Bell’s play, as well as other theatre and art events, is to spark an active discussion and influence the audience to think critically about the issues of race.
Several staged readings will be taking place, including a special performance for students, to allow the discussion to continue through the arts. These performances will take place on Oct. 25, 27 and 30.
Proehl, director and dramaturge, has taken on current students and alumnae of Puget Sound as well as community members to make up the cast of the show.
“Working with Geoff on this project has been like a dream I didn’t know I had,” Bell said. “He brings an attitude to a very difficult subject that makes it bearable.”
Rehearsals engage the actors in active thought on the issues of race in order to further understand what the characters experienced. It is a performance that will be infused with awareness and appreciation of the difficult subject at hand, very similar to “Under the Circumstances.”
“It is our birthright to be able to collaborate in an informed society,” Campbell said. This collaboration is ignited through the theatre. Bell’s works break ground on the immediacy of the discussion at hand regarding race. The theatre is a mechanism which community can use to spark these discussions and provide insight to greater humanity.
