Kristen Adele Calhoun and Michael Thomas Walker were halfway across the country when they heard about the death of unarmed teen Michael Brown in Ferguson.
They were in the middle of a play reading group in New York City that the fellow Rutgers University graduates took part in every week.
“We were like, ‘What sense does it make for us to sit around and read plays? We need to do something, we need to contribute,” Calhoun said. “It was like, ‘How do we respond to all of this outrage?’ And our tool was our art.”
Their art, which became the play “Canfield Drive,” will be the 18th world premiere to be staged by The Black Rep when it opens January 9 and continues through January 27 at Washington University’s Edison Theatre. “Canfield Drive” is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by 651 Arts in partnership with The St. Louis Black Repertory Company.
Calhoun and Walker had seen stories of many unarmed African Americans die at the hands of law enforcement – including Eric Garner in New York City just days before Brown. But Ferguson was different. Calhoun took to the streets for Garner. For her, the response from NYC when they demonstrated compared to Ferguson was so striking that it left a permanent impression.
“The New York City Police department just let us march. There was no militarized response to that and there was no pushback,” Calhoun said. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing as I watched things happening in Ferguson. First of all, you kill this boy. Then you let his body lay out there and then you attack these people for trying to mourn for him.
“For me that was the ‘Oh no, there is something deeply wrong there.’ And it’s symbolic of a greater American problem.”
Walker said he noticed that what was being said on social media didn’t mirror what was being reported through national media.
“Mike Brown was 18 years old and was going to start college on the Monday after his death,” Walker said. “And then he was portrayed in the media as though he was a demon or a monster or this huge hulking animal that it took eight shots to bring him down. The truth is that he is an 18-year-old kid.”
Learning that his body was in the street for four hours through social media, but not seeing that as an element within the national media narrative is what compelled Calhoun and Walker to come to Ferguson and interview the players – from politicians and pastors to protestors. Their interviews became the framework for “Canfield Drive.”
The play is set up where two news reporters have come to town to cover the Ferguson unrest. They were students together in school, so they have a history. As a white guy and African American woman, they come in with different points of view and very different attitudes and very different assumptions about what is unfolding before their eyes.
“A big part of the play is about their relationship and their evolution,” Himes said. “Actually, their relationship and evolution is kind of a microcosm look at what society itself needs to be doing and dealing with.”
Calhoun and Walker also star in the production with Himes as the play’s director. A total of four actors in the play perform about 50 characters. The two leads play five or six and the two others play about a dozen each in the interview-based play.
“There is going to be a lot of footage and history,” Himes said. “A lot of video, a lot of media support in the production will help us tell the story. I think that Kristen and Michael have done is created a piece that is very even-handed. Nobody is going to leave the theater thinking we only told one side of the story.”
According to Himes, presenting “Canfield Drive” lends to the mission of the Black Rep providing a platform for emerging voices that reflect the African and African American experience through drama.
“I’m committed to making sure that we always celebrate the rich canon of literature in African American theater, but that we are also adding to it,” said Himes. “ I think this will be a very valuable addition to the canon of African American literature for the American stage.”
Calhoun is nervous and excited about the play’s upcoming premiere.
“We are on stage – a black woman and a white man – talking very directly about race and pulling no punches,” said Calhoun. “I hope that this play gives voice to things that we talk about privately, but not publicly. We are on stage – a black woman and a white man talking very directly about race and pulling no punches.”
Walker hopes the audience can handle it.
“I believe that the role of art is to hold a mirror up to society and say, ‘This is who we are,’” Walker said. “This play does that and that makes me nervous because sometimes people don’t want to hear or see truth.”
Himes is anything but nervous – and he can’t wait for the post-show discussions that will take place over the course of the play’s run.
The Black Rep’s world premiere presentation of “Canfield Drive” will take place January 9 – January 27 at Washington University’s Edison Theatre, 6445 Forsyth Drive. For tickets or more information, visit www.theblackrep.org or call (314) 534-3810.
