Review: SPEAKEASY TAKES A 'SOULFUL RIDE' at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center's Booth Playhouse

Relationship Woes! Housing Disparities!  Shenanigans-In-The Hood!  What do these life-changing experiences have in common?  All are addressed in the original stage production written by award-winning playwright, Rory D. Sheriff, entitled, Speakeasy. This Veterans Day weekend (K. Alana Jones 'Marge' delivers a very powerful monologue concerning a Vietnam Vet), Speakeasy made its opening performance at The Blumenthal Performing Arts Center’s, Booth Playhouse.  As a fellow playwright, I can attest that it is a proud moment seeing your work and name illuminated on the Blumenthal’s marquee in the heart of the “Queen City”. 

This running of Speakeasy was produced by Charlotte Conservatory Theatre, whose mission is to produce “top shelf shows for the Queen City”.   Speakeasy was also chosen as the official selection for the 2023 BIPOC Playwrights Festival – a collaboration between The African American Playwrights Group and Matthews Playhouse of the Performing Arts Center that showcases the excellent works of playwrights of color.

The storyline of Speakeasy focuses on the lead character, Virginia Hilton (Cecelia McNeil), who struggles to take control of her life, while in the midst of a pending divorce and while experiencing financial and housing challenges due to her parent’s nonpayment of taxes.  Virginia and her best friend Marge (K. Alana Jones) devise a plan to ‘save the house’ by opening a speakeasy.

Set in 1978, Speakeasy resembles the era of great Blaxploitation films which included movies starring the exceptional Pam Grier like Foxy Brown and Coffy (Rory’s lead character, Virginia has the boldness of Grier’s characters) intermingled with Black sitcom shows I grew up watching such as Good Times and What’s Happening (Rory’s character “Don Do” (James Lee Walker II) reminds me of characters similar to “J.J." in Good Times and "Raj" in What’s Happening). 

In Speakeasy, Rory pays homage to his hometown, Redding, Pennsylvania. In fact, Speakeasy will premiere at the Miller Center in Redding, on November 17 and 18.  Rory patterns this original dramatization in the similar writing style of his mentor, August Wilson who wrote 10-cycle masterpieces centered about his hometown, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  In the same vein as Wilson, Speakeasy depicts the African American cultural experiences and the measures implored to solve life’s challenges. It is important for us as African American Playwrights to tell our stories from a frontline perspective instead of having others tell our stories for us. 

Though mainly fictional, Speakeasy encompasses real life experiences from the stage transmitted and translated from the creative mind of this "native Redding" playwright, Rory D. Sheriff.  Buckle your seatbelts for a soulful ride (accompanied by “old school” music) as Speakeasy journeys to the next station and the next stage.

*For More Information And Upcoming Events Visit BNS Productions website at: https://www.bnsproductions.org/

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