A conversation with the sound designer

Bourbon at the Border’s sound designer, Cecil Averett, sat down with me last week to talk about the collaborative process, the emotional connections a melody can evoke, and some damn good music. Watch the video:

Cleage’s Early Career

Clearly, Pearl Cleage is currently primarily known as a novelist, playwright and poet. However, as pointed out by an audience member at last weekend’s post show discussion many people from Atlanta first recall her from her more publicly political years. In her early career she worked a number of media jobs, most prominently [...]

Freedom Summer School

Two girls hanging out of a window at Freedom Summer School.

The Motivation behind the Words

In several of the post show discussions for Bourbon at the Border questions regarding the motivation behind Pearl’s writing have come up in reference to the powerful subject matters used in her writing. In a general sense, Cleage is zealous with regard to issues of black life she feels the need for a forum [...]

An interview with the director and producer

A few weeks ago, director Ron OJ Parson and I sat down with Dr. David Unumb, host of Northeastern Illinois University’s Vantage Point radio show (which airs Sunday mornings at 6:30 on WTMX), for an in-depth interview about Bourbon at the Border, Pearl Cleage and Eclipse Theatre Company in general.
In case you weren’t up early [...]

A video interview with the dramaturg

Our dramaturg for Bourbon at the Border, Sarah Moeller, sat down with me yesterday to talk about the process and the research she put together for the cast and crew:

Watch a scene from Bourbon at the Border

Act 1, scene 5, to be exact - I filmed this during a tech rehearsal a few days before the show opened. Watch for Kat Saari, our fantastic stage manager, calling sound cues in the foreground.

You can watch this same scene at Stagechannel.com, filmed a few days later with a much better camera.

Civil Rights Violence

Photograph taken a year before Freedom Summer in 1963 showing police officers allowing dogs to attack an African American man.

Watch a video of Bourbon at the Border rehearsals

We have our final dress rehearsal tonight, first preview tomorrow, and opening night on Sunday. As we’ve gone through the last few days of long technical rehearsals, I thought it’d be fun to share a behind-the-scenes look at the process:

Ensemble: all the parts

We had our first audience for Bourbon at the Border last week - the cast visited a GED class at the Howard Area Community Center that was reading the script in class. We performed Act one, Scene three (the students had read scenes one and two at that point) and had a great discussion about [...]

Flashback to September 1995

Eclipse’s production of Bourbon on the Border is set in September 1995. Here are a few events from that month to take us back.

The DVD media format is announced.
Hurricane Luis sweeps through an already busy hurricane season due to La Nina.
September 4th the 4th World Conference on Women opens in Beijing.
O.J. Simpson trial is in [...]

Robert Moses-Civil Rights Activist

Robert Moses started actively working as a civil rights activist in 1960 when he became the field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. By 1964 Moses became co-director of the Council of Federated Organizations and a leading figure in the Freedom Summer of 1964. His leadeship did not stop there, he later moved to [...]

Bridge to Freedom

In the description of the setting for Bourbon on the Border Cleage states that one can see the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit, Michigan to Windsor, Ontario, Canada through the apartment window in May’s apartment. This bridge serves as a symbol throughout the piece. Here is a gorgeous picture of the bridge at sunset:

Dutchman

In Cleage’s Author Note for Bourbon on the Border she references LoRoi Jones’ Dutchman, which was produced in New York in March of 1964. Jones’ play tells a different story than that of the nonviolent activists of the Summer ‘64. His play delves into a darker side of the emotions felt by those fighting for [...]

Attention: Murder in Mississippi

It has been said by many and understood by most that the only reason the murders of three young civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964 received national attention was because two white men were murdered. In fact, many historians would say that the only reason freedom summer got as much attention as it did [...]

Mississippi Burning

The most publicized murders from Freedom Summer were those of three young civil rights workers-a black volunteer, James Chaney, and his white coworkers, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner. The trio set out to investigate a church bombing but were arrested that afternoon and held for several hours on alleged traffic violations. Their release [...]

Freedom Summer of ‘64

Charlie and May Thompson, characters in Bourbon at the Border, spent the summer of 1964 in Mississippi. That summer over a 1,000 mostly young people rode down to Mississippi to help disenfranchised blacks register to vote.
In 1964 Mississippi had the lowest percentage of African Americans registered as voters at 6.7%. This statistic [...]

Play the love

I’ll get to watch the show this weekend; it’ll be the first full run through since we first gathered, and most of the production team will be there. I got a sneak peek last night, stopping by to watch Ron and the actors work through the first few scenes.
Before starting to work, Ron talked a [...]

Make plans with Pearl this fall

We’ve been making some changes to the blog recently - in addition to the Bourbon at the Border dramaturgical information and the sleek new layout (I think it’s sleek, anyway - let us know what you think), we’ve now added to the right-hand sidebar a link to a full calendar of Eclipse performances and events [...]

Why Pearl Cleage knocks me out, part four

Because of scenes like this - Charlie’s return home after spending time in a mental hospital:
(The sound of a key in the lock as Charlie enters. He has a slight limp. May stands, but does not move toward him. He closes the door, but does not move toward her. They stand looking at each other [...]

First rehearsal for Bourbon at the Border

The rehearsal process for Bourbon at the Border began last weekend with the designers presenting their ideas and the cast reading through the script together for the first time. We looked at pictures and notes from costume designer Elsa Hiltner, sketches and a model from set designer Kevin Scott (both of which I’ll post later), [...]

Get the story behind the story

We’ve added a new feature on the blog - over on the right, you’ll see a link to the Bourbon at the Border dramaturgical research. Click on that link and you’ll see the information that Sarah, our dramaturg for the show, has put together. It’s the same packet that we’ll be handing out to actors and [...]

Back to Pearl

After taking a couple of weeks to go exploring with Suzan-Lori Parks, we’re about to start rehearsals for Bourbon at the Border, the last in our year-long journey through the works of Pearl Cleage. The design team met last night to kick around some ideas and hammer out some logistics, and the actors will get [...]

Bourbon at the Border dramaturgical research

IX.  Pearlisms: Quotes from Works
“I’m just saying I thought that was what black writers were supposed to do.  Tell the truth to the people.”
“Because it makes you remember that life is short and the worst thing you can be left with at the end of it is regrets about what you didn’t do.”
Back to Table [...]

Bourbon at the Border dramaturgical research

VI. Freedom Summer
Link to Freedom Summer Web site
 
Climax of intensive voter registration that started in 1961 in the Deep South.  In 1962 only 6.7% of the African American population were registered to vote in Mississippi the lowest percentile out of all 50 states.  The Freedom Summer campaign was organized by a coalition called the Mississippi Council [...]

Bourbon at the Border dramaturgical research

V.  Bourbon at the Border
Bourbon at the Border, a full-length drama was commissioned and premiered at the Alliance Theatre in 1997 under the direction of Kenny Leon, a frequent collaborator and artistic director of Alliance. 
Reviews
Alliance Theatre, Atlanta, GA, April 1997
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2838/is_n4_v31/ai_20425720
Victory Gardens, Chicago, IL, February 2003
http://www.performink.com/Archives/reviewroundup/2003/2-14ReviewRoundup.html
Back to Table of Contents

Bourbon at the Border dramaturgical research

prepared by Dramaturg Sarah Moeller 
Table of Contents

Biographical Information
Pearl’s Works
Comments on Pearl’s Work
Pearl on Pearl
Bourbon at the Border
Civil Rights Movement
Freedom Summer
Detroit
Odds and Ends
“Pearlisms” - Quotes from works

Bourbon at the Border dramaturgical research

VIII.  Odds and Ends
Events of September 1995
          
· September - DVD, an optical disc computer storage media format, is announced.
· September 4 - The Fourth World Conference on Women opens in Beijing with over 4,750 delegates from 181 countries in attendance.
· September 6 - With the jury absent, Los Angeles Police Department detective Mark Fuhrman invokes his Fifth Amendment [...]

Bourbon at the Border dramaturgical research

VII. Detroit
In the 1990s, the city began to enjoy a revival, much of it centered downtown. Comerica Tower at Detroit Center (1992) arose on the city skyline. In the ensuing years, three casinos opened in Detroit: MGM Grand Detroit, Motor City Casino, and Greektown Casino which are now adding resorts. New downtown stadiums were constructed [...]

Bourbon at the Border dramaturgical research

V. Civil Rights Movement
Amazing Website!!
May 17, 1954
The Supreme Court rules on Brown v. Board of Education, unanimously agreeing that segregation in public schools in unconstitutional. The ruling paves the way for large-scale desegregation. The decision overturns the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that sanctioned “separate but equal” segretaion of the races, ruling that “separate educational facilities [...]

Bourbon at the Border dramaturgical research

IV.  Pearl on Pearl
Cleage explains her purpose for writing in the introduction to Mad at Miles: “I am writing to expose and explore the point where racism and sexism meet. I am writing to help understand the full effects of being black and female in a culture that is both racist and sexist. I am [...]

Bourbon at the Border dramaturgical research

III. On Pearl’s Works
Commentary
Cleage is zealous with regard to issues of black life - she feels the need for a forum for discussion and promotes practical education whenever possible.  In particular Cleage focuses on the issues of sex, drugs, and pregnancy, aiming to keep her message centered on black youth while presenting mature perspectives on [...]

Bourbon at the Border dramaturgical research

II. Pearl’s Works
Selected Discography
-Recordings and Videotapes: A Nation of Poets (recording), 1990
-We Who Believe in Freedom: A Gathering Around the Urban Campfire (video), 1996.
Plays (location and year of original production)
-Hymn for the Rebels, Howard University, 1968
-Duet for Three Voices, Howard University, 1969
-The Sale, Spelman College, 1972
-puppetplay, Just Us Theater, Atlanta, 1981
-Hospice, New Federal Theater, Off- [...]

Bourbon at the Border dramaturgical research

I.  Biographical Information
Pearl Cleage (December 7, 194
American poet, essayist, journalist, playwright & novelist resides in Atlanta, Georgia.  Cleage was born in Springfield, Massachusetts but grew up in Detroit where her father was a church pastor and played a prominent role in the civil rights movement, he ran for governor of Michigan in 1962 on [...]