By Ruth Ross
If you think banning books is a new trend—say, in the last decade with the efforts of Moms for Liberty and other (mostly political) groups—think again.
The very first book banned in America, New English Canaan by Thomas Morton, was outlawed by the Puritan government in 1637; the first book burning occurred in 1650; the first book widely banned was Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin; and the Comstock Act, passed in 1873, criminalized mailing or distributing “obscene” materials, which led to the widespread banning of classic literature and anatomy textbooks.
Alabama Story, by Kenneth Jones, tackles a similar situation in 1959 Montgomery, Alabama (“where books are loved and reviled”), when Emily Wheelock Reed, the real-life State Librarian of Alabama, faces backlash over a gentle children’s picture book called The Rabbits’ Wedding by Garth Williams that depicts a wedding between a white and black rabbit. When Senator E.W. Higgins, a powerful, fiercely determined segregationist politician who views the book as a hidden agenda to promote racial integration and interracial marriage, demands the book be purged from public library shelves, Reed defends the public’s freedom to read, initiating a high-stakes workplace drama and political thriller over intellectual freedom.
Running parallel to this public political battle is a private story involving two childhood friends reunited as adults in Montgomery, whose sudden reunion forces them to confront a deeply troubling memory and look closely at the cruel racial boundaries that tore their childhood friendship apart in the first place.
Currently onstage at the DMK Black Box Theatre for just three more performances, the Theater Project’s production is polished, well-acted, well-staged—and is one of the finest productions I have seen this season.
As directed by TTP’s Artistic Director Mark Spina, playwright Jones weaves these threads by having Garth Williams (the book’s actual author/illustrator) played by Dalton Gorden (below, top center) as an onstage narrator with wry observations who steps into various roles. According to the author’s official synopsis, the play balances humor, heartbreak, and hope while examining “how character is revealed in times of transition, change, and crisis.”
These revelations occur on a terrific set depicting three distinct locations. Looming over the set is the iron gates to Oak Park, currently chain locked and flanked by a park bench with a WHITES ONLY sign on it. To one side is the office of State Librarian Reed; on the opposite side sits the café outside the building where the Alabama State Library Service is quartered. Scenic artists Stephen Salach and Stefanie Lalor have papered the walls of these venues with headlines from various newspapers chronicling the events of the period. The latter is highly effective in transporting the audience back to those early days of desegregation, even referencing pop culture! Bryan Clarendon’s projection designs (shelves of books, bucolic landscapes) and Mark Reilly’s lighting design really enhance the dramatic experience.
Spina has assembled a stellar cast to tell the story. Karen Thornton (Above, center) is perfect as the crisp, no-nonsense Emily Reed, intent on making sure that “libraries make books available” to everyone while trying to control her temper when Senator Higgins (Gary Glor, middle right)) confronts her with a list of books he wants removed from the public libraries. Thornton’s character is thorny; more to be respected than liked. As Higgins (a man with an “elephantine ego”) Glor is the perfect courtly Southern gentleman, complete with a drawl who is really a snake in the grass, ready to lay a trap for his nemesis, Miss Reed. He gives a marvelous performance of a man we love to hate.
As Reference Librarian/Assistant Thomas Franklin, Mikey Miller (above, first row, right) is the perfect foil for these two characters: Timid, with a shaking voice and his arms folded around a book clasped to his chest, we don’t expect much out of him, but his recitation of what happened to another librarian hounded by book banners is heart-stopping. You could have heard a pin drop in the auditorium as he recounted the story.
In the more personal plot line, Emily Bonaria as Lily Whitfield and Daniel Saunders as Joshua Moore (Both above left), turn in fine performances. She, a woman of extreme white Southern privilege in the ironically named town of Demopolis, and he, the son of the black woman who served her family, reconnect and recall the halcyon days of their shared childhood, reading the Uncle Remus stories and running through the fields, until they are forced to confront a troubling memory and look closely at the cruel racial boundaries that tore their childhood friendship apart in the first place. Bonaria and Saunders naturally and convincingly depict these younger folk (with help from Julianna Santos and V. Martinez as young Lily and Joshua, respectively (above, first row center).
The forementioned Dalton Gorden deserves special mention. In addition to portraying Garth Williams, he’s the eager local reporter and Higgins’ fellow Senator Bobby Krone, among other characters. He shifts from role to role seamlessly and convincingly and provides the thread that holds the various scenes together.
A special shout-out goes to Jame Mezzo for his splendid sound design, from clacking typewriter keys to thunderclaps to street traffic noises and the like that heightens what’s happening onstage. Archie Henderson’s costumes likewise transport us to a particular time and place and are appropriate to the characters wearing them.
You have but three more chances to catch Alabama Story in Union. It’s the perfect dramatic experience for teens to nonagenarians. Do not miss this production.
Since 1994, this feisty troupe has been introducing NJ audiences to new plays and supporting rising playwrights and theater artists. They are a key component of the New Jersey theater scene and a real treasure for theater lovers.
Alabama Story runs through Sunday, August 16, at the DMK Black Box Theater, 1980 Morris Ave., in Union (enter the parking lot through the driveway immediately after the Dunkin store). Friday and Saturday night performances start at 7:30 (Friday night’s performance is pay-what-you-wish). The Sunday, August 16, matinee begins at 2 PM. For tickets, click HERE.