yours truly from my treo, at the Poag Auditorium
W-O-W
it's over. or is it? we came, we saw, and The Lord Thy God absolutely conquered! i just got through breaking down the set and assisting with pulling lights and costumes and everything from the Thomas E. Poag Auditorium on the campus of Tennessee State University, home of this year's 3rd annual theatrical Christmas Celebration, "Sho' 'Nuff Nativity."
i never doubted God.
but i had a few rough spots with myself.
i probably shouldn't be so friggin' candid on this thing, but since i can't help but to keep it real, i'll tell you all about some of the challenges, now that it's all over and done--or at least, this phase of it is.
it started last year, when we got done with the production of Langston Hughes' "Black Nativity," and wanted to move ahead with this year's show in the relatively new Performing Arts Center that i starved 9 days on a hunger strike to help get built (ah the days of my youth!) when i was a student at Tennessee State. guess what? it wasn't available for this year!!
so what to do now? i finally let that musically-gifted psycho buddy alex stadaker talk me into pushing ahead with an original idea i had to write our own huge, ambitious Christmas musical; i had started outlining the script, been digging my nose deeper into my tattered and abused bible, and singing so many songs in the shower, my tenant upstairs must've thought i was insane ("You ain't got to go home/ but you gotta get yo' self up outta here/ 'cuz there's no room/ no room at the inn!"). now, we didn't have a place or an idea of where we could do it.
we rested on the Poag Auditorium (Formerly, the "A" Auditorium, on the TSU Campus). heck, it was only fitting. this was the first stage i ever appeared on. at 18 years old, i learned the lessons of my life backstage from W. Dury Cox (rest "Daddy's" soul), H. Deveraux Brady, Horace Hockett, Lawrence James, Sandra Holt, and many other legends. i slept on, behind, and above that stage many a night when i was studying, working, building sets, designing lights, pledging (and hiding from the bruhs), and chasing after the many young ladies i was never good enough to "game" on to any successful playah's degree.
in short, that place was Home base. ground zero for my entire theatrical life. it was not only where i learned the basics of the craft, but where i met alex stadaker. i suppose it only made sense that it would be the place where we would launch our next creative phase.
but things have changed. there were no solid stage lights. there was no sound system. no parking. no usuable scenery. the odds were stacked against us in an unsurmountable fashion.
just our kind of odds.
before it was all done and over, my super stage manager Helen Naylor, along with a lot of solid contributors including Nashville's resident lighting genius Scott Leathers had transformed an auditorium into a theatre. with assistance from Actors Bridge Ensemble and Persephone Felder-Fentress at Fisk University, along with a crew of supporters with donations and Home Depot connections, including Boyce Brunson, we got a set built. i spent a day in the ceiling of the building re-focusing spotlights. in the end, we pulled off a crazy big show. AND we got it on tape, so that we can broadcast it soon. i'll keep you up on that.
the important lesson i learned--or in my case, re-affirmed--is that whatever God brings you TO, he will bring you THROUGH. and He brought this one on through.
if you came through, tell me what you thought about the show. if you didn't, check in with us at wwwshonuffnativity.com for updates. i'm up and off to work on the next round of things. God bless you all, and stay in touch.
obafemi
