William Campbell takes on ‘Bluest Eye’
By Casey Gillis on Jan. 18, 2008
The William Campbell High School drama team doesn’t shy away from tackling heavy material.
Last year, the team won the state championship title in the Virginia High School League’s Theatre Festival for its performance of “The Insanity of Mary Girard,” a play about an abusive husband who has his wife committed to a mental institution in the 1790s.
Their competition piece this year was “The Bluest Eye,” a play based on author Toni Morrison’s first novel. Set in 1940s Ohio, it tells the story of 11-year-old Pecola, a black girl with an alcoholic father and a verbally abusive mother.
The team took home the Dogwood District championship, but didn’t fare as well in the state competition.
But their production did catch the eye of Black Theatre Ensemble’s (BTE) Gloria Cannady, who, along with BTE’s board, has arranged a special performance of the play this weekend.
It is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Dance Theatre of Lynchburg on Commerce Street.
“I was so blown away,” Cannady says. “It was evident to me that they had worked extremely hard … and I just felt like more people should witness what they’ve achieved.”
Cannady says she hopes this special performance will lead to future partnership opportunities between William Campbell and BTE.
“Immediately, even while I was sitting in the audience, the wheels were turning in my head about how BTE could get involved with this group,” she says.
The all-female cast is led by Keandra Walthall, who plays Pecola and says the subject matter sometimes took its toll.
“It’s hard to play those scenes because I’m usually a lively person,” she says.
And Pecola’s life is anything but lively.
Her mother works for a white family and makes no secret of the fact that she’d rather have a white daughter than a black daughter, says William Campbell drama director Nannette Seals Haga.
“(Pecola) prays every night for blue eyes because she thinks if you have blonde hair and blue eyes, your life would be perfect,” Haga says.
When Social Services takes Pecola away from her parents, she goes to live with a family that has two daughters. But eventually she’s sent back to live her father. The abuse escalates when he rapes her, and she ends up pregnant.
“It’s a really emotional, deep and complex piece, especially for a novice cast,” says Haga. “(But) it has really turned into quite an outstanding performance.”
Haga had to do some cutting to get it that way.
The Virginia High School League requires a 35-minute length for plays competing in the Theatre Festival, so Haga cut the two-hour play, written by Lydia R. Diamond, considerably.
“In doing that, you certainly have the (ability) to lose a lot,” she says. “Basically, taking those (requirements) and reading the books, there were a number of things we ended up changing.”
She had to send the publishers of both the book and the play a list of changes and additions for their approval.
“(If) you didn’t change the intent of the author … you have pretty good leeway,” she says. “We did that, and it turned out very nice.”
The original script has three male parts. Haga took one of them out and had one of her female students, Delilah Gilliam, play the other two (one of which is Pecola’s alcoholic father).
During one performance, Gilliam says that some of the audience members didn’t realize she was a girl until the end of the play.
“That was good to hear because I really (try to) take that character in,” she says.
But it wasn’t always easy.
“Sometimes I felt like crying during scenes because it’s so moving,” Gilliam says.
Another addition Haga made to the production was a gospel choir. There’s a hymn called “Precious Lord” that is quoted throughout the play, so she put the choir in to actually sing it.
“The choir got a lot of acclaim,” Haga says. “Everybody was just floored by the choir scene.”
She also staged the more violent moments, like Pecola’s rape scene, behind a screen, so all the audience sees is the shadow of what is
happening.
“We’re proud of it,” Haga says. “We feel good about what we’ve done and how the performances have gone.”
Jasmine Harvey, who plays Pecola’s mother, says she was surprised by her classmates’ reaction to the show after they performed it for them last month.
“Kids that I have never talked to before, they’re coming up and (saying they) enjoyed it,” she says. “These were kids who I never thought would care. That really impacted me.”
IF YOU’RE GOING:
WHAT: “The Bluest Eye”
WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Dance Theatre of Lynchburg, 722 Commerce St.
TICKETS: $7 for adults and $5 for students.
INFO: (434) 376-2015
COMMENTS
i was in that cast for the Insanity of Mary Girard and working with those people and being on the stages were some of the best times i have ever had.