Photo by Valerie Taylor

Thank you for coming to see the show! See you in February of 2016 for "Tuesday's with Morrie".

A Lesson Before Dying by Romulus Linney, based on the book by Ernest J. Gaines, was the first play that JTP presented in 2004 and garnered high praise for it production and outreach, receiving the first five star rating given by the Independent Weekly.

   Read the Reviews!

CVNC   Triangle Arts and Entertainment

The News and Observer

A Lesson Before Dying  - October 9-24, 2015

By Romulus Linney, Based on the Novel by Ernest J. Gaines, Directed by Deb Royals

Clare Hall on the campus of St. Francis of Assisi,  11401 Leesville Rd., Raleigh, 27613

 A Lesson Before Dying by Romulus Linney, based on the book by Ernest J. Gaines, was the first play that JTP presented in 2004 and garnered high praise for it production and outreach, receiving the first five star rating given by the Independent Weekly.

Jefferson is an innocent young man condemned to death in backwoods Louisiana in 1948. At the trial his lawyer, trying to save his life, calls him a hog. In prison, he decides to acts like one, insisting that he will be dragged like that hog to his death in the electric chair. His godmother asks a schoolteacher to teach him to die like a man. The teacher, Grant Wiggins, struggling to quit his poor parish school and leave the South, faces both Jefferson and deeper feelings as the execution day arrives. Ernest J. Gaines' celebrated novel makes an engrossing, moving and finally devastating play for the stage.  The story's wrenching power lies not in its outrage but in the almost inexplicable grace the characters must muster as their only resistance to being treated like lesser beings. 

Cast:

Grant Wiggins- Joseph Callender

Emma Glen - Loretta Green, Gwen Veale Hendrix (u)

Jefferson - Gil Faison

Sam Guidry - Michael Lester

Paul Bonin - Sean Wellington, Colten Moyer (u)

Reverend Moses Ambrose - Juan Isler

Vivian Baptiste - Connie McCoy Rogers, Leslie Richardson (u)

Jeff Nugent - Associate Technical Director/Set build team

Deb Royals - Associate Technical Director/Set Design/Set Build team

JaMeeka Holloway-Burrell- Stage Manager

Arthur Reese - Sound and Light Designer

Brenda Hayes - JTP Resident Costume Designer

Auri Wilds and Lindsey Young - Sound and Light Interns

Erin Folk - Props Design/Set Build team

Courtney Hayes-Rainey - Set Build team

Noah Mizerk - Set Build team

Ben Eidum - Set Build team

Slee Arnold - Marketing

Melissa Reilly - Production Associate

Melissa Zeph- JTP Managing Director

John Honeycutt - JTP Financial Manager