poem, "TEMPTATION," by "PURLIE VICTORIOUS" with to move more

NEW UNIVERSITY SUPPLEMENT
On Thursday and Friday evenings, February 25th and 26th,
the UCI Black Theatre will present its variety production
"CHANGES: An Experience in
Black Theatre," the first performance of the theatre on the
campus in its three-year existence as part of the Fine Arts
The twenty-four
Department.
actors and dancers project with
sustained vitality the oppressive
social, political, cultural path
the Black man in America has
trod since slavery "created" his
Black American identity.
In his attempt to control the
slave by brainwashing him with
"white" religion the white man
did not forsee the slave using this
religion as a survival weapon
against him. It was the slave's
inner strength and faith in the
master's invisible God that kept
him from total demoralization.
Religion then became one of the
focal points of Black life in the
the Black man
United States
seeking guidance from the God
who created himu And so, the
performance opens with James
Weldon Johnson's poem "THE
CREATION," performed by
Larry Chatman, followed by a
gospel church sequence introducing the entire cast.
The
affect of religion on Black people is also emphasized in the
poem, "TEMPTATION," by
Langston Hughes in which Barbara Maull finds herself tempted
by "THE SPIRIT/' Terminating
the religious phase of the production an exerpt from the play
"PURLIE VICTORIOUS" with
Donald Johnson and Asa Sims in
respective roles as Purlie and
Ludie Belle.,
,
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"PURLIE VICTORIOUS' Donald Johnson as Purlie; Asa Sims
as Ludie Belle
Eulogizing the ghettos of America, Dawn Johnston, in a medly of poems written by young
children comes to the conclusion
that the only real freedom is in
death. The poem "A THEME
FOR ENGLISH B" reminds
whites that although they try to
separate themselves from Black
people they are in fact part of
them.
It is not only whites to whom
the hour-and-a-half performance
is directed but Blacks as well
in attempt to move more deliberately towards socio-political
unity. "A POEM TO COMPLIMENT OTHER POEMS" by Don
W^
Larry Chatman performing 'THE CREATION' by James Weldon Johnson
"JOURNEY INTO SELF" with dancers Kathryn Farquhar
Brenda Gibbs, Larry Chatman and Cleveland Pennington