Press

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

Black Nativity in Raleigh News and Observer 2011

An 'off the charts' look at the nativity
By Lori D.R. Wiggins

By the time you read this, it'll likely be too late to get tickets for The Justice Theater Project's inaugural production of Langston Hughes' Christmas classic, "The Black Nativity."

You see, when I talked early last week to Melissa Zeph, JTP's management director, only 150 tickets remained for the last of four shows scheduled to run Dec. 16-18 at St. Mary's School 340-seat Pittman Auditorium.

She expected those to sell out in two days - tops.

"This is off the charts," Zeph said, emphasizing that the matinee sold out in ticket pre-sales, "which goes to show how desperately the city of Raleigh needed a professional, multicultural holiday offering."

"Next year, we may have to offer more shows or find a bigger venue."

"The Black Nativity" retells the story of Jesus' birth, combining scripture with Hughes' poetry - all amid contemporary, traditional and original gospel music, as well as verse and dance.

On Dec. 11, 1961, it became one of the first plays penned by an African-American person to get a Broadway stage.

JTP's production of the musical features a multicultural chorus of 40 - some of them whole families of moms, dads and children - and an all-black cast, as Hughes intended.

"It's just a beautiful chorus of angels, which is exactly what heaven would look like, right?" Zeph queried rhetorically. "It is just gorgeous."

I'm not surprised JTP is bringing it to us in downtown Raleigh.

Established in 2004 by artistic director Deb Royals-Mizerk and Megan Nerz, The Justice Theater Project is an activist theater group based in North Raleigh that uses dramatic art to call public attention to the needs of our poor, marginalized and oppressed neighbors.

Each year, JTP chooses a topic of social concern for its main stage performances.

On the heels of the death penalty and immigration, this year's focus is the environment.

Royals-Mizerk always wanted to add a fourth show to its annual offerings, supported by funding from the N.C. Arts Council, the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County and the City of Raleigh Arts Commission.

"I can't think of a better story that addresses an issue of social concern than that of Christ is born into poverty," Royals-Mizerk said.

"There was no room at the inn; no room for a poor family to stay because they had no money, regardless of the fact that she was getting ready to give birth to a baby."

Performed annually all over the country, Hughes' musical is more than mere entertainment, more than a writer's turn of story.

It's a statement both of preservation of history, culture and religion and of the promise of progress toward equal acceptance.

Lots of little black children nurtured in Christianity - including me many years ago and our daughter fewer years ago - are encouraged to imagine ourselves in God's image.

We're encouraged to know it's possible, despite social assumption and traditional art, that Jesus was black, or otherwise "colored," with hair like wool and skin like brass, "as if burned in a furnace," as scripture tells us.

"Why not have this as another way of understanding the Christian story?" Royals-Mizerk asked.

"It's arousing. It's lively. We're experiencing something different, and what's wrong with that?

"Why not call ourselves out; call attention to a story that may not be the same.

"I'm really happy we're doing it."

So is musical director Carolyn Colquitt, a former music director at Baptist Grove Church.

Colquitt was quickly enthralled by Hughes' ability to weave prose, scripture and music to support messages in the production.

She has reveled in the creative license Hughes granted future directors to use or replace music according to their audience and era.

"And that's what we've done," said Colquitt, who began working on the production with Royals-Mizerk in June.

"Our interpretation is fresh and it's new. It's been quite a journey."

The journey will continue, Royals-Mizerk said, noting even non-Christians will enjoy the ride.

"It's a spiritual way to come together and fellowship and be part of a production that is very uniting; that pulls together a collective soul," she said.

"My hope is there's something that happens to people because of the production, from just being in it or from just seeing it.

"We need to rock our soul."
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Read more...

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

“Unmaudlin ‘Morrie’ Avoids Excess” by Roy C. Dicks, The News and Observer

RALEIGH Mitch Albom's 1997 memoir, "Tuesdays with Morrie," became a best-seller because of its loving portrait of a dying college professor who teaches a former student about life. Despite its popularity, the book is often criticized for its sentimentality and its catalog of sampler-ready aphorisms.

The 2002 stage version in many ways improves upon the book. In The Justice Theater Project's current production, two fine actors and a savvy director humanize the characters and make the best possible case for the life lessons that Albom offers.

Albom was a student of sociology professor Morrie Schwartz at Brandeis University in the late 1970s. Although the pair bonded strongly at the time, Albom did not keep up a connection with Schwartz once he graduated, taking up the hectic life of a sportswriter.

Sixteen years later, Albom saw a "Nightline" program on which Ted Koppel interviewed Schwartz, who was dying with Lou Gehrig's disease. Albom decided to go see Schwartz, who asked Albom to keep visiting on a regular basis. Albom did so until Schwartz's death, finding that Schwartz's clear-eyed views on the meaning of life forever changed his direction and priorities.
With co-author Jeffrey Hatcher, Albom has crafted an intimate character study that distills the book's essence into a focused, 90-minute one-act. The Albom character speaks directly to the audience as he shifts props and furnishings to set the scene, reflecting on remembered events with wise and humbled hindsight.

Neat little phrases

On paper, the piece has the potential of being maudlin and manipulative, especially with the abundance of Schwartz's neat little phrases ("It takes dying to learn how to live," "we are all running in the human race").
But director Andy Hayworth works rigorously against excess, underplaying the sentimentality and concentrating on the characters' flaws and wounds. His in-the-round staging is vividly simple and the pacing bracingly tight.
David Henderson plays Mitch's initial harried existence believably and expertly shows the character's gradual relaxation and change under Morrie's tutelage. John Honeycutt turns in a career-best performance as Morrie, beaming the character's warmth and unquestioning love with engaging charm. The two work wonderfully together, allowing the emotions in the piece to build naturally, culminating in an extremely affecting performance.
There were few dry eyes at Sunday's performance, and a Kleenex concession would not have gone amiss.

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Read more...

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

“supremely well thought-out production”

Justice Theater Project’s Our Town — 2010-11 Season
Stresses Home and Community

by Alan R. Hall

September 10, 2010, Raleigh, NC:: The Justice Theater Project introduced its new season and its new home this past weekend as it opened Thornton Wilder’s classic three-act play, Our Town. As did I when I heard about it, you may be asking, “Why is the Justice Theater Project doing Our Town?” The show is the first of the three-show 2010-11 season, whose theme is “Home and Community.” The classic theater work opened Friday night at the Clare Hall, on the grounds of St. Francis of Assisi, on Leesville Road in North Raleigh. The church will be the home of the JTP for the next few years.

As all those who are familiar with it know, Our Town is not so much a play about people as it is a play about place and time. The time is the turn of the century, and by that we mean the turn of the twentieth century. "Our Town” is Grover’s Corners, NH, in the year 1901. Stop and think: there is electricity but no running water (except for hand pumps); the streets are dirt, no sidewalks; no cars during act 1, too many cars by the end of the show, a dozen years later. The main source of news is the newspaper, a biweekly publication run by Editor Webb (Jack Prather). The Webb household is one of the two centered upon in Grover’s Corners; the other is the house of the town’s doctor, Doc Gibbs (Stephen LeTrent). Doc and his wife (Suzannah Hough) and kids, George (Lucas Campbell) and Rebecca (Kate Brittain), live right next door to the Webb household, which is run by Mrs. Webb (Megan Mazzocchi), and houses another two kids, Emily (Ali Hammond) and Wally (Brian Driskill).

The whole of the play is overseen by the Stage Manager (J. Chachula), a sort of father-figure narrator who keeps the play rolling and gives commentary on what is going on in town. He also gets to play the drugstore shopkeep and one of the many pastors who people Grover’s Corners. It is the Stage Manager who sets the tone for the play, presenting a friendly and knowledgeable voice that could not be better done by anyone than Chachula. The only thing more I could have asked for would be a gentle New England accent.

The entirety of the show is peopled by a scant 22 people, a number that seems small only when you realize that this cast manages to populate a town of 2000 folks. The ensemble cast includes the church choir of 10 and their director, Simon Stimson (Ian Finley). It also encapsulates the entirety of the Grover’s Corners cemetery, who witness the burial of Emily Webb Gibbs in act 3. This ensemble could not have been better. The tone is captured wholly and uniquely by this cast, who take us back in a time capsule over one hundred years with the ease and steady hand of a master.

Because the play is so much dependent on tone and not character, the biggest thing to note is that most of the play is done in pantomime. This is true in every case for a production of Our Town, for the introduction of completely cooked meals and a live horse onstage would completely upstage the show otherwise. Which makes it worth mentioning that, in this production, Emily’s visit in act 3 back to the world of the living is done .....THIS PART DELETED TO NOT SPOIL THE ENDING...... makes the ghostly visit of act 3 that much more poignant and deserves a special mention for its WOW appeal and perfect execution.

The Justice Theater Project continues its opening play for the 2010-11 season through September 26 — for details, see our calendar. It is a supremely well thought-out production, smoothly and quietly (quite a compliment for this show) performed by this ensemble. This one is well worth the trip. The directions to St. Francis of Assisi (linked from the church's website) are quite easy for those who wish to see a truly well done tribute to Thornton Wilder’s nod to a simpler time.

Read more...

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Summer Camp Fun in the News

Check out a review of the Emily K Camp in Durham that just ended. 60 campers learning Shakespeare and adding their own hip hop spin to the Bard... under the able direction of Freddie Lee Heath, Deb Royals, Barbette Hunter, Coty Cockrell, Andrea Twiss, Brett Stegall, Christi Senari and Kevin Zeph.

http://www.thedurhamnews.com/2010/08/15/203079/bard-busts-a-move.html?story_link=email_msg
Read more...

Friday, February 19, 2010

‘There’s a man I want you to meet…” Byron Woods review, Independent Weekly

POSTED ON FEBRUARY 17, 2010:

Justice Theater Project's Fences
By Byron Woods


Read more...

Friday, January 15, 2010

“Fences” Media Release

A detailed Media Release is available by clicking "read more"
Read more...

Friday, October 16, 2009

The Justice Theater Project to Win National Award for Advocacy

The Justice Theater Project will be honored by People of Faith Against the Death Penalty (PFADP) at the group’s 15th anniversary awards banquet in Greensboro on November 7.

PFADP will present The Justice Theater Project (JTP) with its Community Service Award, which recognizes outstanding efforts at educating and mobilizing people to act for alternatives to the death penalty. Deb Royals Mizerk, the organization’s artistic director, will accept the award. The award will be presented by Father David McBriar, OFM, Associate Pastor of The Catholic Community of St. Francis of Assisi in Raleigh, NC and a current advisory board member of JTP.

Read more...

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Laundry and Bourbon review by Robert W. McDowell, Classical Voice of North Carolina

Justice Theater Project’s Production of Laundry and Bourbon Is as Potent as a Triple Shot

by Robert W. McDowell

September 12, 2009, Raleigh, NC: The Justice Theater Project’s current production of James McLure’s Laundry and Bourbon is as potent as a 180-proof triple shot of bourbon whiskey, straight. Ostensibly a knee-slapping Southern-fried comedy about three gossipy housewives in tiny Maynard, Texas, this three-character play takes a serious turn when their freewheeling conversation turns from catty comments about each other, their feckless husbands, and their irritating kids to sober speculation on what’s wrong with Elizabeth Caulder’s hard-drinking, skirt-chasing husband, Roy, who hasn’t been home in two days.

Roy Caulder is the much-discussed but never-seen “Elephant in the Room” — in this case, the cluttered back porch — of the rundown clapboard house that he shares with Elizabeth when he’s not out, tooling around Maynard in his cherished pink 1959 Thunderbird convertible, ogling other women, and looking to drown his Vietnam flashbacks and his current worries in an ocean of Lone Star beer. Roy hasn’t been right since he came back from Vietnam two years ago, and he is about to step on Elizabeth’s last nerve, while he is drinking himself into oblivion. Yet she loves him anyway, truly, madly, deeply; and there are growing signs that Roy is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome — but the problem of PTSD is not yet well known on the scorching summer afternoon in 1974 when the play takes place.
Read more...

Friday, June 19, 2009

STEPHEN SCHWARTZ’S MUSICAL BASED ON STUDS TERKEL’S BOOK,

IN STEPHEN SCHWARTZ'S MUSICAL BASED ON STUDS TERKEL'S BOOK,
AMERICAN WORKERS SING OF A SONG OF THEMSELVES “WORKING”

PART 2B: REVIEW BY ROBERT W. McDOWELL

Like 19th-century U.S. poet Walt Whitman in LEAVES OF GRASS (1855), I hear America singing in WORKING, The Justice Theater Project's season-ending show. WORKING is a an eyebrow-raising 1978 Broadway musical based on the 1974 oral history by Pulitzer Prize winner Studs Terkel (1912-2008), who interviewed a representative cross-section of the blue- and white-collar workers and recorded their “carols” -- about their jobs, their hopes, and their dreams. Four years later, composer, lyricist, and librettist Stephen Schwartz and cohorts, including one of Chapel Hill, NC's favorite sons, 20th-century troubadour James Taylor, set some of the pithiest sentiments of these Salt of the Earth characters to music.

WORKING, which concludes its three-week run in the Cardinal Gibbons Performing Arts Center on June 19-21 and 26-28, features compelling characterizations by LeDawna Akins, Susan Burcham, Bing Crosby Cox, John Honeycutt, Barbette Hunter, Byron Jennings, Kevin Lawrence, Andrea Schulz Twiss, and Deb Royals-Mizerk -- each of whom contributes vivid vignettes in their multiple roles.

Byron Jennings gives passionate portrayals of “Lovin' Al” the parking-lot attendant, Frank the long-haul trucker, Ralph the salesman, Roberto, and Tom the fireman. Andrea Schulz Twiss, who broke her left wrist on opening night and bravely eschewed a sling for Saturday night's performance, is the epitome of the old theatrical adage that the show must go on. Her personable portraits of Roberta the Hooker and Delores the waitress are especially powerful.

Barbette Hunter likewise makes the most of her moments in the spotlight as Amanda the project manager, Babe the supermarket checker, Candy the political fundraiser, and Enid the telephone solicitor. Deb Royals channeled Norma Rae as Grace the millworker, and LeDawna Akins brought Maggie the cleaning woman and Sharon the telephone operator to full, glorious life.

Susan Burcham has her memorable moments as Rose the schoolteacher, but is also good as Heather the telephone operator and Kate the housewife; and Bing Crosby Cox gives gritty performances as Mike the ironworker, Anthony the stone mason, and Rex the corporate executive.

By adding more snippets of Studs Terkel's trenchant observations from his 1974 book WORKING: PEOPLE TALK ABOUT WHAT THEY DO ALL DAY AND HOW THEY FEEL ABOUT WHAT THEY DO to the script, Justice Theater Project's artistic director Deb Royals-Mizerk beefs up John Honeycutt's role in The Justice Theater Project production. Not only does Honeycutt create a memorable portrait of Joe the retiree, sort of an Everyman in a funny old-fashioned hat and high-riding pants, but the Triangle stage veteran also impersonates the irascible Studs himself as he saunters through the set, candidly commenting on the deep-seated feelings about working that the Pulitzer Prize-winning oral historian coaxed out of his interviewees.

Director Deb Royals-Mizerk and choreographer Freddie Lee Heath keep the cast constantly moving and gesturing, sometimes in motions that cleverly mimic a manufacturing process. Production designers Thomas Mauney and Julie Jones' have concocted a striking minimalist multilevel set, whose bare bones gives the show a building-under-construction ambiance, complete with painter's plastic drop cloths and carpenter's plywood panels propped against the back wall; and musical director/pianist Coty Cockrell, standup bass and acoustic guitar player Kevin Lawrence, and drummer Chuck Kuhlmann provide perky accompaniment and help the seasoned cast sing as well as they sling the bull. Cockrell also adds a couple of colorful cameos as Charlie the ex-newspaper copy boy and especially as Conrad the UPS deliveryman.

The Justice Theater Project scores big with WORKING, creating an entertaining musical for the masses while simultaneously raising the audience's consciousness about workplace issues and the plight of the working class. The Raleigh-based theater's heady mix of theatricality and social activism once again proves to be a crowd-pleasing combination.
Read more...

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Strong performances found in Studs Terkel musical

BY ROY C. DICKS - CORRESPONDENT

RALEIGH -- The 1978 musical "Working," based on Studs Terkel's 1974 book, might seem outdated for today's workplaces and careers. But as seen in the Justice Theater Project production, the show still has a lot to say about what jobs mean to people and how they affect their lives.

The show is a series of monologues taken from interviews in Terkel's book. Funny, moving and insightful, these vignettes, from a parking attendant, fireman, secretary, migrant worker, trucker, and a dozen others, are still surprisingly relevant, voicing concerns about pensions and physical safety, age, race and gender discrimination.

The songs, composed by Stephen Schwartz ("Wicked"), James Taylor and four others, range from blues and gospel to folk and show tunes. Some are more effective than others, but the lyrics also come directly from the interviews, supplying an authentic ring.

The creators have updated the musical several times over the years to include e-mail, bar codes and mobile phones. Some of what's left in shows the play's age, but most sections are universal enough to transcend any time frame.

The production's five women and four men (counting music director-pianist Coty Cockrell's occasional participation) gamely cover the wide range of roles and songs, their singing and acting skills sometimes tested, but each getting moments to shine. Bryon Jennings gives a chilling account of a policeman's near-fatal confrontation and poignantly renders a father's hopes for his son's future. John Honeycutt's Terkel-like narrator and lonely widower Joe register strongly, while Bing Cox finds a haunting simplicity in the mason's song.

Deb Royals memorably voices a mill worker's gripping description of numbingly repetitive tasks. LeDawna Akins lets rip a sassy cleaning woman's anthem; Barbette Hunter amuses as a series of phone operators and office workers; and Susan Burcham makes a warm-hearted teacher and humble housewife.

Andrea Schulz Twiss became the reluctant participant in a true the-show-must-go-on moment at Friday's opening when she took a misstep in Act One, fell and broke her wrist. EMS workers put her in a temporary splint during intermission, and she came back to perform her big waitress number as if nothing had happened. (She has since had surgery and will continue in the role.)

Royals, doubling as director, gives the show a nicely casual feel in keeping with its revue-like nature. Freddie Lee Heath supplies cleverly choreographed sequences, although some are more stylized than befits the down-to-earth material.

Cockrell adds polished vocals to several songs and confidently leads the three-piece band in all the requisite styles. Thomas Mauney's construction-site setting of platforms and levels is distractingly messy and contributes to some awkward staging.

Opening night's understandable tentativeness should be overcome by now, allowing the production's simple pleasures and intimate nature to entertain and enlighten.


Read more...

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me

The reviews are in! "Someone Who'll Watch Over Me"...."showcases clever directing by Carnessa Ottelin and the well-cast, dynamic trio of performers..." Megan Stein, The Independent.

http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A287865
Read more...

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Justice Theater Project makes the “Best of Theater” list for 2008

Best Lead Performances of 2008

Elizabeth Corley (Mother Courage), Mother Courage and Her Children, Justice Theater Project

Best Music of 2008, Honorable Mention

Virginia O'Brien, Derrick Ivey, Mary Floyd Page, Mother Courage, Justice Theater Project

http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A273098





Read more...

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Mother Courage Soldiers On

In Mother Courage and Her Children, The Justice Theater Project has "given themselves a tough assignment". Adman Sobsey, The News and Observer
Read more...

Thursday, June 05, 2008

In the Wings:  Border Issues Come Into Play

By Orla Swift

The border of the United States and Mexico is as dramatic a setting as you could ask for in a timely stage drama, particularly as our presidential contenders debate (or ought to be debating) immigration issues.

So Justice Theater Project artistic director Deb Royals-Mizerk knew "The Line in the Sand: Stories from the U.S./Mexico Border" would make a compelling season closer.


Read more...

Friday, January 04, 2008

“Grapes of Wrath” Top Ten of 2007

JTP's August 2007 production of The Grapes of Wrath was recently chosen as one of the Top 10 Theater productions in the Triangle area by the News and Observer. Congratulations to the amazing team of actors, crew and volunteers that made this possible!
Read more...

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Orla Swift on the Best in Theater

You'd think that after almost 70 years, the ills of this nation that John Steinbeck described so eloquently in "The Grapes of Wrath" might be behind us. But we are not that wise a nation.
Read more...

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

JTP 2004 Indy Awards

In the Wednesday, January 5, 2005 edition of the Independent Weekly, The Justice Theater Project’s “A Lesson Before Dying” won the “Special Achievements in the Humanities” Award.
Read more...

Monday, December 27, 2004

Best Theater

Theater doesn't get more relevant than The Justice Theater Project's "A Lesson Before Dying." On the stage was a drama about a wrongly accused prisoner awaiting his execution. In real life, a month before the play opened, there was North Carolina death row inmate Alan Gell, exonerated six years after a jury had found him guilty of murder. To underscore the connection, Gell introduced the play at one of its three Raleigh performances.
Read more...

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Nickel and Dimed Dramatizes Life

When author and social commentator Barbara Ehrenreich decided to look at the rising tide of poor people in America, she realized that the best way to understand what was so troubling about the situation was to experience it first-hand. So she set a few basic rules for herself and then, leaving her upscale Florida neighborhood and rather confused boyfriend behind her, she set off for places where she would be unrecognized and set about learning what "minimum wage" really meant. The result, which was supposed to be merely a Harper's Magazine article, developed into a full-scale non-fiction book, which spent two years on The New York Times best-seller list.
Read more...

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Justice Theater Project Stages a Timely Production

DUBLIN, NC—When you get a first look at Bladen County, they don't exactly seem to be hurting for space. Farmland stretches out on either side of Highway 87 once you finally get past Fayetteville, as the road ambles south by east toward the coast. The terrain's flat; the cloudless sky is broad. Even by the most ambitious driving you're still an hour away from shoreline, but the soil already reflects the change, as Piedmont red increasingly gives way to loamy shades of black, gray and white. The corn's a little less than hip-high just now; the tobacco is still pretty low to the ground.
Read more...