The lights come up, jazz age gangsters rush the stage and fire at the backdrop with their machine guns, and the words BULLETS OVER BROADWAY appears in lights--a perfect intro for a madcap caper.
Black History Month is drawing to a close, and again, I wonder why this integral component of American history isn't a more substantial part of the discussion year-round.
Last spring I sat with a rapt audience seeing Levi Frazier, Junior's new play For Our Freedom and Yours, a one-man show is based on the life of Ira Frederick Aldridge, a 19th Century African American actor who, against all odds, achieved a distinguished stage career during the era of slavery.
Ed Graczyk's 1976 drama 'Come back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean' has a simple premise: It's September 30, 1975, and a small town dime store in West Texas is hosting the reunion of a James Dean Fan Club to mark the 20-year anniversary of Giant, which was filmed nearby.
As educators, entertainers, writers and activists, Tim and Dee Dotson are known for having their fingers on the have their fingers on the pulse of the Memphis' urban scene.