In August of 2001, a considerably slimmer
Al Sharpton was released
from the Brooklyn Detention Center where he served a 90 day sentence on
charges resulting from his protest of on-going military bombing
exercises on the
Island of Vieques, Puerto Rico. Flanked on one side, by
then, was Harvard (now Princeton) professor and author, Dr. Cornel West and
on the other by comedian, author, civil rights activist and Sharpton's
personal fasting guru,
Mr.
Dick Gregory. Reverend Sharpton announces to
the National Press Corp that he is considering a run in the 2004 race
for the Office of the President of the United States.
Dr. Cornel West described the play as "wonderful."
Mr. Dick Gregory
said it was "very well researched" and Reverend Sharpton referred to
the piece as
“a real testimony to our struggle as Americans and black
Americans." Mr. Ashton Springer, Broadway Producer of “Bubblin’ Brown Sugar“ and numerous
other Broadway successes, stated that, "the play moved me as a black man.“ This stunningly topical, four character,
full-length stage play begins here.
At the close of the press conference, Al Sharpton, mildly dehydrated
from a prolonged stay in a holding cell, swoons as if to faint and is
transported to a local hospital.
Enter Josiah Henson -- an ancestor, former slave, and actual prototype
for Harriet Beecher Stowe's character, "Uncle Tom." Sharpton just
finished reading his autobiography while in prison, compliments of
Rev.
Jesse Jackson, who brought it by for him, along with
a copy of Moby Dick
and three volumes of Paul Tillich.
Edgy, histrionic, comedic and astute, Mr. Henson introduces and
interjects himself into Sharpton's
dream-stricken state. Why is he
there? To seek forgiveness from the Reverend Sharpton for personal acts
of betrayal toward his fellow slaves; to challenge Sharpton's
Presidential pursuits by questioning his appropriateness for the office;
to remind Reverend Sharpton of his place in African ancestry. Finally,
to question the very constructs of subject and object in human
relationships. Josiah Henson worries about the lighter, brighter (and
whiter?)
Al Sharpton-- that he might slim down in body and spirit and
lose his essence and his heroic purpose-- in his quest for Presidential
fame.
This achingly funny and provocative theatre journey is jacked up by the
music of James Brown
(one of Sharpton's real-life surrogate fathers)
and
is nailed down
by a lot of good gospel in the form of a choir. Cornel West and Dick
Gregory keep the press involved along the way, and in the last act, stands
by the Reverend's side as his liturgists in church. The last act is
church at its best and Reverend Sharpton, the People's Preacher, wholly
courageous and courageously holy,
is at his best in church.
This is a play about a freedom fighter, a pastor, provocateur, a
Presidential hopeful -- Reverend Al Sharpton, the “Boy Wonder," as he
was dubbed in his childhood preaching days -- marginalized by his
brilliance and his color, but never deterred or compromised by either;
and about a very real Josiah Henson who became, for us all “Uncle Tom!"
-- about aiming for the truth and championing the "Cause" despite
reputation, degradation and humiliation--Racism… along the way.
This is a play about honoring the past and attending to the present with
humor, candor, confrontation and intelligence.
Mr. James Brown
