Lorna Littleway: Tower Award Winner
Interview with Lorna Littleway on September 8, 2009 by Betty Cobb Arnett
(Louisville, KY)
I met Lorna in 2006 when she selected my play, My FairGentleman, for a staged reading in the 7th Annual Juneteenth Jamboree of New Plays. I was intrigued by Lorna's approachable demeanor. Each year since my introduction to the company, I have attended plays sponsored by Juneteenth Legacy Theatre. I appreciated the opportunity to witness the products of this successful woman and I appreciated the fact she chose Louisville as a location for her production company.
Due to my interest in Lorna's achievements, her promotion of local artists and because she is an outstanding female leader in her field of interest, I nominated her to receive the Presentation Academy 2009 Tower Award for Women Leaders. Lorna will be honored as a woman of distinction for her dedicated service to the community in the area of Arts & Communication on Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 at the Marriott in Louisville.
I invited Lorna to my home where I interviewed her, September 8th, and we discussed segments of her personal background. I wanted to explore the life of this lady who had accomplished great successes in the creative arts sector.
B: Lorna, I recently vacationed in Manhattan, N.Y. I understand you were raised in the city. Can you share with me a bit about your childhood?
LL: My daddy who is now an 86-year young gentleman is the descendant of Ecuadorians. His grandfather was a seaman who sailed from Ecuador and settled in New York by way of Florida. Daddy served in the military during WWII and Korean conflicts. Upon returning, he took advantage of the GI BILL benefits and attended Columbia University. He earned his teaching degree and dedicated his career as an educator in the New York City public schools.
B: And you later became an educator as well - true?
LL: Yes. This is the reason I came to Louisville - to accept a teaching position at the University of Louisville in the Department of Theatre and Drama in African-American Studies. Black Theater is as viable a field of study as Shakespeare or the Restoration.
B: Can I assume that living in the New York setting influenced your love for theatre?
LL: Actually my introduction to theatre, I credit to my mother. She would meet me after school [Holy Cross Academy] once a month with the intention of searching for a Broadway venue that had open seating due to no-shows. No prior ticket purchase for this field trip - just a wise momma! With daughter at her mom's side, we enjoyed staged productions on a regular basis.
B: So you learned to appreciate the craft first hand?
LL: Yes. I studied stage presence by watching actors, tried to justify the need for elaborate scenery and learned to appreciate different genres involved in writing for drama, musicals and comedies.
B: Perhaps you had a stage classroom positioned within a bus ride from your home?
LL: This is true. Storefront theaters were very common. The Negro Ensemble Company in its nascent days was located at St. Mark's Place just five blocks from my home.
B: Now that you have established Juneteenth in the Louisville community for ten years, what is your company's vision for broadening an audience base and participation for the future?
LL: What I would like to do is form alliances through projects with other black theater companies. In August, Kristi [Papailler, JLT Co-Founder] and I were at the National Black Theatre Festival, where there were 37 productions offered in one week! That's an uncommon wealth of black plays. There are also countless readings and workshops. It's a tremendous marketplace and exchange for ideas that happens in Winston-Salem [NC] every other year.
I also want to bring JLT playwrights' works before larger audiences. We produced, Passing Ceremonies, a 2006 Jam play, at the Fresh Fruit Festival in Manhattan during July for four performances. In November, we are going to remount the play for an extended three weekend run. New York City is the capitol of the American Theater and everyone wants to be there! This issue and two more JLTNews issues are going to be dedicated to chronicling backstage and off-stage work, so keep reading!
Re-mounting Passing Ceremonies
by Lorna Littleway
(New York City) Armed with a positive BACKSTAGE.com review from a 4-performance run at the 7th Annual Fresh Fruit Festival this past July, I have promised myself to make a diligent push to turn out a lot of audience for the re-mounting of Passing Ceremonies for a 3-weekend run at Nuyorican Poets Café, Nov. 5-21. Performances are at 7 P.M. Thursdays - Saturdays. Admission is very reasonable, $15 - $20, and tickets can be ordered on line at nuyorican.org, or call 212-780-9386, or pay at the door. Reserved, youth, senior, and groups of 10 or more sales are discounted. Nuyorican is a cozy, 65-seat café, with a bar of both spirits and soft drinks, in Manhattan's East Village at 236 E. 3rd Street, between Avenues B and C.
I have consulted with Audelco award-winning audience developer, Francine Majors, and downloaded a very helpful primer on publicity by Reeva Cooper, an ART/NY consultant. Francine has advised that JLTNews create three “dedicated” issues about the Passing Ceremonies journey, and this is the first. We've put together a pretty good team.
Intern, Renee Rankin is updating the print and e-media lists while Media Assistant, Verinia Taylor has set-up some social network sites: iseecolor.com, www.going.com, and www.eventful.com Also, I ask all JLTNews readers to be a part of the audience building. SRO (585 seats) is the goal. If you twitter or have a Facebook page, or blog, please spread the word about this wonderful production and play - a sexy and witty imagined meeting, in the afterlife, between gay poets, Bruce Nugent and Essex Hemphill. Nugent is a gifted Harlem Renaissance icon, painter and dancer, too; while Hemphill is a 60's era journalist and AIDS advocate.
Producing partner, Sugar Valley Theatricals, and director, Sue Lawless considered how we might strengthen an already good show. More rehearsal time, some re-casting, and a bigger budget would be helpful. Passing Ceremonies' lead Bryan Webster suggested two actors, James Beckton III and Amand Valdes. They auditioned for Sue, who rated them as “marvelous” and “adorable”. James will play Bryan's nemesis, Essex Hemphill, and Amand plays, Rafael, Nugent's nurse. They begin rehearsals at Sue's “estate” in Brooklyn next week. Tom Martin returns as Joseph Beam, Hemphill's lover, and assumes stage managing duties during rehearsal.
The next dedicated issue in October highlights the characters of Nugent and Hemphill. (There is a terrific website about Nugent maintained by Tom Wirth, executor of Nugent's estate, [see brucenugent.com)] The third issue will feature the company, including playwright, Steve Willis, a professor of theatre and drama at Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina.
I look forward to hearing from you and seeing you at the theater!
Passing Ceremonies is funded in part by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and the NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs.
