Celebrate Black History Month with Nashville Children's Theatre and "The Watsons go to Birmingham"
Today begins Black History Month, but for the Nashville Children’s Theatre (NCT), the celebration began mid-January with their insightful production, “The Watsons go to Birmingham”, a play based on the racially troubled 60’s and how one family handles the times, trials and tribulations of that difficult era.
The Watsons, an African-American family living in Flint, Michigan, are taking a road trip. Fourth grader Kenny’s older brother Byron has been hanging with a tough crowd and getting into trouble, so his parents decide to take him to live for a time with his grandmother down south. Soon, the whole family is crowded into the Brown Bomber, heading back to Alabama – and straight into one of the most shocking moments in American history!
The play is based on the book of the same name written by Christopher Paul Curtis, who won both a Newberry Honor and a Coretta Scott King Honor with this first novel, which he wrote when taking a year off after working 13 long years in a Flint, Michigan automobile factory.
“The publication of “The Watsons go to Birmingham – 1963” made a real difference in my life… For the first time, I was doing something that I enjoyed doing. I was successful at it… I discovered that there’s just nothing in the world like doing something that you enjoy and being able to make a living of it.”
“The Watsons go to Birmingham, I’ve said this a lot of times, has always been my favorite book. One of the reasons was, I was working at a warehouse at the time, and because of that book, I don’t work in a warehouse any more.”
-Christopher Paul Curtis
The play, directed by Scot Copeland, who is currently enjoying his 27th year of artistic leadership at NCT, is a mind-opening experience for young and old, no matter race, religion or political persuasion. His vision and interpretation of this particular production takes the audience to a stage far beyond that of a local children’s theatre and on to a large Broadway stage; so well delivered and succinctly construed the messages of the script.
“The Watsons go to Birmingham” takes us back in time, not only visually, but also colloquially, with words like “square”, “egghead”, “Poindexter, “Daddy-O and “Bruh” being volleyed around in hysterical fashion by the Watson children, as they push, shove and banter with one another, tickling the audience’s funny bones, before the second act brings us to a more serious situation with the bombing of a Birmingham church which killed four teenage girls, and possible one of the Watson children.
The play is based on a real-life Birmingham bombing which took place in 1963, in a time when the city was called, in a not-meant-to-be-humorous-way, “Bombingham”, because from 1950 to 1960, dozens of bombings were committed by unknown terrorists, usually targeting black homes or businesses. The instance depicted in the play is when a church was bombed, in a tragic event when four teenage girls were killed during a Sunday service.
If you wish, please view the photos to honor, pray or have a moment of silence for the lovely girls who lost their lives in this horrific act of violence and to read more about the tragedy.
The production is a must-see for all kids and adults with its poignant study of a family enduring troubled times, handling inner conflicts, as well as for its message of acceptance and learning to deal with tragedy and grief.
And don’t think that because it is Children’s Theatre, you must take a child in order to go! It is only $19 for adults, one of the best values in town for a live theatrical production. But if you can take a child, do; it’s all that much more rewarding for you and for them.
For more info or to buy tickets, check out the NCT website.
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