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(from left)
Leon Addison Brown,
Chad L. Coleman &
January LaVoy in
August Wilson's
Two Trains Running.
Photo Credit: Carol Rosegg
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Signature Theatre Company continues our tribute to August Wilson with Two Trains Running, the seventh chapter of August Wilson's twentieth-century play cycle. Set in 1969, the play follows the community of regulars at Memphis Lee's diner, a once popular haunt in Pittsburgh's Hill District. Lou Bellamy, Founding Artistic Director of Penumbra Theatre Company in St. Paul, Minnesota, directs the Signature production. Recently Mr. Bellamy answered some questions for Signature Edition about his history with August Wilson and Two Trains Running.
Signature Edition: In 1983 you produced August Wilson's first professional work, the musical Black Bart and the Sacred Hills. Did you know then that he would be a major voice in American theatre?
Lou Bellamy: Of course not. In fact, Black Bart...was quite troublesome for many of our female audience. The play was set in the "Old West," and was loosely based on Aristophanes' Lysistrata yarn. The treatment was considered rather sexist by many. One could see glimpses of what one might call a poetical power in the text. I remember a caution that Mr. Wilson wrote me in a personal letter where he commented something like, "These words are magical. Even the right word muttered at the wrong time can lead to the most unintended consequence!"
SE: August Wilson said that in St. Paul "he found his voice." How did his writing evolve over the time he lived there and did Penumbra influence his development?
LB: From the time I produced Black Bart and the Sacred Hills to our production of Jitney!, one could see the maturation of both content and craft in Mr. Wilson's work. No one is responsible for the development of his genius but himself. Penumbra was fortunate to have produced his first work. The early relationship that he established with Penumbra has been the company's national introduction. It's clear that we identify strongly with his work and that in our productions we understand and extend his nuance and intent.
SE: You've directed Two Trains Running twice at Penumbra and once at Kansas City Repertory Theatre. Does the play have special significance for you?
LB: I love the rhythms of the piece. As in most of his work, the everyday experience of black Americans in the conduct of their lives is raised to epic proportion. Hambone's oft repeated line, "I want my ham!" echoes through every character in the play and through the expectant lives of most African-Americans to this day. For me, the sense of ritual is clearest and most accessible in this piece. Seemingly everyday practices are the threads that knit the community together. In spite of all odds, these people draw on cultural expression and nuance that finds its definition in a people and a time that the characters in his play know only in their bones, not in their intellect. Mr. Wilson calls it the "blood memory."
SE: Two Trains Running takes place halfway through the century and it was originally produced in 1990, midway through August Wilson's writing of the cycle. Where do you see it fitting in his body of work?
LB: In my view, Two Trains...is quite often overlooked by those studying and/or classifying his work. The accessibility and common sense exhibited by the characters is at once affirming, refreshing, and frankly - easily missed. A black social order is presented on stage, complete with mythology, history, political and economic organization, and ethos. The characters exhibit these characteristics unselfconsciously and so naturally that one scarcely notices the profound philosophy that is the meat of their discourse. In my opinion, Mr. Wilson's treatment is simple, unadorned, and masterful.
SE: The characters seem to be at a crossroads - feeling the effects of the Black Power movement, the after effects of the civil rights movement, and the threat of urban renewal.
LB: The black community is almost always laid bare and vulnerable to political, economic, and societal pressures in America. Reaction to these challenges defines and shapes both the individual and the community. Mr. Wilson is unflinching in his treatment of the difficult issues relevant to African-Americans living then or now. For example the assassination of Malcolm X, or, the effects of black-on-black crime, or the "institutionalized" black society which we stand witness to in 1969 and today. The characters in Two Trains... are confronted, among other things, with the intersection between community, individual aspirations and values, and post-colonial legacy. The discussion began even before [Aimé] Césaire's Negritude movement and is continued in everyday discussion between the characters in Two Trains... Two Trains... is not peopled by scholars or philosophers in the traditional sense. Yet, these everyday people grapple with issues with an enlightenment and responsibility that inspires and gives hope to all.
SE: Why do you think he chose to set the play in 1969- after the civil rights movement was said to have peaked?
LB: The assassinations of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and John F. Kennedy had the effect of giving all of America a feeling of loss in leadership. At such times people seem to cast about searching for direction. The space created by the absence of these leaders tends to both frighten and challenge. It's clear in Two Trains... that the community is reeling from loss of definitive leadership as well as the ever present problems of neglect, economic strife, and violence from both inside and outside of the community. Yet, there is a hopefulness, a power, a potency that these characters illicit in the conduct of their lives. One "feels" that these people will actualize themselves and their dreams.
SE: This is one of the few August Wilson plays that does not take place in a house or feature members of a family, yet community plays a very strong role.
LB: The black community has, since its inception, maintained "safe houses" for the care and safety of its members. They have variously been, and are, settlement houses, churches, restaurants, barber shops, salons, etc. These "safe places" provide a space where culture can be maintained. Where important issues can be aired. Where social order and the business of being human can exist with minimum pressure exerted by the dominant society. Memphis describes the function his restaurant serves when he describes the clientele that has frequented his establishment. Clearly, these are people on the move. People going somewhere. People who pause to catch their collective breath in the "safe space" that he has provided.
SE: August Wilson said that death and the specter of death hover over the play, but life and love as well.
LB: I suppose he is speaking about Mr. West, as well as the young lovers, and Memphis. It is a powerful comment that the most "successful" business in the community is West's Funeral Home. Holloway sums up the unfortunate truth that "...more people dying than getting saved." It is clearly Mr. Wilson's comment on the perceived worthlessness of black life and its effect on the community. At the same time, the building of community character happens through the living of life, the choices that are made, the stewardship of institutions, the maintenance of values, history, and spirituality.
SE: Wilson often wrote in diners, so it seems fitting that he wrote a play set in one. What attracted him to that environment?
LB: He's told me on several occasions that it was the social interactions. He had a wonderful "ear" and used to, himself, hang out in the restaurant that is the model for "Lee's Restaurant." He took notes there and was surrounded by the characters that people his plays. One has to acknowledge that the consummate craft that is manifested in his work didn't happen in a restaurant. The skill and construction of the dramatic structure in his work demands hours of dedicated research and writing time. In Mr. Wilson's case, while listening to blues. It isn't dashed off on the back of napkins. Though, the observations and information gleaned from that environment indelibly shaped his work.
SE: You founded Penumbra Theatre Company in 1976. What have been the challenges and rewards of running this institution and what is your secret for keeping it going for thirty years?
LB: A strong, almost evangelical, mission and people who believe in it. Theatre cannot be accomplished by one's self. Also, I've never been afraid to have people around me who know more than I do. I look for people who can extend my ability and perception as well as fill the gaps in my preparation. I also make it a practice to never steal anyone's ideas and to keep my word to fellow artists. I made a vow that I would build an institution that would exist and flourish inside of the African-American community. I've done everything within my ability and strength to make that happen.
SE: You have played major roles in at least five August Wilson plays. How does the experience of being an actor in a Wilson play compare with directing one?
LB: Playing one of these roles is transformative. Mr. Wilson encompasses the entirety of human emotion without straying from the African-American experience. Too often, American arts and letters seems to feel that the depths of mankind can only be plumbed using a Eurocentric lens. Mr. Wilson gives ample evidence that this conclusion is erroneous. One cannot do the actor work that Wilson demands without total and complete surrender and emersion. I remember once an occasion when August couldn't make a reading in Minneapolis for some award or event that he was expected to attend. He intended to read the Doaker monologue about the history of the piano from, a then unpublished, The Piano Lesson. He called me to ask if I'd appear and read the monologue for him. I said that I hadn't read the play and didn't know anything about the monologue and I'd rather not. He answered that, "Yes you know it, just follow your heart." Every time I direct another one of his plays, I revisit that sage advice. I haven't gone wrong yet!
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