FAMU develops 'Dissonance': New play demonstrates legacy of leading with love

Florida A&M University has a long legacy of fostering artists through the Essential Theatre Program.

From its early 1900s beginnings as the Little Theatre Guild and its 1950s run as a Children’s Theatre, to its culmination today as one of the top competitive HBCU theater programs in the nation, FAMU remains committed to providing students with pre-professional training and experiences.

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Equally, Essential Theatre’s dedication to creating new plays and connecting to the Tallahassee community rings true to the core of their practice.

In the Spring of 2020, the global community vibrated with rage and fear, shaken by an unexpected pandemic and yet another senseless death of a black man at the hands of authorities. The country sat in isolation as the George Floyd phenomenon, the murder and the civil unrest that followed, sparked a revolution in the streets which unified a movement, but simultaneously fueled an already seeded hatred in our country. Through it all, one artist chose to approach the conversation with love.

Hometown inspiration

Marci J. Duncan was raised in Tallahassee. She attended Rickards High School where she found comfort in the arts and later followed her passion to FAMU; a place she now considers “my joint” and one filled with family.

This relationship fostered her career as a professor in the Theater department at FAMU for almost 8 years and has recently led to the development of a new play, "Dissonance," written and performed by Duncan and produced by FAMU’s Essential Theatre.

“I knew that once it was done, I could bring it back to FAMU because it was my baby and FAMU would say, ‘Here, we’re going to treat it just as you would,’” says Duncan. “I knew I was safe. Those people are literally like family to me. They support me.”

Duncan’s production, "Dissonance," revolves around two longtime friends, Marci, played by Duncan, and Lauren, played by Kerry Sandell, who decide to open a cafe performance space. “The dream,” Marci said. Still, that dream was overshadowed by the realities reflected in the play’s backdrop, the summer of 2020.

As the play progresses it becomes evident that Lauren is oblivious to Marci’s Black experience and that the two friends have never had a conversation about race in any vulnerable capacity. Secrets lead to a reveal of deeply held perceptions by the two about race, class, women in business, and an opening day that goes very wrong very quickly.

Testament to love

“This story is about the important role that love plays in having difficult conversations about race,” Duncan said. “It is absolutely a testament to letting love go first before you have these conversations. So that you then can accept the person and hear the person and figure it out together. We promised each other that we would let love lead, meaning: I love you and I know you love me. So, give me grace to make a mistake without canceling me.”

"Dissonance" invites the audience to be open to receiving others’ experiences and creating conversations that lead to valuable difficult dialogue around race and privilege. This show leans on the egalitarian assertion that nobody is right, and that collective healing lies within the messiness.

Such a conversation is what sparked Duncan’s interest in writing this play. Duncan recalls a talk with collaborator, Kerry Sandell, where Sandell conveyed her deepest sympathies about having to raise a Black boy in the wake of the murder of so many Black men and the extreme dissonance between their experiences as a white and Black woman. They knew it was a play.

'Beautiful idea'

“From that day I was so moved that I went right home, and I just started writing. I was so desperate, and my brain was going that I just took my phone and started going,” says Duncan. “I never knew I could write. I never knew it. But when I was presented with this beautiful idea that sparked something in me, that had to come out. Had she never said anything, I am certain that this wouldn’t have come out.”

Duncan hopes that Dissonance offers a way to disrupt perceptions of race and to break through generations of trauma interlaced within the relationship between white and black women. She believes that this story calls for women to let go of past hurts and open a dialogue that can lead to future healing.

“We are all afraid of being seen as racist or prejudiced. So, what if I am racist, what now? I just gotta sit with that for a second and then I gotta be like OK, alright. How do I move forward? So, it is our hope that the play is a conversation starter to not be afraid to talk about the hard. Because the key to talking about the hard is the intent, and the intent has to be love.”

If you go

What: "Dissonance," by Marci J. Duncan

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Aug. 18-19; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20

Where: Ronald O. Davis Acting Studio on FAMU campus (seating Is limited)

Cost: $15 adults; $12 senior citizens & FAMU employees; $8 Non-FAMU Students/Children; $5 FAMU Students with ID

Contact: For more information, visit cssah.famu.edu call 850-561-2425 or email famuessentialtheatre@famu.edu.

Tickets: visit etix.com

Christy Rodriguez de Conte is the feature writer for the Council on Culture & Arts. COCA is the capital area’s umbrella agency for arts and culture (tallahasseearts.org).

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FAMU develops 'Dissonance': A theatrical legacy of leading with love