Powerful tale of race relations comes to BCT
Nov. 4—Along with entertaining, good theater can provoke audiences, putting them in someone else's shoes and challenging their world view.
"American Son," which opens this weekend at Bakersfield Community Theatre, aims to be such a show, putting the spotlight on contemporary social issues where there are no easy answers.
Director Clarence Cryer said the tragedy about an 18-year-old Black man who gets caught up with the wrong people resonated with him.
"'American Son' is a compelling story that needs to be told," he said in BCT press materials. "It hits close to home in many ways and the experience has been cathartic."
Cryer said he relates to the character of Jamal, with the story mirroring many of the director's own experiences "being the only African-American male in my class from 9th to 12th grade at an exclusive private school in Miami-Dade County and at times feeling like 'the face of the race.'"
In the show, Jamal's parents, mother Kendra (Cindy Pollard) and her estranged husband, Scott (Perrin Swanson), anxiously wait at the police station for news of the teen who had gone out with friends but has not contacted them.
Kendra is interviewed by a rookie police officer (Joey Bedard), who insists his questions of whether her son has priors, a street name or gold teeth is strictly protocol and not racist.
"This play is powerful for a number of reasons," Jan Hefner, executive producer at BCT and a co-producer of the play, said in a news release. "The dialogue between the characters is not the kind of conversation that people will ever hear unless they are part of the situation. What audiences will hear is real, relational and helps us understand that we can hear the other person, not understand them, but still love them."
Fellow co-producer Raquell Jones said "Son" is "not just a play for people of color."
"It's about current issues that are sadly recurring issues in America,"she said in a news release. "BCT will provide a space where people can come together to listen to what you're hearing in the play and then discuss the issues to really understand what life is like for others. We don't always do that in the regular course of debate."
Each performance will be followed by an audience talkback session with the cast, director and producers, to ask questions and gain greater insight into the story and the characters.
The talkback will be moderated by local community members including Morgan Clayton, president and CEO of Tel-Tec Security Systems Inc.; former Bakersfield Police Chief Lyle Martin; Traco Matthews, chief program officer at Community Action Partnership of Kern; KGET-TV news anchor Jim Scott; and Robin Mangarin-Scott, vice president marketing and communications for the Southern California division of Dignity Health, which is the show's corporate sponsor.
"Dignity Health is united in our belief in the inherent dignity of all people" Mangarin-Scott said in the news release. "It is an honor to support this important theater production as it echoes our call to embrace the shared humanity of every person regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or economic status. The more thoughtfully we align with partners like the Bakersfield Community Theater, the more enriched all of our lives become."
Stefani Dias can be reached at 661-395-7488. Follow her on Twitter at @realstefanidias.
