Can there be dignity in an unjust death? Is there really any way for us to escape our past? When does the teacher become the student? These and other questions are thoughtfully explored in a powerful production of A Lesson Before Dying, now playing at the Warehouse Theatre.
Calvin Thompson plays Grant Wiggins, a young teacher who’s reluctantly returned to his home town in the Jim Crow South. Now college educated and desperate to escape his roots, Wiggins teaches in a run down schoolhouse, dreaming of the day he can move away from Louisiana to somewhere he can feel more respected. But soon he’s asked to counsel an inmate, a simple young man named Jefferson (Shawn Simmons), who’s been sentenced to die in the electric chair. Jefferson has no respect for himself, no respect for Grant Wiggins, and even thinks of himself as sub-human. But Jefferson’s lifelong caregiver, Aunt Emma (warmly played by Becky Stone) convinces Grant to try teaching Jefferson how to accept his fate like a man, and, in so doing, Grant is forced to confront some ugly truths within himself.
Written by playwright Romulus Linney (based on by Ernest J. Gaines’ 1993 novel), A Lesson Before Dying presents us with a teacher who is openly contemptuous of his own students and an inmate who unwittingly has the power to transform not only his own life, but, quite possibly, save the soul of an entire town. Director David H. Matthews guides a strong cast in this play that, yes, will leave you with a lot to think about, but will entertain you – and even make you laugh – along the way.
Calvin Thompson plays Grant as an uptight young man with a serious chip on his shoulder. Even his relationship with his girlfriend (well played by Ashley Adams) seems at first to be more a matter of selfish convenience than actual love. And so it is with his relationship to the inmate, Jefferson. Unsure - and probably uncaring - of how or why he can be of any help, Grant must overcome not only Jefferson’s resistance but his own prejudices to discover how he can turn a hopeless situation into something transformative. Shawn Simmons does a great job taking us on Jefferson’s journey from stubborn, angry, and animalistic to a dignified and somewhat Christ-like end. He and Thompson work well together, and their solid performances anchor the play. Clark Nesbitt, Peyton Hray and Jeff Warren also do fine jobs in supporting roles.
As usual at the Warehouse, Shannon Robert’s set design is simply wonderful, lending the play an added texture that helps cement the proceedings. With A Lesson Before Dying, director David H. Matthews has opened a great conversation, a look at race relations, at human relations, at the inhumanity of the death penalty itself. It’s a vibrant and moving evening of theatre that will stay with you for a long time.
A Lesson Before Dying runs through April 23 at The Warehouse Theatre in Greenville’s historic West End. Call 864.235.6948 for tickets.
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