Southern Writers Project Festival of New Plays (review)

Long considered the leading U.S. theatre of new play production with its annual Humana Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville may have serious competition from the Alabama Shakespeare Fes-tival's Southern Writers Project (SWP). While the SWP has been developing new scripts since 1991, this year the effort was extended to include a Festival of New Plays, February 14-16 in Montgomery, Alabama. This event intensified Alabama Shakespeare Festival's commitment to new play development by showcasing nine works in three days for an audience of local patrons and theatre professionals from around the country. Three scripts received fully mounted productions, while five were presented as stage readings. Some of these readings were billed as works-in-progress, and feedback from audiences was solicited for their further development. Many of the scripts, whether complete or not, were compelling pieces of theatre, directed and performed admirably by a multitude of professionals—many brought in just for the festival.

Artistic Director Kent Thompson created the Southern Writers Project as "an exploration and celebration of the South's rich storytelling tradition." True to its mission, many of this year's scripts centered on characters relating delicious and disturbing tales of family secrets, town gossip, tragic memories, and unforgettable encounters. The best of the more narrative plays were Aaronville Dawning, by first-time playwright Linda Bird Kilian, The Fula From America, by Carlyle Brown, and Dead Towns of Alabama, by Barry Bradford.

Aaronville Dawning is a one-woman tour de force (performed commendably by veteran actress Carole Monferdini and directed by Kent Thompson) about a feisty but proper eighty-year-old white Southern widow named Lemy. In her neat, old-fashioned kitchen, Lemy prepares dishes for the funeral of an old friend named Beasley, an eccentric but beloved town character who mysteriously stopped talking one day. Lemy relates gossip, history, and opinions about local family and friends with much humor, some cynicism, but very little malevolence: the little colored boy raised by a white neighbor, the old maid sisters who arranged secret abortions, a stillborn baby sister she buried alone. The piece climaxes with Lemy's most sacred secret, a cathartic revelation that connects her to the dead Beasley, caps her journey through the past, and fulfills the title's metaphor. Author Kilian is no stranger to writing, and her first attempt for the stage is delightful. Lemy's kitchen routine complemented the captivating stories in the play and fascinated the audience as she snipped scallions for the potato salad or arranged the cake layers for frosting. Just as she'd probably told these same stories over and over using a particular phrase or intonation for each story, each dish was made the same way too, using a specific bowl or knife for each culinary task. Ed Haynes's detailed set design nicely underscored the authenticity of Lemy's musings in this production.

The Fula From America is a Spaulding Gray-like monologue chronicling Carlyle Brown's first journey through Africa in search of a personal connection to his Fula or Fulani (the name of a West African ethnic group) heritage. Brown, playwright-in-residence at Alabama Shakespeare Festival, is a mesmerizing performer and storyteller. With only minimal staging and effects, the audience joy rides through two hours of great humor, insight, and anger as Brown shares his conflicting expectations and impressions. He encounters a variety of colorful characters along the way—hustlers, innocents, idealists—and discovers that many are oddly similar to those found back home. In addition, he marvels at the hospitality of the poor, the exploitation of the young, and the reverence accorded the old. Brown's quest is filled with remarkable moments of revelation, humor, and high drama as he confronts corrupt officials, endures tense border crossings, and survives outright military rebellion. He arrives hoping to embrace his African heritage but leaves with a deeper appreciation of his American identity. Using only one table, music, and lights...