Documentary drama examines the civil rights movement

Middletown — “My Soul Is A Witness,” a documentary drama about the people and events of the civil rights movement will be presented at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4, in Orange Hall Theater at Orange County Community College in Middletown. Five actors will bring to life 20 of the figures of the 1960’s civil rights movement, including Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, John F. Kennedy, Elizabeth Eckford of the “Little Rock Nine,” and Mamie Till Mobley, Emmett Till’s mother. Playwright David Barr III explores the real stories behind these heroes - famous figures and ‘foot soldiers’- their sacrifices, risks, fears, and courage. The actors speak the words of the characters, and sing the music that galvanized the African-American community then, and creates immediate connection for the audience now. Barr, a playwright, theater actor, and writer, has been visible around Chicago since 1986. As an actor, he received a Joseph Jefferson Citation and Award, the Best Actor Award from the Association of Theatre Artists & Friends, and best actor nominations from the Black Theatre Alliance Awards. Barr won numerous awards for his play “The Death of Black Jesus” (1996), including the 1997 Black Theatre Alliance Award for best original writing. His adaptation of Walter Mosley’s novel “A Red Death” was the winner of the 1998 Edgar Allan Poe Award. He has also been the associate artistic director and playwright in residence at the Chicago Theatre Company, and was a co-recipient of the David Ofner Prize in 2000. The play is being directed on the road by Joy Vandervort-Cobb, a Newburgh native. Her many credits include “Black Broadway” for the JENA Company, as well as national tours of “For Colored Girls” and “From the Mississippi Delta,” originally produced on the New York stage by Oprah Winfrey. Cobb is the faculty advisor to Delta Sigma Theta, a faculty mentor, and an associate professor of African American theatre and performance at the College of Charleston. She was awarded a DIVA for Professor of the Year in 1994-95, a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998-99, and a 2000 Excel Award for Outstanding Faculty Excellence in Collegiate Education and Leadership. The theatre troupe JENA Company took the drama on a coast-to-coast national tour during 2005. Middletown is one of a 30-city tour planned during January, February, and March of this year. The Lyceum event is presented by Cultural Affairs and sponsored in part with funds by Orange and Rockland Utilities. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for senior citizens and alumni, and $4 for non-SUNY Orange students and children. Group rates are available. Tickets may be purchased from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. from Monday to Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Friday at the Student Life counter in the College Commons, at the corner of South St. and East Conkling Ave. Orange Hall is a universally accessible building, at the corner of Wawayanda and Grandview Avenues in Middletown. For more information, call 341- 4891, write to cultural@sunyorange.edu, or visit www.sunyorange.edu/lyceum.