Reader's Theater porch stories offer history lessons

Rhonda Dolberry takes part in a rehearsal for the Dr. Teretha F. Harper Reader's Theater. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. today at the Regional Arts Center. (Submitted photo)
Rhonda Dolberry takes part in a rehearsal for the Dr. Teretha F. Harper Reader's Theater. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. today at the Regional Arts Center. (Submitted photo)

Tonight's 12th annual Dr. Teretha F. Harper Reader's Theater takes a cue from a beloved part of the home and its vast social importance: the porch.

The porch can be a place to enjoy the hot summer days but also for neighbors to converge and chat. Traditionally here in the South, it's been a place to come together, tell stories, gossip and learn about what's going on in the world.

For this year's Reader's Theater at the Regional Arts Center starting at 6:30 p.m. in downtown Texarkana, the idea is to mimic the latter as locals provide dramatic portrayals of important African-Americans. The event is free.

Each year, Reader's Theater (subtitled Voices of Freedom: Overcoming Barriers) portrays these Americans and their notable impacts on our world through a series of scripted monologues. Tonight's portrayals are based on words each person has spoken or written.

They are opera singer Leontyne Price, politician and civil rights leader John Lewis, singer Aretha Franklin, "Black Panther" actor Dorothy Steel and former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown.

Pastor Warren A. Smith III serves as director for this year's rendition. Actors are Regina Lenoir, Rev. Milton Glass, Kathy Wright, Joyce Wilson and Col. Anderson Neal. Rhonda Dolberry wrote transitions.

"The format is different from the previous years," Smith explained. In prior years, a lone person would give their speech, followed by a transition and a new person to speak.

"This year we're changing the concept to where we would have more than one character on the stage at one time," Smith said. "The concept behind that is like it used to be back in the old days where you would have people sitting on the front porch talking, and actually that's the type of setting that we're trying to portray this time."

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In this way, characters will talk among themselves. There's also the neighbor lady portrayed, "kind of like a busybody," who's getting involved in the discussion, too. The scripts themselves were essentially written by the person being portrayed.

"They're actually autobiographies, and so they are portraying it from the words of the individuals as were published in some publications," said Barbara Larry, who's helping with public relations for this year's Reader's Theater. "They're telling their stories through their eyes."

Larry suspects this approach will be engaging to the audience. She also senses an important way this can affect youngsters.

"I think personally for me it's being able to help our children relate to something other than hip hop and rap and all of that, to know that there are real people out there who have done extraordinary things and that they can do some of those things, too," Larry said. "It's engaging them and exposing them to another part of our history, another part of our culture that hopefully will be enough that they will ask mom or dad or grandma or auntie or whoever has brought them more questions .."

They can even believe that they can achieve the same things. They can be inspired to realize that they, too, can be an opera singer or an Aretha Franklin or serve in the U.S. Congress. Or, in their older years, act in a blockbuster movie.

"One thing that's interesting is that everything is new this year," Harper said. All performers have never acted in the Reader's Theater before. No matter who's portrayed these historic people, the annual Reader's Theater has been a hit.

"We've had talented people locally tell the story. And the people that were chosen, they have powerful stories to tell. And I think that's the connection people saw," Harper said.

And Larry sees it as both educational and entertaining at the same time, another reason for its success. "People come back, they enjoy it. It is very entertaining," she said. "But you're learning."

The African American Committee of the Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council presents this program. This year's event will include a Little Free Library brought to the Reader's Theatre. People are encouraged to bring a book (new or gently used) to add to the library, too.

(The Regional Arts Center is located at 321 W. 4th St. More info: 903-792-8681.)

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